Texas Rangers Third Baseman Michael Young Not Any Happier Entering Season
The Texas Rangers’ biggest surprise this offseason wasn’t ace Cliff Lee departing for the Philadelphia Phillies.
At least that they could somewhat see coming.
However, star third baseman Michael Young’s request to be traded apparently came out of nowhere following the Rangers’ 2010 run to the World Series.
Calling the organization all kinds of names, including liars, Young’s role on the team was diminished to a degree this offseason when free agent Adrian Beltre was signed and the team asked Young to be a DH and super utility infielder.
And the situation doesn’t appear to be getting better.
Via ESPN:
“It’s definitely tough to get in a rhythm, without a doubt,” Young said. “If I was playing second every day, it’d be easier to get locked in. If I was playing third, it’d be easier to get locked in. It’s definitely tough to bounce around, but I’ve had to kind of get accustomed to it this spring.”
Rangers manager Ron Washington called Young a “pro, man.”
But if Young was really over his whole squabble with the organization, you would have thought he would have gotten used to this new role by now.
Young also reportedly doesn’t want to ask his other utility teammates advice on how to cope.
On the other hand, Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown points out that the Rangers aren’t strangers to controversy, evidenced by their run in 2010 in the midst of Washington testing positive for drugs, their owner going bankrupt and eventually selling the team, and their operations being subsidized by MLB.
“The Texas Rangers might appear to be waist deep in one conundrum or another, but they grin and shrug and hit a hanger off the wall and win a ballgame – at least they have for going on a year,” writes Brown.
They had plenty of distractions in 2010 and still were able to make it to the World Series.
But an argument can also be made that having a disgruntled player is a different story, a largely respected veteran at that.
It’s much different to have a bitter player fuming on the bench or putting a damper on an otherwise promising 2011 campaign.
We’ve all seen it before, a player fracturing a team’s chemistry, or the entire team not being fully on board.
I don’t see Young as a potential Manny Ramirez, but a lot of things have to go right in a season for a team to legitimately have a chance at a championship.
Young won’t be a deal-breaker, but if he remains on the team in this current state he probably won’t help a lot, either.