I'm hearing, and now reading, reports the Rangers may trade Michael Young in the next few days. It looks like the Rockies or Angels (please dear God, not the Angels) may be getting one of the most stand-up guys in baseball and a great team player, not to mention a productive one.
This from Tim Brown on Yahoo Sports, "Young, 34, came to the major leagues in 2001 as a second baseman, was moved to shortstop when the Rangers traded for Alfonso Soriano, then to third when Elvis Andrus arrived from the minors two seasons ago. The Beltre signing appeared to push Young off the field entirely, to designated hitter."
I'll do more on this tonight when I've had some time to think about it, but Michael Young IS the Texas Rangers. If Adrian Beltre pulls one of his "Hey, I just signed a big contract, I think I'll suck for a few years" acts, I'll be leading the boos at the Ballpark. If Mike Napoli puts up a whopping .230 average as a DH, I'll be the one throwing my World Series cap on the field in protest.
This sucks.
I was already laughing at Daniels for signing Beltre, the winner of the offseason's worst transaction, but now it's causing Young to understandably ask for a trade since the team is pushing him away. What the hell are they thinking? Napoli's a decent hitter at least, but his bat's more valuable behind the plate.
ReplyDeleteI just realized how the quote came through on the email post. I'll fix that tonight.
ReplyDeleteI've been following this for a while, and it saddens me. I agree with you Michael Young is the Rangers. He's stuck by the franchise through thick and thin and this is his reward? I've read one Rangers site where the "experts" site WAR as the reason why the Rangers should ship off Young and hope to get Dexter Fowler in exchange. All I know is right know Dexter Fowler is no better than Borbon and WAR is full of it (WAR would lead you to believe that Blyleven was better than Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax).
ReplyDeleteI don't understand a lot of what the Rangers have done this off-season. I'm not a fan of Beltre. The dude won't let you touch his head, and sucks it up until he's up for a contract. And can't figure out why JD, Nolan (crossing my figures I avoid the bolt of lightning), and Chuck are willing to pay Beltre $16 M per year but won't pay Josh the $12 that he is asking for. On top of that they're running the Rangers' Captain out of town. Management has to hope for a return to the post season at least or will suffer the consequences of the fans backlash.
It's hard to suck offensively in Texas, so I'm not too worried about Beltre. He should be able to at least put up his middling Dodgers numbers without breaking any more of a sweat than the late July/August Texas heat will already cause.
ReplyDeleteDon't even get me started on Hamilton. They say they are close to a deal so I'll reserve judgement until then.
ReplyDeleteThe business of baseball sucks... I feel for you, Young IS the Rangers, just as Carl Crawford WAS the Rays... It sucks. At least your team didn't sign Manny... Oh brother.
ReplyDeleteI'd hate to see MY go, he's such a great guy and ballplayer and fan favorite. But ooohhh if he did go the Angels.....
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