Padres won’t exercise $8.5 million option on Chris Young

General manager Jed Hoyer said yesterday that the Padres will not exercise their $8.5 million option on Chris Young for next year, which isn’t surprising after he missed nearly the entire season with shoulder problems. Young had a 1.49 ERA in three September starts after sitting out five months, but his 10/8 K/BB ratio in 14 innings wasn’t nearly as encouraging and his fastball velocity was down to just 84 miles per hour. Hoyer did praise Young for battling to make it back before the end of the season and told Corey Brock of MLB.com that the Padres would be open to re-signing him at a lesser salary. “I was really impressed with the way he came back,” Hoyer said. “He came back, pushed through and made big starts for us.” Young will surely have multiple teams interested in him as a free agent, but seems likely to receive primarily incentive-laden offers and keeping Petco Park as your home ballpark is always a good idea for a pitcher trying to recoup lost value.