Michael Young has finally had enough of his ever-changing role in Texas – shortstop? third base? second base? first base? DH? – and he’s ready to move on. Surely the Rangers anticipated his frustration when they added first Adrian Beltre and then Mike Napoli, leaving Young without a clear starting spot.
The Texas Rangers have told infielder Michael Young(notes) they will attempt to trade him in the coming days, according to a source familiar with those conversations, in part because Young has grown disillusioned with his diminished role on the team.
The Rangers are known to have been in contact with the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels. The Rockies are believed to be Young’s most likely destination. The Rangers probably would rather not trade Young to the Angels, who share the American League West, but also would like to heed the wishes of Young, a loyal and productive player for a decade.
Both the Angels and Rockies would ask for salary relief in order to offset Young’s contract. He is due $48 million over the next three seasons. Yahoo! Sports.
The Rockies have reportedly asked the Rangers to eat at least $20 million of Young’s deal, which would leave them paying him about $9 million per year over the next three seasons – still a high price. Sufficiently high, in fact, that even if the Rangers were willing to eat that much of Young’s deal to move him, I doubt the Cubs could take him on.
I know this is a pipe dream but if I was Hendry I would at least try( I would like his job, really wouldn’t want to be him though)
Young X 3 yrs at 16 million = 48
Soriano X 4yrs at 19 million = 72
what if we threw in 9 million(to off set the gain for sori over the next 3 years) and a prospect or two..
or Big Z(2 years at 38 million) for young and the Rangers throw in a prospect or 2…I think we would be better with Young at the top of the order and a rotation of Garza, Dempster, Wells, Cashner, and Whoever….problem is Z has no trade…
like I said..a pipe dream
id say throw in soriano…open a outfield position to develop colvin or jackson… it would at least fill in a void at 2b…
It’s too bad, the minute the Cubs showed any interest in Young, Nolan Ryan’s mind would instantly forget every player in the Cubs system aside from Andrew Cashner. The Cubs don’t have the money for Young, and no way to free up money, even if the Rangers pay part of his salary. Zambrano absolutely would not waive his no trade clause to go to Texas, nobody is going to touch Soriano, and I don’t think Marlon Byrd would be enough compensation for Young or a large enough contract off the Cubs books. There are way too many obstacles to acquiring Young, even if it was feasible to bring him to Chicago at age 31 with 3 years and 16+million a year on his contract.
the way I understood it was that Zambrano was willing to waive it last year but now as changed his mind…wonder if it was Lou…either way a lineup of Young, Castro, Byrd, Pena, Ramirez, Colvin, Soriano and Soto..would be so much better than with the Baker /DeWitt combo..and Texas needs a starter..
The Cubs need to be creative here to try and make this work. Hendry has done that with the additions this winter. I have been saying that adding Michael Young to this lineup would be huge! He is a career .300 hitter and averages close to 90 RBI a year. The Rangers would like infield depth…so DeWitt, Fukodome and a pitching prospect for Young and Chris Davis plus cash. The Rangers could use Fuko as a 4th outfielder and DeWitt would give the team young depth in the infield. The Cubs could play Young at 2B and have Chris Davis as a backup to Ramirez at 3rd and depth at 1B.
Mike Fern of MLB radio made a good suggestion on Friday. He suggested Fukudome, Dewitt and a C prospect to Texas For Young and they pay half of Youngs contract half this year.
Why just this year? That still leaves the Cubs on the hook for $32 million to Young over the last two years of his deal – that’s an absurd amount if the Rangers are off the hook after 2011 AND they get DeWitt and a prospect.
Sorry I meant the Cubs would only pay 16 mil total over the last 2 yrs of his contract. We maybe able to get a prospect of it too, Anything can happen duing trade talks.
That’s a little more palatable. Still unlikely, I’d think.
Here is the reason I like this is Young is a real leader in the clubhouse and I am pretty sure he can put up similar numbers in Chicago as he does in Texas.
The Rangers have been trying to trade Young for a while this offseason. They want to get rid of him. He wants out. The Cubs should offer them an equal trade in terms of contracts, or offer them prospects but have the Rangers pay Young’s entire contract.
If the Cubs could get the Rangers to pay 80% of his deal, it would be beneficial to the Cubs (and might stand a chance of being approved by the Ricketts). Any less than that, and Young just isn’t worth it to this Cubs team.
I would like to know if we are just jerking around here or if the Cubs might actually get into the conversation with Texas…from what I read they are definately going to trade him….Fuku and such won’t get it done unless we include a significant prospect….
Fuku ALONE could get it done if the Cubs were will to take on enough of Young’s contract. That’s really the only relevant issue – the Rangers want out from under the deal. It’s not about talent, it’s about dumping the contract (Young is not the guy he was five years ago). If, on the other hand, the Cubs expected the Rangers to eat most of his contract, THEN they’d have to include a significant prospect or two. But only then.
Because of the Cubs’ severe financial constraints at this point, I don’t see an actual fit. But when a team is as clearly desperate to move a player as the Rangers are, it’s always worth kicking the tires.
The Cubs still think they can contend this year and he fills a hole they arguably have. Unless a lot of players have career years there’s a couple of contracts that will probably get dumped by July in Silva and Fuk. Sori and Z’s trade value depends on their first three months’ production, their mental states and how the Cubs are doing. The Cubs also have a ton of middle tier prospects they can throw in to sweeten the deal and not hurt the system. So the point is the money is the only real issue (which the Cubs don’t have). But they definitly have enough names and contracts they want to to dump to put some different proposals on the table. The only thing is that Hendry, by his own admission, considers his offseason successful and done. I’d imagine he’s not very motivated to make any more changes until at least the end of March which means Young probably goes to the Rockies or another team we haven’t heard of yet.
Just a thought…
Cubs offer: Fukudome, Samardzija, Wellington Castillo (Hill’s gonna end up the backup anyway), and Baker
For: Michael Young and Chris Young.
Work the money so each team spends what they expect to before such a trade for this year, second and third year the Rangers pay $6 mill, let Ramirez walk, Young to third, DeWitt to second, still planty of money to go after the next first baseman with what, 30-some million (ARam/Silva/Fuku) of this years payroll becoming 10 (Young) with little loss to the lineup. And surely the Rangers would give a hard throwing young pitcher a look if he comes free and clear, right? (Suggesting the Cubs go ahead and take the loss on Shark). And of course they’d get outfield, infield and catching depth too, and save 20 million on Young.
Like I said, just a thought.
I can’t believe that so many people are sold on the idea of adding a mid 30′s middle infielder at 16 million a year for the next three years. The Cubs are just now able to see the light at the end of the financial tunnel they’ve been under since Soriano signed and everyone wants to shovel dirt on the opening. Michael Young is good and a sure upgrade, but adding another long term high dollar contract should not be on Chicago’s radar unless the guy is in his prime. He is not the final piece to this year’s team winning the world series, and adding him only takes away most of the financial freedom that the expiring Fukudome and Silva contracts will bring next winter.
Well said. That again is probably why Hendry will pass for now. On the other hand, by mid March the situation may become desperate and the Cubs could find a real bargain. But as I said before, the Rangers will probably have to eat more than half his salary and send him to a team we haven’t heard of yet.
You’re missing the point. The Cubs should only trade for Young if the Rangers pick up all, or most, of his contract.
If that’s the case, then I believe it would cost the Cubs someone who they aren’t really willing to give up. If Texas eats most of the contract, they are going to want a pretty good return, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to give up a top prospect or Andrew Cashner after giving up so much for Matt Garza, at least not until June and we have a better idea of if this team is going to compete or not.
That would be great if we could get them to eat most of his salary but somebody will pick him up if they can get him for 5-6 mil a year. The Cubs don’t even have that right now and the Rangers want to dump salary more than they want prospects or swapped contracts. I just don’t see it happening. Just my opinion.
after further examining Youngs numbers he’s not the answer..he is a good player..but his stats away from Arlington suck…so after starting the day thinking it would be a great idea, I have done a flip flop…only if the Rangers take some of our toxic assets back….i.e Fuku….Big Z..Silva…or the most toxic asset of them all …Soriano…who sits with 4 years and 76 million remaining…does anyone know if there is anyway to get out from under this contract?….is there any conditions which would allow the Cubs to terminate it (ie. drug dealing, murder, catching him with a prostitute, age falsification)…
If you take money out of the equation, I’m not convinced I’d rather have Young on the 2011 than Soriano – that’s how concerned I am with Young’s splits.
You’re kidding, right? Getting rid of Soriano’s contract for almost anything would make the Cubs better.
You’re kidding, right? The first words of my comment: “If you take money out of the equation…”
Exactly. Even if the money were not a factor, just getting rid of Soriano would be a plus.
The Cubs should only go after Young if they are getting a bargain they can’t refuse. I believe we should keep the team we have and see where we are at by mid season. If we are out of any race then do our best to trade off the guys who’s salaries will be ending this year. We haven’t won a World Series in over a century, so why would you want to keep your team in a financial stranglehold for a player your not so sure will get you to the promise land? If we are still in it after say June, then make a few more trades, but if we aren’t, then at least we can say next year will be the year we go after some players with a lot of cash in our pockets. All I’m saying is that right now, we do know that we can bring in some huge talent next year, are we willing to possibly put that off a few years for a good (not great) player now?
I think they should move Alfonso back to second base, and let Colvin play left field. Second base is his natural position, and while he doesn’t have the fielding ability he once had, he might actually be a lot more productive there.
It’s funny, but I think this option might actually kill two birds with one stone. Even though the old adage says keep moving defensively challenged players farther from the strike zone, (and left field is as far away as possible, short of the stands and the bull pen in some fields), moving him back to second might re-awaken his glory days with the Yankees when he was a feared power hitter and base runner. It also might prematurely end his career which could lead to a financial settlement and answer one of the previous posters’ question of how to get out of that contract.
The easiest defensive position to play is 1B.