San Diego Padres: Kip Wells Call-Up Spells Trouble

Kip Wells is apparently making a return to Major League Baseball. And his return is with the San Diego Padres.

"

Kip Wells has been promoted by #padres and will start tomorrow in houston in front of family. Terrific comeback story.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) June 25, 2012"

While I understand that the Padres are looking for help anywhere they can get it, I feel that Wells isn't the pitcher to be looking at.

Now, I understand the feel-good story behind it in that Wells hasn't pitched in the majors since 2009. But with the way the Padres have been playing this year, they're better served giving younger guys a chance.

Wells does have big league experience, so he has that going for him, but that's about it. He hasn't exactly impressed this year at Tucson, as he's 1-4 with 4.97 ERA and 16 strikeouts. If that's not enough, opponents are batting .311 against him.

That's not exactly big league material.

Instead, the Padres should be looking at giving younger guys a chance in the rotation. However, injuries are running rampant through the minors as well, so there's really no options.

Normally, I would say Casey Kelly would be the guy to call up, but he's currently injured, so that won't work. Andrew Cashner will be back in the big leagues after he gets stretched out in the minors, so that will bring in one young guy, though.

While the Mat Latos deal brought them in Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal, the one thing it didn't do was bring in a serviceable starting pitcher in return. So there's nowhere the team can really go. Because of that, the Padres are really hurting in the starting pitching department.

That leaves them with Wells, who has a career 67-99 record in the big leagues with a 4.71 ERA. It's kind of like a last resort.

With that said, I don't think it's going to make too much of a difference. The Padres are in last in the National League West ,and they aren't going anywhere this year.

So, while it may not be the best move in the world, it's really the only move the Padres can make.

Hopefully it will work out. If not, nothing's lost.