Chris Young, of the recent $7.25 million, one year contract signing, had been presumed by most to be signed with the intention of being placed in left field next season. Yet, according to
Anthony DiComo at mets.com, Sandy Alderson has promised Young an open competition for his chance to roam center at Citi Field.
Where on the diamond Young pursues those goals is what remains to be seen. Though Young said he prefers playing center field and feels most comfortable there, Alderson made no promises regarding Young's defensive position. Instead, the GM classified it as an open competition, saying the best defender will win the job so long as he meets the club's minimum offensive requirements.
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| Photo by Michael Baron |
Well, to me this seems a bit... dumb. Unless this was an empty promise made to placate an insistence from Young, there was no reason to do it. Juan Lagares, coming off of a season in which he played outstanding defense, is regularly touted as an important piece moving forward, and at 24 years young could be looked at as the centerpiece of the Mets outfield of the future. Given time to develop his hitting, if he could improve upon last season's .241 average to closer to the .260-.275 range, he would be more than adequate for the position. A competition will either leave Young, a veteran, disgruntled, or could mentally hamper the progress of one of the very few bright spots from last year's dismal season.
The whole process, however, points to a larger problem. Alderson has to promise open competitions and David Wright has to make multiple recruiting calls just to land Chris Young. Not at a discount mind you, just paying a normal price for a fading player, and it seems we had to pull out some stops just to get him.
How hard/impossible will it be for a real free agent to be convinced that Queens is a suitable place to continue their career? Seems like it won't be easy.
We need to just 'overpay' for a great player...hey, we did it with Carlos Beltran i nthe past...we can do it again! PS....we DO have the MONEY!
ReplyDeleteMaybe Sandy should promise Granderson a chance to compete for the managers job in 2014?
ReplyDeleteOver-the-hill players should be beating down our door to get to the Mets since the only way Collins gives a break to younger players is if injuries force his hand to play them....even then he sets them up for failure batting them eighth. How many at-bats went to Rick Ankiel at the expense of (in no particular order) Juan Lagares, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Jordany Valdespin and Collin Cowgill? I'm not saying any of the that quartet is destined for offensive greatness, but it's not like they threw Mike Trout out there. They put out the converted pitcher deemed too awful to play for the Astros! Yet Collins played him again and again and again, ad nauseum until finally even he couldn't stomach his own decision making.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Chris Young -- get used to the lies. David Wright fell for them. You fell for them. The only difference is he got $131 million more reasons to allow himself to be gullible. The fans know that whatever the Wilpons and their Selig-ordered mouthpiece say, interpret it to mean the exact opposite.
How's that "this is the year we can spend" going?