Phillies confident Young can rebound
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Phillies confident Young can rebound
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.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
It's not everyday a gm lists 'productive outs' as a reason for signing a guy. Guess the Jim Thome experiment hasn't scarred Rube- young is bait to get josh hamilton. can have him play a corner outfield spot with revere in center and he is not the only star so not crazy pressure. add in michael young from his former team to make him comfortable and you've got an environment he could be successful in.— illadelphson
- OK, now lets get Josh Hamilton.— zeke128
- Please god no. Everyone (should) agree that the Ryan Howard contract is an albatross, a huge mistake that cannot be rectified. Now instead of learning from that mistake, we are going to make the same exact one with 4 year contract to a 32 year old outfielder. He will live up to his 20-25 million/year price tag for one, maybe two years and then we will have two declining power hitters making $50 million/year total and no budget room to improve the team. Long term contracts to power hitters already in their decline does not work out for the team 95% of the time. — PhillyCRNA
- the second trade was way better than the first but, let's see the next move. hopefully another ranger hitter is what i want.— wildgreenman
- F the WAR stats. This guy's a gamer and is exactly what this team needs. Maybe J-Pop won't sulk as much with Young around to give him the sh*t eye once and a while...— Sam Crow
- Thinly veiled racist post. — PhillyCRNA
- Too bad the Rangers didn't drop all that dough on Greinke.— escapedcamden4monterey
- Both moves are fine if if if they have just decent years as long as the RF is a power hitter and they can get some 6in. 5th starter and a reliever. Then I actually think, with the Lord's help, they could challenge the Nats and Braves. Knowing Philly, something will happen....like Al Capp's guy with the black cloud over his head.— Koons
- Those that don't like any moves the Phils ever make will continue to complain. Those with an open mind will wait to see how things play out. Someone want to show me where all these future stars the Phils are trading are making a difference on someone elses roster. They are called prospects for a reason.— dond2885
- I think the huge hinge-factor is whether utley, howard and halladay rebound or continue to decline. if they are out for much of the season and/or don't produce, it's going to be, in all probability, a disappointing year.— doc35
- Ah, but if they're all healthy…..— Joe at the shore
- Reading that article clearly supports my long-time assertion that Ruben Amaro doesn't understand baseball or numbers. The guy had the third worst season of any player in 65 years and Rube looks at that and says his numbers were "still pretty darn good"?!?!?! He must have mistaken the slugging percentage (.370) for on base percentage, because .370 would be pretty good for OBP and probably better than anyone the Phillies had. Otherwise, he is just a clueless ex-bat boy and player playing GM with the silent partner's money.— jtj10
- i sure hope im wrong. i try to look at each move objectively but im not loving either move so far. even if michael young is the young of 2011, this team likely isnt good enough- and you gave up a reliver who could help you the next 7 years- if they had dumped schwimmer instead of giving up bonilla id have no problem with it- nice move by the Texas gm dumping salary, saving ron Washington from himself, and getting a couple arms.— jim715
