Please, No More Michael Young

Imagine that you are trying to purchase a home. You and the seller are on the verge of a contract for $300K. Just before the seller signs, he decides that he doesn’t like your lender and walks away from the deal. A month later, the house falls into a sink-hole and the seller comes back to you offering to sell again. Except this time, he is asking for $450K. That’s ridiculous, right? Well, it’s pretty much what the Rangers did to the Rockies with Michael Young.

During the Winter Meetings, the Rangers and Rockies were very close on a trade for Young. According to Troy Renck, the Rangers were willing to take on a significant portion of Young’s contract and the Rockies were giving up Eric Young Jr. in return. The Rangers gave Junior a physical and balked on the deal because EY suffered a well documented stress fracture last summer. I’m calling BS. The Rangers left the trade on the table because they were about to get fleeced.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, Mike got wind of the trade talks and it pissed him off. Texas made things worse by signing Adrian Beltre and trying to lure in Jim Thome. The feud between Young and the Rangers had been simmering beneath the surface for at least a month before exploding into a bitter and public spat earlier this week. At this point, a trade is inevitable. The new ownership and Jon Daniels have alienated the face of the franchise.

Strangely, Texas doesn’t seem to realize the problem. Because of Young’s demands they’ve lost leverage in trade negotiations, but that didn’t stop them from demanding a king’s ransom from the Rockies last weekend. Reportedly, now Texas is unwilling to pay a significant portion of Young’s contract and is asking for more touted prospects than EY. The Rangers are either obtuse or they just don’t give a crap. Either way, I applaud Mr. O’Dowd for walking away from Texas like Brad Pitt did Jennifer Aniston. You just can’t fix crazy.

Some may be disappointed about the failed attempts to acquire Young, but I’m not. This team is on the verge of becoming something special. Even without Young, they have the best lineup in the NL West. They have three of the best players in baseball, a flexible roster, and a farm system that ranks amongst MLB’s best. While the West is always tough, the Rox are poised to win it for the first time in team history. The last thing they need right now is to get involved in one of Dallas’s soap operas. So, let’s forget about Mike Young and focus on Spring Training. Just thinking about this upcoming season makes me damn near giddy.

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