Phillies outfielder Delmon Young has incentive to eat less
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Phillies outfielder Delmon Young has incentive to eat less
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Ruben Amaro Jr. used the word "motivated" often Tuesday to describe Delmon Young, who settled for a $6 million paycut to join the Phillies. Young admitted he followed bad habits last season once he knew he was destined for designated hitter duty in Detroit.
"When I knew I wasn't going to see the field," Young said, "you can eat just a little bit extra."
Young said he weighed in at 238 pounds Tuesday during his physical examination. He'll need to lose more weight if he is to make an extra $600,000. How's that for motivation?
Young's one-year, $750,000 contract includes bonuses based on his weight, according to The Associated Press. Young must be weighed six separate instances, the timing of which will be chosen by the Phillies.
Each time he makes weight, Young receives $100,000. The first three times he must weigh 230 pounds or less. He must weigh 235 pounds or less for the last three weigh-ins.
Young said his opening-day weight in 2012 was 225 pounds. His conditioning, exacerbated by a bad ankle that required microfracture surgery, suffered during the season.
Young's salary can go as high as $3.5 million with various other incentives based on playing time and performance.
"I've been on a strict diet," Young said. "You can get carried away on clubhouse food and late night room service. Some ice cream and good luck cakes. But when you go back to the outfield, you have got to eat lighter."
The Phillies will pad Young's wallet if he does.
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Comments (34)
We'll all see just how motivated the guy is. But he can hit.— PhillySubsMac- Can he really, Mac? If he can hit, why the low batting average? Why the terrible on base percentage? Why has he had 2 straight below-average seasons? Why so many strikeouts?— Copper34
If he meets those incentives, it's win-win for the team. I like the idea of a major league bat in the outfield and Young fills it. I've no doubt hanging about this team, he will settle in quite nicely. If he doesn't, there won't be too many stops in the 1st division from here on out.- As to the poll if Brown should start in LF, I say no. I rather see Ruf be given the opportunity.— dmac62
If you can't basically stay the same weight as now for 100k each month you are a lost cause.— Earl J- leaving aside (for a moment) the dubious "character" issue (after all, D.Young is vouched for by another "character" -- a certified liar named Amaro who is also a thief stealing salary to be g.m. of a baseball team with zero qualifications) ...the bigger issue is this g.m who traded away Phils entire future with more potential upside and value than anyone on the entire Phils 40-man roster right now other than Hamels (D'arnaud, Gose, Villar, Singleton, Santana, Cosart, May, etc), did a salary dump last July getting virtually nothign for Pence, Victorino and Blanton, and instead of adding a single quality player this winter that anyone can have confidence in has added more bargain basement discards and has-beens like M.Young, D.Young, Lannan, Cook, etc— warbiscuit
- D'Arnaud = Mets GM says may not make club; Gose = .223 BA at Toronto; Villar still in minors; Singleton = 50 game suspension; Santana = in A ball last year; Cosart = 6.50 ERA in Arizona Fall league, Astros not sure if he is a starter or reliever; May = 4.87 ERA at Reading last year. Amaro hasn't done enough. But please don't type statements like this and not expect people to obtain the facts. — Bob1
- BOB:your argument is weak D'Arnaud is respected enough as a talent to be the prime asset acquired for a Cy Young award winner. Gose IS one of the top 4 fastest players in the majors this year, and did steal bases at will in his limited PT upon his call up. Singleton had 4 hits in the Futures Game, and still is the first baseman of the future for the Stros. Villar still epitomizes power and speed as a SS, Cosart is a year away, and Santana DESTROYED high A ball (with numerous tape measure shots) as a 19 year old OF with high end power. Time will tell, as every player listed is 23 years old or younger Time will tell. — bearsfriend
- Bearsfriend, you can't ignore the facts. Every one of those statemetns is true. We've been hearing about D'Arnaud for years, but the Mets GM has just admitted that he is not a lock to make the team this year. If he's that good how come he can't crack their lousy roster? Destroying high A ball does not extrapolate to MLB success. Cosart regressed. All I'm saying is that anointing MLB success just to make a point is insincere. — Bob1
- "Zero qualifications" ? Has been around MLB since his Dad played in MLB; Stanford education ; played minor league ball; played in MLB; worked as assistant GM to Pat Gillick for years. 4 years as GM and has finished 1st,1st,1st, and 3rd.
Inherited a team full of highly paid stars. Acquired Doc Halladay, Cliff Lee, Papelbaon, Pence, Michael Young and Ben Revere.
Just because they failed to win another WS, it's not exactly RAJs fault. Don't the players have to shoulder that responsibility ? And who knew Utleys knees would go at age 30? Or that Howard would get hurt?
And just because you've never heard of Revere, or Ethan Martin, Tommy Joseph.... It doesn't mean they have no value or aren't well regarded players. It just means you are ignorant or uneducated on the subject.
— cdedrick05 - not just the g.m.'s total ineptitude, but his complete lack of "character" too... here's a g.m. who has had 3 players and their agents call him a complete liar in their dealings with him (Lidge, Madson and Lee in 2009), had fallings out with his best coach (Lopes) and his assistant so disgusted with him that he resigned late in 2011 with team in first place ... here's a guy who literally lies through his teeth in every single press conference and clearly assumes a smugmess to cover an incompetence rarely seen in someone in such a high position...the emperor has no clothes...— warbiscuit
- Yep, play him in left field, so the food court is mostly behind him and hopefully the breeze takes the aroma out toward the Walt Whitman Bridge.— joeygolf
- Well, the guy hit .353 in the ALCS last year, won the MVP of that series, then hit .357 in the WS. 8 HR in postseason the last two years. That's pretty decent hitting under pressure. Sounds like a no-lose. He screws up, you cut him.— Bob1
- Remember: it’s the team that stays close most of the season and gets hot late. I’m ready to see if he’s that king of guy.— terrycindyian
- (thx to 's' for referencing this analysis from the "Good Phight")--apparently only a complete Rube who has never watched Delmon play would even consider saying ths guy is a starting outfielder: "Delmon can be very, very, very difficult to watch, and that applies to anything he might be doing...exceptionally gifted at looking like he's not trying, even at the plate ...lethargy of a kid forced to be in gym class...fell off that pace over his last year-plus in Detroit, putting up a 92 OPS that equals what Nick Punto and Skip Schumaker have done over the past two seasons...absolutely dreadful to watch on the bases, indecisive and increasingly immobile, prone to colossal mistakes...averaged nearly 10 runs per season below average with the glove ...numbers can't even come close to capturing the damage Delmon does in the outfield.. stumbles about ...with a certain degree of random variation built in... Confusion clouds his face as he sticks his glove up awkwardly at the last second ... doesn't help that the results tended to be exceedingly poor...if (when) he proves inadequate or they get the sudden urge to stop torpedoing whatever value Domonic Brown has left, we can assume they'll have little hesitation about demoting him to pinch-hitter, or even releasing him...It's still money, though -- money that goes toward something that figures to benefit the Phillies very, very little, and to hurt them very, very much if (as they say) they're really going to put him in right every day. More than that, it's a roster spot. You only get 25 of those, and even if the Phillies wise up and get him out of the lineup, they're wasting one of their 25 on a player of very limited ability and defensive flexibility. There are guys who can do what Delmon does better, and there are guys who can do a lot more things than Delmon does, for about the same investment."— warbiscuit
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The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
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