The best-case scenario is also the likeliest scenaro.

Young comes back give or take a press-conference statement, plays SS, and puts up better offensive numbers than last year.

Not a stretch of the imagination: even if he’d agreed to JD’s initial request to change position, would it have happened before mid-season?

That said, it’s too bad some of these quotes got aired out.

can someone give me any new information that has come out?

maybe i should be, i don’t know…

I think Young is the one who should be embarrassed, either for the fact he’s being unrealistic or naive…

Do you think Teixeira would’ve accepted an 10-year, $200 million contract extension from the Rangers before he was traded?

I forget the timing, had they traded Tex already when they signed MY to the extension? The extension made more sense when Arias was the best SS in the minors. Not that I’d defend giving him that salary number

And how the organization seemingly decided that, since Jarrod Saltalamacchia didn’t like playing first base, they weren’t going to make him play first base anymore, but would just let him catch.

This seems like a GIANT stretch to me.

Nice article otherwise, AJM.

One of your best posts.

less risk for volatility?

I thought the approach they would take was to let Andrus handle SS while Young was playing in the WBC. Maybe that would open some eyes. When Young gets back from WBC, give him a ST off day to watch Andrus play and hopefully they can begin to establish some communication. More like…. take this guy under your wing this ST. I didn’t think they’d push Andrus to the majors at the beginning of the ’09 season.

I’m not all that embarrassed as a Ranger fan. I was more embarrassed about the contract JD had given to Young. Will two wrongs make a right in this case?

I still think Young will be the opening day SS. It will be awkward, and I’m not sure there is any chance Young takes Andrus under his wing during ST. I think now more than ever the Rangers need to get a little more talent in their rotation so they have a little better chance at a wild card to take away the bitterness from this move.

The Rangers are not the only team I live and die for which seems to do nothing right (Aggies, god help me). It is really frustrating to see this level of behavior; I think my biggest problem is before the contract even kicks in it seems the team is just panicing about it, realizing it’s a bad K. I don’t really know what to think, but I am extremely unimpressed with the team and with Michael Young over this mess.

I still think they will kiss and makeup and MY will be the opening day thirdbaseman.

It shouldn’t be embarrassing for the Rangers or their fans. There is still plenty of time for them to come out and say something stupid, but they’ve handled this the right way considering the fact that they didn’t want this coming out publicly. Nolan and JD have come out and said how its best for the team, how they have tired to talk with Young about giving him a bigger role on this team, and JD recently said he was just being honest with Young and didn’t feel he needed to sugar coat it. They are saying the right things here. The door is still open for Young to come back and make nice and the Rangers will accept that with open arms and let this be water under the bridge. The ball right now is in Young’s court and he should be embarrassed with how he has handled this thing.

This is about the fact that the Rangers don’t want Young to play shortstop for them anymore. They believe, and I think rightfully so, that he is no longer Big League capable. Thus they’re saying we want to make room for the kid. Even if he’s not ready. Well he isn’t but a stop gap could be found.

There’s going to egg on everyone’s face but if the Rangers somehow manage to trade him, two years from now JD and company are going to look smart for letting him go.

I guess it’s easy to put to the side how this organization goes out of it’s way to cater to dudes who don’t wanna play hard and be reliable, but it attempts to find those rare gems who play every day and don’t whine and then take advantage of them until they get sick of it and leave. It’s kinda like where I work…the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Management obtains that grease for the squeaky wheel by approaching the desk of the guy who never calls in sick and always gets his work done on time. “Yeah…I’m going to need you to go ahead and move your stuff into storage room B to make room up here. and we’ve got a rat problem down there, so don’t forget your fumigation spray. And I’m gonna need that stapler so I can give it to a guy who’s not going to appreciate it as much.”

at this point, is that the Marlins are a better run organization and have two WS championships to show for it. I hate to sound too negative, but people who are exclusively blaming Young on this and not pointing a finger at management are either naive or stupid. This team’s complete lack of foresight disheartens me to such a great extent that it almost completely tempers my enthusiasm about the incredible farm system it has built.

Sadly, it is stuff like this that makes it less and less likely that JD will be able to reap the benefits of the glut of young talent he has assembled. He simply made too many poor decisions at the onset of his term and he is still paying for them.

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You can’t do that and then, less than two years later, before the contract has even kicked in, decide you made a huge mistake and try to dump him on whomever will take him, even if it means picking up a good chunk of his contract.>

I haven’t seen anything to suggest the Rangers are willing to dump Young and assume some of his contract.

This morning, Norm Hitzges suggested that the Rangers wanted for Young to ask out (to get the contract off the books). I don’t buy it for this main reason: I think JD has a good enough handle on the market to know that Young has negative trade value this offseason.

i have a feeling MY agrees to move to 3B and this whole thing dies. they will bring in some one year stop gap like Vizquel (who I wouldn’t mind being the guy to help usher in the Andrus era) and we will keep with the theme of this offseason. Lots of bark, no bite.

Was that MY would have to move to 3rd at some point in the contract.

Now, do you address that situation with MY before the contract is signed to gauge his response or do you not bring it up because you don’t want to offend the person you’re trying to sign to a contract?

If I recall correctly, MY never started talking about how he wasn’t going to move and was going to be a SS until after he signed the contract. The Rangers saw a player that had moved before so perhaps they assumed he’d move again. However, making an $80MM commitment based on assumptions was probably a huge mistake. This probably should have been something the Rangers figured out before they inked the contract.

Partly because I’m a world away from the metroplex, and partly because I just can’t understand the thinking, but I don’t think this should be a black eye for the team at all. The contract, yes, but not trying to do what it takes to win. MY should have a black eye for being too much of a whiney douche to handle it.

This mess is not all that bad. Ask Jerry Jones

..what is the FO supposed to do at this point? Just accept the fact that they gave him that contract and live with it? Keep him at short because they don’t want to hurt his feelings?

I don’t understand this post at all. I’m not, in any way, embarassed by the Rangers front office because of this. I’m embarassed that they gave him that stupid contract, but that’s not a new thing.

I’m freaking proud that JD and Nolan had the stones to do this. And I’m glad the true colors of an overated player have come to light.

is killing me. They dug this hole when they gave thim that albatross of a contract. They are the reason this is happening. Stop defending them.

That JD and WAS thought MY would move to third without a fight. So I don’t think the FO is trying to get out of his contract or considers it a huge mistake— if that was the case then why even ask him to move? Why not just shop him without asking him about 3rd and not risk lowering his trade value?

If they are thinking “wow this contract sucks how can we get rid of him” they wouldn’t decide the best way to do that is to ask him to move to third knowing he’ll say no and ask for a trade. The best way to get rid of the contract would be to skip the first part and just try and trade him.

This is just one more change in direction from an orginization that can’t pick a direction and stick with it. At least now they have to build from within, because who would sign here long-term?

Messy.

the more I think about it the more I’m not sure I would be very happy for what this may appear to mean about 2009, if I were Young.

This whole let’s-get-ready-for-2010 idea is not very comforting for a player, I would think. Young probably believes the improvement in defense on the left side is minimal, since there is a large learning curve in the jump from AA to ML (which is one of JDs points about the luxury of having good-guy Young on the team to teach Andrus). The Rangers also are letting a good portion of their rotation mature. So, Young is approached with the argument that 2009 will be a year of sacrifice. Not exactly a motivational argument.

Maybe Young can say… my feelings are hurt, but let’s put it behind us. I am not sure Young can say, let’s be a developmental team this year, and really have his heart in it.

they chose to build around him. I’m not absolving MY, he’s acting childish.

Great job AJM!

I want to see the proof that Bradley and Padilla REFUSED to go on the dl.

Yeah, this is ugly and shouldn’t have been publicized. At the same time, why does Mike Young feel like he is above directives of his bosses. This drives me crazy in the sports world. Get a little money and fame and that automatically gives you the right to be above the chain of command? Sorry, I don’t buy into that. I like Mike Young a lot, but IMO he is totally in the wrong on this one.

Young is due $62 million over the next five seasons. That is one of the most untradeable contracts in baseball, and the Nats are inclined to agree: They feel that a $15 million annual salary for a 32-year-old is too steep.

I agree that it is embarrassing, but much of it comes down to one thing – Tom Hicks runs this team like he ran his business. In his take-over industry, you buy companies that you think represent good value – if they do well, you spin them off for cash; if they do badly (or don’t return their expected value), you dump them for whatever you get and take the losses.

Look at those players you’ve mentioned (as well as others before): Pudge, Palmeiro, Juan Gone, Teixeira, Soriano, ARod, Young. All guys at the top of the league. All with big egos. All whose value dipped into the “sell” territory of Hicks’ scheme.

There are several problems with this strategy. First, baseball is a tiny industry with limited players. There isn’t the liquidity for bad assets like there is in the real world, so dumping guys usually is more expensive. Second, the players together are part of a bigger organization (the team), so there is an internal dynamic that is affected by the incessant transactions. This isn’t the case in most of Hicks’ investments – they typically were isolated and didn’t affect one another.

Finally, the big one – the Rangers Brand. Look at that list of players: Pudge, Palmeiro, Juan Gone, Teixeira, Soriano, ARod, Young. All guys who at one time or another were mentioned as possible hall of famers. All guys who sold jerseys. All players who 90% of other clubs would have loved to have. All players who Ranger fans had to learn to live without because of one reason or another.

I can go down that list and say “Yeah, I understand the logic in moving on from him.” But at some point you have to say “We need to keep this guy because he is a Ranger.” Stability matters when building a Brand. You want fans to buy jerseys, not be afraid that the name on the back will be dumped in 2 years. As a fan, what am I supposed to think about Feliz, Holland, Davis, and Teagarden once they are locked into the team?

The Marlins have won 2 World Series in 15 years, yet have no fan base whatsoever. The Rangers have to change their path right now, otherwise they are going to end up the same way.

Enjoyed the read. Well thought out and expressed in a way that showed objectivity as well as love for the team.

Now, here is my thought on the issue:

I agree that this can’t look good for either side at this point. I think that JD looks bad for his handling of the situation but I think MY looks bad because he comes across as a bit “whiney”. There is no real upside, in my opinion.

The other thing that this does, as Adam mentioned, is it makes the contract look downright ridiculous. My thought on this has always been the same. I will probably come across as a JD-apologist but, here goes…

The deal was made at a time when Hicks was taking a lot of flak from every direction including the Ranger fans. I think that Daniels probably wanted to rid himself of some of the talk about him being replaced/fired. Add those two things together and you come up with Hicks wanting to get people on his side by locking up the fan favorite and JD saying “Yes sir, Boss.” That is probably not exactly how it went down but I think it is logical to feel this was in each person’s mind.

Now, fast forward to 2008 and Nolan is now the buffer between JD and Hicks. JD and Nolan agree on the Young move because, quite simply, it makes sense (baseball-wise). Nolan can explain to Hicks what they want to do and how it will benefit the team. Hicks now has a ’baseball man" in control of the situation and is likely to be protected from the scrutiny of a move like this.

Ta da! Hicks idea of a good move gets blamed on JD and Hicks is no longer the target of the fans ire.

Kinda feel for JD because he will be blamed for this and nothing he does will be right from now on in many people’s eyes. He will end up being forced out of here and will go on to another team that is trying to build from within and will do a decent job of it. Then, four years down the road, when some of the players that Daniels traded for, drafted, signed from latin american countries, etc. begin to show up and do something on the big stage, everyone will complain about the current GM and how we should have kept JD because he knew how to build a team.

I love being a Ranger fan….it’s always something…

move……to…..3rd.

Channel 175 if you have XM (MLB Live).

He was either too inexperienced or too chummy with Young and didn’t foresee that Young would request a trade. We all knew Young would be “reluctant”, but this appears to be more intense than JD anticipated. He didn’t proactively manage his initial conversation to avoid such an outcome, and he’s been on the defensive and trying to apologize in every way except to actually apologize ever since. It clearly just did not cross his mind that Young would request a trade, or if it did, he clearly did not prepare for that possibility.

8 minutes.

I am certainly embarrassed for both sides. Neither one handled the situation very well.

JOhn freaking Hart

says that the Rangers have been “trying to trade him for quite a while…”

Chances are not great for a trade…Yankees might be a possibly, Arod and Tex love Young…Yanks could look into trading Cano for a CF…

I never read where the Rangers were going to push Teixeira to DH if Delgado was signed. The idea was to move Teixeira to move to right field. When Teixeira didn’t think much of that deal, Delgado was told he would have to DH, he signed with Florida. A little fiction there.

a manager with balls. Buck would have caved and let Young have his way. (Remember Soriano?)

It didn’t seem to work until A-Rod was named captain. Can we get Zack to have somebody stitch a “C” on our #10 jerseys?

listened on the way home to see what the local radio had to say and I was shocked at how well thought out and rational rhyner and corby were.
Rhyner apparently actually follows prospects now mentioning baseball americas rankings, etc. they commented that young isnt what he once was and he could possibly become (or alluded to already has become) a lockeroom problem.

Then the callers start with the typical “hes a gold glove shortstop” rant.
I nearly burst out laughing when rhyner mentioned the good prospects and the guy goes “yeah but did baseball america say we had top pitching prospects? cus thats what we need is sum pitchin”

Young didn’t move to second base because of A-Rod. He was already playing quite a bit of second in the Blue Jays’ system. In fact, when Young was brought up for a couple of games in 2000 (before A-Rod) it was as a second baseman.

I think the only reason that Young played short at Tulsa was because they had Romano at second and no one at short.

You’ve called countless times for MY to be moved to 3rd base. How would you have handled it differently? Sure it’s embarrassing that it has blown up this way but this is a course of action you have been whole-heartedly in favor of. MY’s reaction is what’s making this a fiasco. He should have voiced these feelings to the Front-office, not to the press.