Anyway, I somehow stumbled upon this. And while I feel it doesn't warrant a response, I'm going to respond to it anyway.
This is where the true "nugget" comes:
Young is 34 and hasn’t played shortstop since 2008. His batting average, on-base percentage, slugging average and OPS all went down last year. He is owed $16 million in each of the next three seasons.
Which is exactly what makes him such a good target.Okay, so to recap, Young is 34 -- an age where players typically exit their prime. And hey, his stats are declining. Oh yeah, and he's only played at third base the last two seasons, and clearly doesn't have the range of even an average shortstop. Lastly, he's owed $16MM over the next three seasons. To put that into context, that would make him the Giants' second-highest paid player, behind Barry Zito.
With Pablo Sandoval set to make a huge rebound -- and I truly believe he will -- there's no room for Young at third. Miguel Tejada pretty much has the starting job secured at shortstop. And Freddy Sanchez will start at second for 2011.
So, we should (potentially) trade good prospects in order to receive a $16MM bench player at the end of his prime, with the ability to play multiple positions -- yet none of them with above average defensive skills.
The fact of the matter is, when you take into account that Michael Young has played his entire career in Texas, he's not even a great hitter...sure, he's above average. But by no means does his offense outweigh his sub-par defense, making him worth that rather large contract.
So no, no Michael Young. Please, no Michael Young. Pretty please.
And can somebody please explain this line to me: "Which is exactly what makes him such a good target." I honestly don't understand it at all.
