Lets take another crack at this. In the last 72 hours, the Rangers have let Michael Young go, Zach Greinke sign with the LA Dodgers, and James Shields be traded to the Royals. This is a pretty big blow to the organization but I don't feel as though it's time to jump off the ship. I feel like writing a little on Mike and how much and how little impact he had on this decision.
Michael Young. Mr. Ranger. Face. Man this guy has been around for a while. 12 seasons of being a full time player. I really do love this guy. Everyone does. I have not spoke of him recently in the most favorable light as of late, but it sucks that he is gone. I kinda wanted to maybe try and get back in the swing of writing a small blog, but mainly I wanted to evaluate my feelings on Mike being gone. Well, here it goes.
The first contributing factor to Michael Young moving to the northeastHe started at second, moved to short a few years later (where he won a gold glove), was told to play third, then to round it all out, was told to play everything in the infield just about. His career numbers are not something to blow off. He has been an everyday player his whole career, a .301 batting average, and an 8 time All Star...aside from owning almost every non-pitching record for the Rangers organization. But his career numbers couldn't save Mike from what this has come to. This last year for him was pretty awful. I think that I heard several times that he was the worst DH in several years. But the problem was he wasn't a true DH, he was used from first to third, at an overly consistent rate. Michael's glove was pretty bad. What was worse is that the players he was replacing were known for having exceptional gloves. Nothing made me more irate than seeing Michael play 3rd for Beltre for 25 games...I guess he was giving Beltre a little rest, but it drove me crazy seeing Mike make awful misses while out 4 time gold glove (2 in the last 2 years for the Rangers) sit on the bench. We'll leave it at that.
The second piece of Michael's game that has caused this change was his hitting. His bat was equally atrocious. The reoccurring theme that I remember for Mike at the plate was that he could hardly hit the ball out of the infield. His batting average was a modest .277, but his slugging % (a stat that is figured by the total bases (single = 1, double = 2, ect.) and dividing it by total at bats) was more revealing. Slugging, or SLG, is a way to try to see productivity of a batter, higher means they were hitting the ball well enough to reach more bases, such as doubles to home runs. Young's slugging was .370, showing that he was not getting many extra base hits when he was making contact with the ball. He walked only 33 times, 3/4's of what his career walk average has been. Thus contributing to his lowest On Base Percentage in ten years. One over-arching stat that many rely on for a quick evaluation is WAR. WAR is short for Wins Above Replacement. It is a quick figure that says how good a player's performance is compared to the average replacement player. Meaning if a player for instance has a 10.7 WAR, such as Mike Trout's phenomenal year, Trout is considered to be responsible for 10.7 of the Angels total wins for 2012. Michael Young touted a miserable -2.4, essentially saying he was single handedly responsible for a total of 2.4 losses. It wasn't a few bad games that Young had that accumulated this stat, it was his entire season. Take it or leave it for what it is, but with the logic of Michael was responsible for 2.4 losses, replacing him would have netted us that many wins, which would have been enough to overcome the A's and win the division...at least securing us a best of 5 playoff instead of the one and done. There are more stats that show how Michael's performance at the plate was lacking, but most I don't fully understand enough to explain in this blog or even explain to myself.
So on to the third, and probably biggest reason Mike's going to be a Phillie in 2013, Ron Washington. I love Wash. I think he's a great motivator, a good inspiration to the players, and is very stubborn. I don't always agree with his decision, but he gets the players to go all out for him. They back him fully. And Ron does the same for them. This is great, but how does it lead to Young getting a one way ticket to Pitt? Ron was fiercely loyal to making sure Michael Young got plate appearances, and play in the field as much as possible. Michael's primary position was as the designated hitter, making 72 starts. But he did play more games in the infield, non battery (pitcher and catcher), positions. There is no way Wash wasn't aware of Mike's plate production and fielding. But Washington always said he would stick by Michael Young, no matter what. At one point he made the allegory that if Michael Young was a sinking ship, he was going down with him. Man...that's extremely admirable, but hard to argue that it's the right move. I believe it had something to do with when Ron came out and admitted testing positive for cocaine a few years ago, Michael Young was the first to step forward in support for Washington. That's great...it really is, but there has to come a point where you have to set aside your feelings and emotions and act objectively. It was painful when realized Michael Young wasn't stepping out of this slump, and was regularly starting in the field. But I sincerely believe Michael Young could have had a .240 batting average, and would still play just as much as he did. I'm sure Wash was given more than one stern talking to by people of various levels above him about handling the Young situation. Like I said before, it's admirable how Wash felt towards Michael...but what's always right isn't always right.
I guess I kinda used this as means to make the fact of Michael Young no longer being a Ranger a little easier to swallow, but it hasn't really. If you have entered into discussions about Michael Young's performance as a Ranger these past few months, I would have staunchly argued that he was better not being a Ranger, than being one. I still believe this is true, but the guy was the team when there was no hope for the organization. One thing I purposely left out because I don't think it deserves the attention it has gotten was Young's $16 million salary. Yes, it is excessive for someone who has put up the productive career numbers that he has, but being the pure leader of the team for years and being fairly productive for most of his career earned him that. Therefore, I believe it didn't have as much to lead to this decision. It sucks that he wont remain a Ranger until he retires. But it really comes down to are you more of a Michael Young fan or a Ranger fan, and I go with the latter and believe it was the right decision.
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