San Diego Padres: Chris Young Implodes While Luis Perdomo Improves

The San Diego Padres struggled against the Kansas City Royals on Friday, falling 12-4 in Cactus League action.

Friday’s matchup against the Royals was supposed to help answer a few questions facing the San Diego Padres starting rotation. Instead, we’re left with more questions and a lot of head scratching.

Making his third start of spring, Luis Perdomo needed a big outing to prove that he belongs in the San Diego starting rotation. With veterans Tyson Ross and Chris Young having successful camps, word out of Peoria has been suggesting that Perdomo could begin the year in AAA.

Insert the wrench in those plans.

Perdomo’s outing started out rocky, giving up a two-run home run to Salvador Perez in the first inning. He then settled down, allowing just two hits and one walk over the next four innings.

In the fifth inning, Perdomo gave way to Chris Young. Young, coming off a four-inning, two hit, five strikeout performance, proceed to implode. Over 2.1 innings the veteran surrendered seven hits (three home runs) and eight earned runs.

There are numerous different ways we can look at this. If the Padres are confident in their young minor league arms, should Andy Green keep Perdomo in the rotation and let him take his lumps? If he shows even just a little improvement, Perdomo could prove to be a trade piece later in the season. If the Padres believe in Perdomo, sending him to AAA to continue his development and add pitches to his repertoire makes sense.

The final decision will be made soon, seeing as there’s only a few days left of spring training. Like it or not, expect Perdomo to keep his rotation spot, while Young earns a long-relief role.

Things didn’t go much better at the plate for the Padres. Chase Headley finished the day 1-1 with two walks. He’s quietly put up a .457 on-base percentage in the Cactus League. He catches a lot of heat from the Friar faithful, myself included, however, he does something no one else on this roster has proven they can do at a high mark; get on base.

The only big highlight of the afternoon came from Eric Hosmer. With this shot to center field, the first baseman has homered in back-to-back games for San Diego.

Next: Upcoming Padres Free Agent Decisions

San Diego battles the Arizona Diamondbacks today at 1 pm PT. No surprise, there is no tv coverage of today’s game.