But it is absolutely absurd to put all the blame on one party; to me, it’s clear that both Michael Young and the Texas Rangers could have handled this in a better way.

but that does not in any way equal Rangers management bungling. It equals Young being prideful, perhaps selfish. It equals the organization being in a tough situation with a declining player. The organization bungled the contract extension, not asking Young to change positions.

This entire situation is just ugly. Im pissed at Young for not sucking up his pride and just doing what he is told and especially for running to the media to cry about it. However, we all have seen how Tim Hicks runs shit around here and probably all agree that its pretty messed up and way inconsistent. Im a huge fan of JD (but hate TH) and can also see why Young is frustrated. As Mr. BlueBallLefty put it to me, if my boss came to me and told my I was going to be cleaning toilets from now on, then I would quit. I would loose my contract and would be out looking for a job, and sure, i would be pissed. But thats the reality of it. Its a job and Im an employee, just like FOTF is an employee.

Oh yeah, i wish i could kick Gallodouch in the nuts so hard that he chocked on them!!

Shocking, I know.

Greg Ellis.

Full conversation here.

Exactly. You proved my point. Recent moves. You think JD isn’t taking Ryan’s advice. I guarantee you Nolan is running that whole front office. JD is a nutcase.

I would say this might be Josey Whales, but this guy is for real, I’m pretty certain. This is in reference to the Teixeira trade, which he’s also already said was only good because we got rid of Teixeira.

The Rangers announced that it has invited six minor leaguers to major league spring training: pitchers Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland, infielders Elvis Andrus and Justin Smoak and catchers Manny Pina and Kevin Richardson.

For the record, the Rangers had already decided this and are announcing it today. The timing of inviting Andrus and announcing it today has nothing to do with the Young news getting leaked the last few days.

The Rangers now have 12 official non-roster invitees to spring training. The first workout is scheduled for Feb. 15 for pitchers and catchers.

Bad management is asking someone to do something when only one answer is acceptable. You think things are bad now, imagine if they asked, Young said no, and the team moved him anyway.

If you’ve decided on a course of action, take it.

You guys must be forgetting American Idol is on tonight? HELLLLLO.

I am really going to miss Evan Grant….love him or hate him, at least he makes an attempt at reason (95% of the time).

It seems that most disinterested writers/reporters are coming down against MY’s actions, but not the writers in Texas. This isn’t a hard a fast rule. Here’s the observation from walkoffwalk, just a couple guys who write about baseball:

HOW badly has Michael Young messed up with his actions of the past couple days. His pouting has only focused a harsher light on the fact that his skills are in decline and he’s going to be making waaaay too much money for the next 4 years. How much longer does Jon Daniels have in Arlington anyway? That organization is a mess.

I don’t agree, but it is a disinterested observation.

Yesterday I was listening to MLB Homplate. The host (wish I knew who) was interviewing someone who knew a little about Andrus. The host suspected that this might be a ploy to get out of MY’s contract, while the interviewee didn’t buy off on it and said Andrus has the possibility of being a special defensive SS. But of course, that’s talk radio with the point being discussion/disagreement.

I think that is as high as you can go

OPS is a “geek” stat. OPS is “OBS” : all BS

He also thinks that getting a few pitchers in here would make Michael Young a better SS.

I’ve never looked at MLB.com’s comment section, but that combined with the comments sections of the online DFW newspapers indicate a vast dislike for JD among the more casual fan. However, I would have to say that most of the people here (who aren’t really casual fans) are OK with JD.

On the other hand, it seems like the serious Cowboys fans here aren’t huge fans of JJ (although it might be more split) but it seems (I might be wrong) that the casual fan likes JJ.

What gives? Is it just because the casual fan can’t/won’t look beyond winning% and playoff appearances? Or maybe my perception from 800 miles away is inaccurate.

all this shit came out with MY. I really had my doubts about JD and Nolan asking him to make the move. Not only did they do it though, they did it a year earlier than I expected. Get all this shit out of the way now. The sooner MY is moved to 3B or that contract is dealt the better. Although I would like it if he stayed and stopped being such a giant vagina and just played 3B. It will be near impossible to move that contract and get any value for him and then people will just have more to bitch about with the Rangers unloading their all star players.

I thought MY would have a problem with being asked to move again, but I never thought he would make this big of a deal out of it. Still, It would be a little sad to see him play for another team. He had been my favorite Ranger since Pudge left, ’til last year.

Seriously, I’ve never read so many comments in so many threads. It is hard to keep up with this. So can this hopefully be done……soon?

And I thought it was the Angels that ended its off season badly.

TR’s new post on MLB.com?

Sorry if it was posted elsewhere, but it said something interesting:

It is also not guaranteed that Andrus will be the Opening Day shortstop. The Rangers still have Joaquin Arias as an alternative.

So, the move for MY is not a question of when… it’s now… whether Elvis is ready or not.

But..Let’s see. You have this guy on your team, the consummate “team player”. He has switched positions before to help the team, played through injuries and has become the “Face of the Franchise” in the process. However, at the same time his production at the plate has steadily been in decline and he has always been a very average fielder at short.

So now the team has a hot, up and coming short stop whom they believe could be ready for the big leagues in 2009, whom they want to have major league experience for 2010, a year they are gearing towards being a legitimate contender. Supposedly he is a playmaker on defense, has a great work ethic and all the coaches and scouts are high on him. Add to this the fact that the team is currently unsure of what to do at third base, either short term or long term. Neither Metcalf nor Blalock are the answer.

J.D. and the rest of management looks at the situation and determines that perhaps moving Young to third would fix two problems at once: Young could be a decent third basemen and you bring up your young shortstop to learn under the bright lights. The problem: your ultimate team player balks at the request and demands a trade. He cites his 5 time all-star status at short and his recent gold glove. He says how he has always sacrificed for the team and now it’s time for this team to make it up to him and respect his wishes.

Nevermind the fact that he is being seriously overpaid as a top short stop in MLB, when his numbers have been on a steady decline and are well below the elite level. Pay no attention to the All-Star numbers, since every MLB team is required to have someone at the game. So for a few of those selections, Young was just the best player on a crappy team.

At some point in all this, the Rangers need to stand firm in their vision for the direction they want this franchise to go. You can’t fault a G.M for at least striving to reach a goal of fielding a contending team, and for trying to get it’s best young players experience. If some of those moves don’t work, you learn from it and move on…..but at least they tried. By my count, at least this team is trying something to break away from mediocrity is spite of Tom Hicks. They need to stand by their decision and not worry about kissing the overpaid hiney of M. Young.

And Mr. Young: I have always like you. I have two of your jerseys and got your autograph last year. You werer a nice guy and accommodating to the fans. That’s why this stand of yours tastes so bad. Think about it, and really try to figure out what is best for both yourself, and the team that is paying you more than anyone else possibly would.

Jon Heyman’s latest

I do think it is a tall order to ask him to do it for a guy who hadn’t played above AA and add on top of that that Young would be expected to mentor his replacement. How many times has that scenario ever happened?

I don’t know if Hicks completely ruled out bringing in a veteran FA, or if that was a decision made largely by JD. I think they might have had less likelihood of a trade demand had they explained their desire to improve the left-side of the infield by bringing in a veteran player who was a credible improvement over Young.

It’s foolish to think would’ve happily said ‘yes’ under any circumstance, and I do think that groveling would’ve been of no help, but JD et al. are not without blame in asking Young to do something that is very, very rarely asked of All Star players, if it has ever been requested at all.

http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/01/daniels-answers-more-questions.html

The birdman

That is some absolutely atrocious officiating right there.

Billups clearly led with the leg, and Denver clearly fouled Dirk on that last pass.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.