For any Padres fans that got used to Kip Wells taking the mound every 5th day, their hearts are now broken. This also means the end of the Kip The Faith meme and #KipTheFaith twitter hashtag. That's sad. Wells started 7 games for the Padres this season, which was only surpassed by Clayton Richard, Edinson Volquez, Anthony Bass and Jason Marquis. The 35 year old right hander had his moments this year after a 2 year absence from the big leagues, but I think most would agree that he was pretty expendable as far as Major League starting pitchers go.
Taking Wells' place on the roster is relief pitcher Cory Burns. The Padres acquired Burns in the offseason when they dealt Aaron Cunningham to the Cleveland Indians. Burns had a 2.63 ERA in Tucson over 53 games. His 10.9 K/9 stands out as showing that he has some promise as a high leverage reliever. At 24 years old, he joins Brad Brach and Brad Boxberger as a third promising young reliever in the current Padres 'pen.
Since Burns is a reliever and Wells was a starter, it is expected that Eric Stults will rejoin the rotation.
