Breaking down the Phillies' signing of Delmon Young
The Phillies announced that they have signed Delmon Young to a one-year, $750,000 contract. Here's why the move makes some sense for the Phillies.
Breaking down the Phillies' signing of Delmon Young
David Murphy
The Phillies announced that they have signed Delmon Young to a one-year, $750,000 contract.
Here's why the move makes some sense for the Phillies.
1) He is a career .307/.341/.483 hitter against left-handed pitching, including .308/.333/.500 last year.
2) He is better against righties than John Mayberry Jr. (.232/.302/.379 career line for Mayberry, .275/.307/.401 career line for Young).
3) While he is three years removed from his best campaign as a big leaguer, when he hit .298/.333/.493 with 21 home runs for the Twins in 2010, he will be just 27 years old this season.
4) The Phillies sure could use more right-handed power, and Young would provide an option, presumably at a cheap price.
That being said, Young is obviously an imperfect solution to an imperfect situation. He has had two straight below-major-league-average seasons, posting a .707 OPS and 89 OPS+ in 2012 and a .695 OPS and 90 OPS+ in 2011. He has played exclusively in left field since 2008, and we use the word "played" loosely, because Young is a notoriously bad defender. Which, of course, means that the Phillies could enter the season with three corner outfielders who have serious question marks on defense in Darin Ruf, Domonic Brown and Youg. It also gives the Phillies two right-handed bats in left field, and John Mayberry Jr. as the likely right-handed counterpart to balance out Domonic Brown in right field and back-up center fielder Ben Revere.
I haven't thought this through too deeply, but my initial thought is that this means Freddy Galvis likely starts the season in the minors, since Kevin Frandsen would fill the utility role, joining Mayberry, Young, Laynce Nix and Erik Kratz on the bench.
Delmon will be this years Dontrelle!— larryv- Young makes sense for the Phillies and only the Phillies because Amaro loves him some free swining, low on base, never walk, high outmaking players. It's as if he is trying to accumulate a roster of players who have accomplished the dubious feat of having an OBP lower than .300 in a season. Great news for opposing starting pitchers as they breeze through the line up, barely breaking a sweat, smiling and laughing on the mound. Middle relievers for opponents can take the day off and everyone gets home at a nice decent hour. Only Amaro! The guy has no grasp on simple math or how the sport works i.e. try to avoid making outs, not seek out the guys who make outs at the highest rates in the league.— jtj06
- "Imperfect solution to an imperfect situation". Incomprehensible, but profound. Seems the Phils have become a team that lacks direction and identity. Our 2013 season has become one of high risk, low reward.— LI PhilPhan
- Jr.is really scraping the bottom of the barrel
IT IS WHAT IT IS!— frank martino - NEGADELPHIA,AS USUAL.WE DON'T WIN ANYTHING BECAUSE OF THE FANS HERE THAT ASSUME THAT THEY KNOW MORE THAN FOLKS THAT ARE ACTUALLY PAID TO LOOK AT AND EVALUATE TALENT. IF THEY DON'T DO WHAT YOU LIKE, HERE COMES THE NAME CALLING INSTEAD OF OFFERING ANY SOLUTIONS OF YOUR OWN. BUT EASIER TO CALL PROFESSIONAL OWNERS OR TALENT EVALUATORS NAMES TO HAVE YOUR SENSE OF SATISFACTION, AINT IT? ARE ANY ONE OF YOU OWNERS, GMS OR COACHES? IF NOT THEN YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY DEAL WITH ON A DAILY BASIS.WONDER HOW MOST OF YOU WOULD FEEL IF YOUR JOB WAS OUT THERE IN TTHE PUBLIC AND YOU HAD A BUNCH OF POSTERS TELLING YOU HOW STUPID OR IGNORANT YOU WERE AND TOSSING NAMES AT YOU....NO QUESTION THE ABSOLUTE WORST UNGRATEFUL FANS IN ANY CITY IN THE WORLD.— antmry312
- Hey shouter! Other teams pay people to judge talent and win games too and as far as I can tell, no National League team has acquired two DHs this offseason except for the Phillies. Nobody wants Delmon Young because he is a 1/2 tool player (above average power). The Rangers pay Jon Daniels to make the calls and he has a pretty good track record. He is willing to pay Michael Young $10 million to play for the Phillies this year. Can't stand these all-caps shouters who think they know more than all the successful professional talent evaluators in baseball from watching the tragic novice Amaro.— jtj10
- The Phillies have created a real comic possibility with the names of their outfielders. They could have an outfield that is young, brown and ruf. Or, if that doesn't work, they can nix that plan. I was hoping for them to sign Michael Bourne so they could have an outfield that was bourne young brown and ruf! Now all they have to do is try to locate former infielder Randy Ready and you could have a team that is both ruf and ready. And they already have a team that is young young thanks to having Michael as well as Delmon.— gotedge
