San Diego Padres Put Chris Young On The DL And Should Place Him in the Bullpen

It seems that San Diego Padres RHP Chris Young can never stay healthy. Over the last four years, Young’s starts have gone down every year.

He made 31 starts in 2006, 30 starts in 2007, 18 starts in 2008, and just 14 starts in 2009. Now after one start in 2010, the 6′10″ Young is hurt again.

The Padres placed Young on the 15-day DL because of right shoulder tightness. The move is retroactive to April 7th.

“We just decided it was the prudent thing to do,” Bud Black said. “We’ll take a step back and assess, draw up a game plan on his rehab.”

The shame in all this is that Young pitched really well in his first start of the season. In his April 6th start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Young tossed six shutout innings, allowing just one hit, and struck out five.

Here is my suggestion for the Padres and the team that signs him for the 2011 season (The Padres have an $8.5 club option on Young that almost certainly won’t be picked up). Put him in the bullpen.

It’s pretty clear at this point that Young’s height has become a detriment to his career. To be that tall and to pull your shoulder down for 100 pitches a game over 30 starts in a season, has to put a tremendous amount of stress on your shoulder.

Why not put him in the bullpen and try to preserve his arm? Wouldn’t he make a solid closer? For his career, batters the first time seeing Young in a game are hitting .208 and have a .283 OBP. All other times batters are hitting .224 and have a .317 OBP.

So it’s pretty clear that hitters have a hard time adjusting to Young’s unusual release point the first time around. Put Young in the pen and let him form an unhittable 1-2 punch in the pen with Heath Bell.

Just my suggestion, but I think it would work.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg