Chris Young thread

[StephenCurry30]

So this guy has been a mediocre player for his whole career, and the notion that he hits lefties is also pretty much a myth. If you look at his career splits they don't show he consistently does anything good, so why did we sign him/how long of a leash does he get?

hes been awful to say the least, and if the plan was to start Holt all along, why not just roll with Rusney Castillo who has shown some flashes and definitely needs more play time, compared to Young, who was inexplicably signed for 2 years/13 million.

[Slasher9]

i think Rusney must have been caught with his hand in the cookie jar (mrs. henry perhaps?). there is no other way to explain why he isnt on the MLB club.
to your point of more playing time...i would guess if the plan is to mostly use holt in LF that rusney gets more time in AAA.
also, DD signed Young so there may be some pride being tested here. he certainly hasnt had any problem kicking Cherries signing (The Butterball) in the yam sack. does he man up and do the same to his (what appears to be) bad signing???

[mvp 78]

They've seen enough of Castillo to think he's not worth a roster spot. Can't say I disagree. Maybe he sucks in practice too and it's not just what we saw on the field?

Young is a fine professional player. He's been in a slump so far, but if he replicated his 2015 season, we'd have no reason to complain. He might not have Castillo's "upside" but his floor isn't as low as Castillo's either.

[Bellhorn04]

He's only had 25 plate appearances. One or two good games and his OPS jumps 200 points.

[mvp 78]

Also, his OPS is .135 greater vs LHP than RHP. Yes, that's a noticeable split. His OPS+ against LHP isn't a "myth" as you say it is.

[sk7326]

So this guy has been a mediocre player for his whole career, and the notion that he hits lefties is also pretty much a myth. If you look at his career splits they don't show he consistently does anything good, so why did we sign him/how long of a leash does he get?

hes been awful to say the least, and if the plan was to start Holt all along, why not just roll with Rusney Castillo who has shown some flashes and definitely needs more play time, compared to Young, who was inexplicably signed for 2 years/13 million.

wRC+ splits (100 is average)

2015: 162 v LH, 58 v RH (175 PAs vs LH, 181 PAs v RH)
2014: 66 v LH, 106 v RH (93 PAs v LH, 273 PAs v RH)
2013: 98 v LH, 67 v RH (175 PAs v LH, 200 PAs v RH)
2012: 100 v LH, 78 v RH (134 PAs v LH, 229 PAs v RH)
2011: 152 v LH, 87 v RH (158 PAs v RH, 501 PAs v RH)

Young has had a consistent, very significant split ... the split did not follow in 2014, but that is a clear outlier (and also the one year in the last five he had fewer than 130 plate appearances against lefties)

[StephenCurry30]

He's a career .263 hitter against lefties. Sure, he's "better", but in his career over he's a .235 hitter with a .313 OBP, who has never come close to his power numbers he had with Arizona during his first few years in the league. Theres a reason he is on his 5th team since 2012

[sk7326]

He's a career .263 hitter against lefties. Sure, he's "better", but in his career over he's a .235 hitter with a .313 OBP, who has never come close to his power numbers he had with Arizona during his first few years in the league. Theres a reason he is on his 5th team since 2012

Yes, it's because he can't hit righties.

Against lefties he has a career slash of .263/.362/.474 ... when you consider most of his career he played able to play at least an adequate center field. That is a borderline All-Star, if all he had to do was face lefties.
Against righties .224/.292/.410

He always has looked bad to the eye test at the plate, once again because at his peak, he was Mike Napoli as a good defensive centerfielder. He walked a lot, he struck out a lot, and he hit the ball out of the yard a lot.

[iortiz]

I'd rather Castillo over Young any day of the week.

Btw how long is Castillo going to stay in AAA? Whata waste of money.

[iortiz]

Castillo needs for once and for all a full year playing almost every game, otherwise he is going to oxidize.

[Dojji]

you'll never get a team in contention to give him that kind of chance.

What I'd like to do is pick up a professional 4th OF type, a guy like Eric Hinske or Gabe Kapler, who can start in at least LF and RF without embarrassing himself, and forget the whole platoon nonsense.

[Emp9]

I like Rusney's arm and playing LF in Fenway I really really like his arm. Offensively we could do worse and with Young it seems like we're actually trying to. We'll see how this plays out over the season. Castillo got off to a slow start to his spring due to two weeks of the flu, he could be a slow starter, he could be a streaky hitter as well. Fact is we don't really know a whole lot about him cause he's never consistently given playing time and admittedly his health is always suspect. If he proves himself in AAA I want him back up.

[iortiz]

I like Rusney's arm and playing LF in Fenway I really really like his arm. Offensively we could do worse and with Young it seems like we're actually trying to. We'll see how this plays out over the season. Castillo got off to a slow start to his spring due to two weeks of the flu, he could be a slow starter, he could be a streaky hitter as well. Fact is we don't really know a whole lot about him cause he's never consistently given playing time and admittedly his health is always suspect. If he proves himself in AAA I want him back up.

Exactly.

You have a luxury in AAA who arguably showed something -whatever that means- when the Red Sox scouted him.

I say let him play for once and for all.

[Elktonnick]

I like Rusney's arm and playing LF in Fenway I really really like his arm. Offensively we could do worse and with Young it seems like we're actually trying to. We'll see how this plays out over the season. Castillo got off to a slow start to his spring due to two weeks of the flu, he could be a slow starter, he could be a streaky hitter as well. Fact is we don't really know a whole lot about him cause he's never consistently given playing time and admittedly his health is always suspect. If he proves himself in AAA I want him back up.

Runsey had a disastrous Spring Training. He didn't hit and played very poorly in the outfield. He certainly isn't a superlative defensive standout like either a Bradley or a Vasquez so he has to hit. No matter how plays the outfield, he isn't going to stay in the bigs until he learns to hit. I don't know why Cherrington signed him because he certainly hasn't lived up to the hype.

[iortiz]

Runsey had a disastrous Spring Training. He didn't hit and played very poorly in the outfield. He certainly isn't a superlative defensive standout like either a Bradley or a Vasquez so he has to hit. No matter how plays the outfield, he isn't going to stay in the bigs until he learns to hit. I don't know why Cherrington signed him because he certainly hasn't lived up to the hype.

Hi elk. How are u doing man?

I don't have a clue how Cherington got to the conclusion that this guy is 70 M worthy money. Surely he had a case but at this point it seems so fragile.