I still want Mike Young on the Cubs

[HurricaneDij39]

...when he becomes a free agent this winter.

As much as I love Soriano, I think his free-swinging approach is a bad influence on the young guys (namely Starlin Castro). This is Soriano's 7th year here and his Cubs career has just about run its course. Hopefully we can get his overall number to be respectable enough that we could find a taker for him at season's end. He's got one full year left on his deal and the Cubs would surely be willing to eat the vast majority of it.

Even though Michael Young isn't the player he once was, the guy can still flat-out hit and will do so until the day he retires. I believe he'd be a great influence on the young guys and could still handle an everyday 3rd base job. Call me crazy, but I would pay 4.5-5 mil a year for Young to play 3rd base for us, or perhaps even $8 million over two years.

Shit, Theo and company were already dumb enough to commit $6 million to Scott Hairston. I'd go the extra $2 million for a much better player in Young.

 

[Chef99]

I don't think Soriano's free swinging ways has any influence on Starlin's lackluster play on the basepaths. The kid runs bases like he couldn't care less, IMO. For the Cubs sake I hope he gets his head together.

 

[romeo212000]

You don't think young is a free swinger? Dude has zero range and loves to GIDP. But hey, he's got #leadership, though I don't know how you quantify that.

 

[HurricaneDij39]

You don't think young is a free swinger? Dude has zero range and loves to GIDP. But hey, he's got #leadership, though I don't know how you quantify that.

Moot point now since the Cubs just got Mike Olt, but Young is a more fundamentally sound hitter than Soriano. He doesn't draw a great deal of walks either but isn't that what you want from a high-average hitter? Soriano on the other hand, swings for the fences more often and chases bad pitches.

 

[Chef99]

Moot point now since the Cubs just got Mike Olt, but Young is a more fundamentally sound hitter than Soriano. He doesn't draw a great deal of walks either but isn't that what you want from a high-average hitter? Soriano on the other hand, swings for the fences more often and chases bad pitches.

What Castro really needs is someone who will give him a good swift kick in the ass. Don't get me wrong, I like the kid...I just hate to see someone with that kind of talent squander it away.

 

[navamind]

Moot point now since the Cubs just got Mike Olt, but Young is a more fundamentally sound hitter than Soriano. He doesn't draw a great deal of walks either but isn't that what you want from a high-average hitter? Soriano on the other hand, swings for the fences more often and chases bad pitches.

.283 isn't really "high."

 

[romeo212000]

Moot point now since the Cubs just got Mike Olt, but Young is a more fundamentally sound hitter than Soriano. He doesn't draw a great deal of walks either but isn't that what you want from a high-average hitter? Soriano on the other hand, swings for the fences more often and chases bad pitches.

Young isn't really a high average hitter any more.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

.283 isn't really "high."

That's MVP type numbers for the Cubs

 

[navamind]

That's MVP type numbers for the Cubs

he wouldn't be the best hitter on the Cubs. And when you factor in defense (which he sucks at)...

 

[ImSmartherThanYou]

...when he becomes a free agent this winter.

As much as I love Soriano, I think his free-swinging approach is a bad influence on the young guys (namely Starlin Castro). This is Soriano's 7th year here and his Cubs career has just about run its course. Hopefully we can get his overall number to be respectable enough that we could find a taker for him at season's end. He's got one full year left on his deal and the Cubs would surely be willing to eat the vast majority of it.

Even though Michael Young isn't the player he once was, the guy can still flat-out hit and will do so until the day he retires. I believe he'd be a great influence on the young guys and could still handle an everyday 3rd base job. Call me crazy, but I would pay 4.5-5 mil a year for Young to play 3rd base for us, or perhaps even $8 million over two years.

Shit, Theo and company were already dumb enough to commit $6 million to Scott Hairston. I'd go the extra $2 million for a much better player in Young.

Define "flat-out hit". Young has a career OPS+ of 104. Doesn't sound like a guy who can "flat-out hit" to me. His OPS+ over the last two years is a robust 89. He's played in two bandboxes and still can't put up decent raw offensive numbers.

Also, Young is one of the worst defensive infielders in baseball. At 3B, he has absolutely no range and makes a boatload of mistakes.

Is there another Michael Young I'm not aware of?

 

[ImSmartherThanYou]

Moot point now since the Cubs just got Mike Olt, but Young is a more fundamentally sound hitter than Soriano. He doesn't draw a great deal of walks either but isn't that what you want from a high-average hitter? Soriano on the other hand, swings for the fences more often and chases bad pitches.

Soriano is a better hitter at this stage in their respective careers. Young is a singles hitter who doesn't hit enough singles, while Soriano at least gets you a decent number of extra base hits when he isn't striking out.

 

[HurricaneDij39]

Define "flat-out hit". Young has a career OPS+ of 104. Doesn't sound like a guy who can "flat-out hit" to me. His OPS+ over the last two years is a robust 89. He's played in two bandboxes and still can't put up decent raw offensive numbers.

Also, Young is one of the worst defensive infielders in baseball. At 3B, he has absolutely no range and makes a boatload of mistakes.

Is there another Michael Young I'm not aware of?

Since this is nearly a month-old thread, I don't know why I'm still arguing this, but here goes nothing:

Young has a career line of .300/.347/.443. Maybe not a pure power hitter but definitely a "pure hitter". And perhaps a little overdramatic when saying he's one of the worst defensive infielders in baseball? At his age, no one expects him to be "good" in the field, but he's at least serviceable. Keep in mind we put up with a young Aramis Ramirez during our 2003 Playoff run.

 

[HurricaneDij39]

Soriano is a better hitter at this stage in their respective careers. Young is a singles hitter who doesn't hit enough singles, while Soriano at least gets you a decent number of extra base hits when he isn't striking out.

Any way, you look at it, when you have a 37-year-old everyday guy sporting a .286 on-base, it weighs down your entire offense.

 

[ImSmartherThanYou]

Since this is nearly a month-old thread, I don't know why I'm still arguing this, but here goes nothing:

Young has a career line of .300/.347/.443. Maybe not a pure power hitter but definitely a "pure hitter". And perhaps a little overdramatic when saying he's one of the worst defensive infielders in baseball? At his age, no one expects him to be "good" in the field, but he's at least serviceable. Keep in mind we put up with a young Aramis Ramirez during our 2003 Playoff run.

"Pure hitter" is another loaded term. Nobody calls Miguel Cabrera a "pure hitter". What about him is "impure"?????

The way I see it, the traditional player who fits the "pure hitter" mold is a singles hitter who doesn't carry an impressive OBP relative to their AVG. They're a singles hitter who doesn't find other ways to get on base and has no power. Sounds like purity isn't terribly value.

You also neglect to account for the fact that the .300/.347/.443 line that Young has put up has been entirely accumulated in two extremely hitter-friendly ballparks. Once you account for that, his numbers are incredibly average. He's still carried value because until recently, he played a middle infield position (even if he played it poorly). But his offensive prowess is and always has been tremendously overblown.

Also, I'm not exaggerating one iota. He is one of the worst defensive players in baseball. Every metric agrees. The eye test agrees. He's atrocious. Defense always matters because run prevention is part of the game, just like run production. At this stage, Young doesn't produce nearly enough runs to offset his awful defense.

And why throw Aramis Ramirez under the bus? He's had a fine career. He had a great year last year while Young was one of the worst everyday players in the game.

 

[ImSmartherThanYou]

Any way, you look at it, when you have a 37-year-old everyday guy sporting a .286 on-base, it weighs down your entire offense.

It certainly sucks, but as long as guys are getting base in front of him, his power becomes more valuable.

Their OPS+ are about equal this year, so offensively, they're a wash. However, Soriano was pretty good last year and Young sucked ass. So I think Soriano probably has a little more left in the tank.

 

[romeo212000]

Since this is nearly a month-old thread, I don't know why I'm still arguing this, but here goes nothing:

Young has a career line of .300/.347/.443. Maybe not a pure power hitter but definitely a "pure hitter". And perhaps a little overdramatic when saying he's one of the worst defensive infielders in baseball? At his age, no one expects him to be "good" in the field, but he's at least serviceable. Keep in mind we put up with a young Aramis Ramirez during our 2003 Playoff run.

Young is not the same hitter anymore. His bat speed has dropped and he still doesn't walk. And he really is one of the worst defenders in baseball.