Phillies confident Young can rebound
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Phillies confident Young can rebound
Matt Gelb
The Phillies believe they have found a third baseman in Michael Young, a 36-year-old veteran who has not regularly played the position in two seasons and posted career-worst numbers in 2012.
That says as much about the other options at third base than anything. On Sunday, the Young trade was made official, with relievers Josh Lindblom and Lisalverto Bonilla headed to Texas. The Rangers will reportedly pay $10 million of Young's $16 million salary in 2013. The Phillies paid Young $1.2 million to waive his no-trade clause, a decision he deliberated for days, and will also grant him a new no-trade provision.
It was a hefty haul for Young, who was marginalized in Texas despite his tenure and respect.
"He has a tremendous track record," Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said Sunday. "I know that last year was not his best year, but after talking to the scouts and discussing it intently with the rest of our front office, we felt like this is an excellent person to bring to our club."
Amaro did not return requests for specific comment. Instead, the team issued his responses through a pool reporter from MLB.com.
Left unanswered is why the Phillies think Young is defensively capable of handling third base on an everyday basis given he primarily served as designated hitter for the last two seasons with Texas. Young won a Gold Glove at shortstop in 2008 and played at third in 2009 and 2010. Advanced defensive metrics rated him among the worst at the position.
Young, a career .301 hitter, batted .277 with a paltry .312 on-base percentage in 2012. His 26 double plays hit into were second only to Miguel Cabrera's 28.
One metric, wins above replacement (WAR), rated Young's 2012 among the worst seasons in modern baseball history. There are only three worse seasons (minimum 600 plate appearances) than Young's minus-2.4 WAR since 1947, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
The Phillies, of course, are banking on 2012 being an aberration. In 2011, Young batted .338 with an .854 OPS and led the American League in hits. He has been an All-Star seven times.
"You don't have a great year every year," Amaro said. "He's had some years where he hit .280 and others where he hit .330. But at the same time, even when his numbers aren’t extraordinary — and they were still pretty darn good last year, maybe better than anybody we had on our club — the fact of the matter is he's a professional hitter. He's a guy who we know will strive to be the best player he can be. And even when he's not having productive hits, I know he’s the kind of guy who makes productive outs. So there's a lot of pluses to this guy."
Young's leadership was often praised in Texas, where he spent the first 13 years of his career. "He's such a professional," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "If there was crying in baseball, I guess I'd cry." Amaro described Young as "the ultimate team player."
The acquisition of Young leaves Kevin Frandsen and Freddy Galvis as utility infielders. With one of the oldest infields in baseball, those two could serve as insurance policies. One could also become a late-inning defensive replacement for Young.
Amaro's two recent trades were aimed at saving money. Young and new centerfielder Ben Revere will make a combined $6.5 million in 2013. Placido Polanco and Shane Victorino made $15.8 million at those positions in 2012.
With a payroll that is approximately $20 million shy of last season's, Amaro has plenty of flexibility to add offense in the outfield.
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I'd like to see Manuel use Young about 4 starts a week. Give Frandsen 2 starts. Get Galvis prepared in Spring Training to become a strong defensive replacement late in games at third. Manuel has some versatility with some of these infielders. He has to be creative with this group.— Von Wockenfuss- John Wockenfuss. Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while... you related to him, Von?
— Sam Crow 
This was a good deal from the money side of things, and is definitely a "win now" move. Still don't see a lot of pop in the line-up, though. Add to that the potential for less defense at 3rd base that might make last year's mediocre team fielding (#8 in NL) the new normal, an unsettled bullpen, and only 2 reliable, uninjured starters in Lee and Hamels, I'd say Amaro has a lot of work left to do. Still more questions than answers.— ijj- I like both moves.
Revere is a young (and much cheaper) Bourn. People have been asking for youth and we got that.
Young, isn't--but he may be a viable stop gap until something opens in trade, free agency or Ashe comes of age. I do not know what he will bring defensively to 3rd base--but I will keep an open mind and wait to see. Despite an off year last year--he could be a good RH bat in the lineup--offensively he is an upgrade over Polanco and Galvis.— Smoothellc - Banking on Frandsen to be your everyday 3b and put up the same numbers he did last yr is risky, adding M.Young provides you with better offense(i know it's not a lock but i'd say it's more than likely he'll rebound) and at the very least gives you depth options if things go south at the position. If Rube let it be Frandsen or bust, and he struggled, would you really want Galvis/mini-mart as next in line to be the full time starter, i know i wouldn't. Frandsen now becomes a nice fall back option, i think his short line drive type swing could play well as a pinch hitter too. Considering a guy like Youkalis is gonna command a multi yr deal, Young for less money and only one year is a better way to go. Let's hope C.Asche continues progressing and really is our 3b of the future so we don't need another stop gap. Also, to those who are going crazy about losing this kid Bonilla, look up his numbers after the season ended. He's been playing in one of those dominican winter leagues and he's getting rocked every time he takes the mound. Why people are up in arms about losing a guy they've never seen is beyond me. Just like when everyone wanted Cloyd because he put up these great numbers, then you actually see him pitch and you start to realize his ceiling isn't very high. Bonilla might very well be a major league pitcher one day, but they say his mechanics suck, so i'd bet it's more likely he blows his arm out than him becoming a reliable bullpen arm.— Stephen45
- I dont belong to the jump on Amaro club but his continual trading of top prospects is questionable. The Phills have or now had 4 top pitching prospects in the minors, Biddle, Morgan, May and Bonilla. The last two are gone along with D'Arnaud, Singleton and Cosart. Perhaps Watson or someone else will emerge. I understand you have to give something to get something still at some point it can catch up to Phills. Also concerned about Young's defense at 3B. He does project to add good righthanded bat.— Don w
- The Phillies will not be competitve with the Nationals and the Braves in the 2013 season. They can only hope to enter the post season as the final qualifier through the one game Wild Card playoff game. Remember last season they finished 17 games behind the Nats and 13 games behind the Braves. Do Revere and Young make up that kind of deficit? The Nats and the Braves each now have a lehtal combination youth and experience on their teams. They will only get "better and better" as the season progresses. Now searching for an "old" fourth starter the Phillies will only get "Old and Older" as these aging players with declining skill sets just like last season are likely to go on and off the disabled list all season long .— Dull
- Dull is correct. Short of some miraculous infield fountain of youth, no moves have yet put the Phillies ahead of the Nats or Braves. Instead, we're dusting off the yearly "if healthy" banners. I like the Michael Young of 4-5 years ago. For a year and for what the Rangers paid in his salary it's not a bad move. But it's also not a good move to constantly try and buck the odds with aging players. With the moves made so far Amaro really has to go for a power outfielder if he wants to increase those offensive odds. Ruf could be a big part of the power equation but they really need the safety net of a known power hitter. Hamilton is the only real difference maker but I think it's more likely we see a Cody Ross type guy. We also need a starting pitcher and 8th inning guy in my opinion. I really would have liked to see a trade for a younger power guy either at third base or in the outfield. I suppose it's still possible to try and get Justin Upton but that seems like a pretty remote possibility.— s
- Confuscious says: When you build your team around players 35 years old, health issues follow.— Bobphxville
- Thw Braves without Chipper Jones are not going to be the same Braves. The addition of Upton will do little to offset the loss of Jones, Bourn, Ross, Hanson, Jurrjens and Moylan. The Nats played way above their heads last year. The addition of Span does little to help them. The Mets will still be in a state of flux and the Marlins will need a flux capacitor to take them back to the future. The Phils have significantly improved with the additions of Revere and Young and are still in the process of making additions. The Phils were injured last year, and this year promises to be much healthier.— onthebucks
- I guess it's good to be optimistic. I see a team with big offensive holes who added a guy with zero power and a low OBP and another guy who's clearly in decline. I see an existing aging infield that's seen a lot of injuries the past 2-3 years that's suddenly supposed to come in healthy when they're all a year older. I see two aging aces, one who showed some serious issues last year one who seems to have yearly trips to the DL with back problems. I see a 4th starter who has never been predictable as a starter and no clear 5th starter at all. I see a bunch of 7th and 8th inning arms who didn't prove they can be consistent at all.
I'd like it all to work out but I think Amaro better make some other moves if he wants to help the odds. Too many "if's" for me at this point.
I also think the Nats are legitimate contenders. I started the year off thinking they were playing over their heads but they have a very solid team that's also very young. I never discount the Braves, who always seem to have a good pipeline of young players ready to step in.
— s - @Sam Crow: No relation, Sam. I always thought that John Wockenfuss was one of the most obscure Phillies ever. I am combining his name with Von Hayes, giving it a very strong German sound. Any kind of bad losing streak going in the 2013 season and my catch phrase will be: Wockenfuss is going on with this team?— Von Wockenfuss
- how could they be "confident"? --they don't know the first thing about him and have an awful track record in evaluating players ..I don't claim to know much about Michael Young and whether or not he's washed up or can play defense, but one thing I can tell you is that the Phils most definitely don't have a clue ...and people a lot smarter than the brainless imbecile who runs the Phils don't think the Phils got a credible 3rd baseman or that the Phils have done much to bring themseves up from mediocrity..right now the only suspense is whether they can reach .500— warbiscuit
- news alert: brainless imbecile says he thinks maybe perhaps he's confident that someone who once was a good player should perhaps again be a good player again for no other reason other than because he really hopes so and he traded a legit minor league prospect to get him, and because he couldn't figure out anything else to do to get a 3rd baseman so hopefuly maybe for sure this guy should be able to play still a little maybe... heck of a way to put together a baseball team, that's what got the Phils Dontrelle Willis and Thome and Qualls and Wigginton and Schnedier, etc last year— warbiscuit
- Moronic tool loved the Qualls signing and when he pitched liked a dog he said he was misused, LOL what a dope — DogBiscuitthedope
