Phillies going Young. . .in name only?
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Phillies going Young. . .in name only?
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
As always, the wisdom of any trade for Michael Young, which the Dallas Morning News reports is in advanced stages, will depend entirely on two key details: the salary the Phillies are taking on, and the talent with which they are parting. According to Rangers beat writer Evan Grant, the Rangers would assume more than half of $16 million. For the trade to make much sense from the Phillies perspective, they would likely have to eat WELL more than half, as any salary approaching $8 million for a player who hit .277/.312/.370 in 651 plate appearances simply would not make sense, especially if a free agent like Kevin Youkilis could be had for the one-year, $12 million contract that the Yankees have reportedly offered him.
As for the talent departing, I can't imagine it would be much more than a B.J. Rosenberg or Michael Schwimer type, although if the Rangers eat all of the salary that might change.
Now that we have all of those caveats out of the way. . .
In a vacuum -- that is, without consideration for the cost of acquiring and paying Young -- the move makes sense for two reasons. The first is the obivous one: the Phillies simply do not have many good options to man the hot corner. Young is hardly known for his defense anymore. He started 25 games at third base in 2012 and 39 the year before. The last season he played the position regularly was 2010, when he started 155 games.
But the Phillies already feel like they have a solid defensive option in Freddy Galvis. Look at him as the fallback plan. If Young were to show that he can't play the position defensively, then they could always revert to Galvis.
But the Phillies have to diversify their offensive options at the position. Even in the worst year of his career, Young's numbers still dwarfed the ones Galvis posted as a rookie second baseman: Batting average (Young .277, Galvis .226), On Base Percentage (Young .312, Galvis .254), Slugging percentage (Young .370, Galvis .363). And while Young hit just .257/.291/.352 against right-handed pitching, Galvis hit just .208/.231/.331.
The Phillies did sign Kevin Frandsen to an $850,000 contract, but he has many of the same questions as young, particularly on defense. While Frandsen his .338/.383/.451 in 2012, he did so in only 210 plate appearances. For his career, Frandsen is a .267/.322/.364 hitter. In other words, Frandsen's career numbers are similar to the ones Young posted in the worst year of his career.
It is hardly a perfect situation at the hot corner, particularly because the Phillies would have three options who all are far better against left-handed pitching than right-handed pitching. On that note, Young did hit .331/.371/.423 against lefties last year, which is much better than either Galvis or Frandsen did.
The second thing you have to consider is Young's ability to play second base. In fact, at the right price, acquiring him to provide some insurance behind Chase Utley might make sense all by itself. Again, those numbers that Galvis posted last year came almost entirely at second base when Utley was missing for the first two months of the season. As good as Galvis was defensively, the drop off in production at the plate between him and Utley was one of the big reasons why the Phillies couldn't seem to buy a run for their pitchers the first couple months of the season.
I would not be surprised if the Phillies are exploring this deal knowing full well that Michael Young might not be an everyday third baseman anymore. But if they figure he can get at-bats at second base against lefties to give Utley a rest, as well as first base to give Ryan Howard a rest, and get the rest of those at bats at third base, he could cobble together 400-500 plate appearances. Of course, that would require Charlie Manuel to rest Utley and Ryan Howard against some lefties, something he has been reluctant to do in the past.
And we haven't even mentioned the upside, which is that Young was still a pretty good hitter as recently as 2010 and 2011. He will be 36 in 2013, but you never know.
Again, this all comes down to the money that the Phillies will end up paying, and whether that money makes more sense than the money they would have had to pay Youkilis, or the money it would have cost to convince Jeff Keppinger not to take a three-year, $12 million deal from the White Sox.
Do what the Pope preached - go to your farm club to fill in your holes. Have a healthy farm club and do not use it to trade for other players. That is why the Phillies did well in late 1970's and won the 1980 World Series. Follow the same lessons and you will do well.— Aces high- Everything considered, it's a solid move. Michael Young at ANY age is better than what we have right now. We all know he will play all three positions that Murph mentions here. He is a solid player.— dwp66
- Thank you Murph, I've been trying to talk myself into liking the move, and seeing less of Howard against lefties is just the trick I need. I keep thinking this team should be platooning all 4 corner spots, but that's sure not Uncle Charlie's style.— JettMartinez
- GREAT MOVE...Young is a .301 BA career hitter, and he hit .331 last season against lefies. so like the article says maybe he gives Utley and Howard some games off against lefies also....hey for a year deal this is a great deal.— jim35
- Let the youth movement begin! The good news is that Young will not turn 37 until October. That's one year younger than old Polly. But worst defensively. Last time Young was an everyday third baseman in 2010 he committed 19 errors for a .950 fielding compared to Polly's .990 fielding percent when he could make it on to the field last year. But Young's percent was better defensively than Wiggy's .833 field percent at third last year! Yea!— Dull
- If you think this move has anythign to do with defense you clearly did not watch many games last year. The Phils are AWFUL at the plate. Young is an obvious upgrade in the area they need it most. WAAAAAAAA, he is old. Who cares, he can hit and will be here for one year. You dope. — kozykoz26
- Young is a great choice now go get hamilton. What a friggen lineup that would be....but then again the Eagles looked GREAT on paper:(— mainstreet
- He better be a big defensive upgrade from Wigginton..— robinlupe
- You seem to think that Young is falling off a cliff at 36. He had a down year. Jeter had a down year and came back stronger than ever in his late 30's. Young is worth $8m a year even if he comes close to his career averages. He can play 3rd, SS and 2B. He's been a great player who I believe has a couple more good seasons in him. He's much better than Youkilis!!! Let's get him.— oldfriar
- Murph are you are saying it would be irresponisble for the Phils to pay Young $8MM to get .277/.312 when they can get Youklis for about $12MM? Youklis hit .235/.336 last year.— Philalawyer
- Finally this team moves on from Polanco, after suffering with his huge contract and endless injuries for years, and now the GM wants to add another over-the-hill third baseman, instead of addressing the Phillies bullpen problems.— Freedom Fries
- If TX eats a lot of salary I like the move. Youngs #s dropped last year and chances are it was because of less playing time. The fact that he is playing less does not mean his skills are lacking. TX has Beltre, Andrus, Kinsler and a big time blue chip stud in Jurickson Profar. It makes sense for them to move him. His defense will be ok, not great not bad. I do think he could have a nice 300, 15 hr year very easily. Plus he was a big RBI clutch guy..i say its worth the move if TX eats 75% of that contract.— philsfan in the atx
- Young hit a whopping .331 BA last season against left handers— jim35
- WHERE is the Power Hitter to hit behind Howard????? None of it works without filling that POSITION!!!!!!!!!— KOOLK777
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