There's no questioning the sacrifice that Michael Young has made for the Texas Rangers throughout his lengthy career in Arlington.
After being traded as a minor-leaguer from Toronto, Young has played 13 seasons with the Rangers, has finished in the top-8 of the AL MVP balloting twice, has won the AL batting title and has led the AL in hits twice and eclipsed 200 hits five times putting him within striking distance of 3,000 hits at 2,230.
But after all of that, sadly, it's time for the Rangers and Young to part ways. It just doesn't make sense for the Rangers to keep him around even though he's set to make $16 million in the final year of his deal.
After his name was thrown around in trade discussions two years ago, which set off a public bickering between he and the Rangers' front office, his name is surfacing again and it sounds like his last days as a Ranger could actually be approaching pretty quickly.
With Jurickson Profar looking to be a full-time player in 2013 the talk has been that Ian Kinsler could move to first base, especially if the Rangers are able to re-sign Josh Hamilton and/or trade for right fielder Justin Upton.
The writing is on the wall for Young. He won't be an everyday player, not at all. Not even as the super-utility/DH that he's been for the past two seasons. In fact, the way GM Jon Daniels probably sees it is the only way to keep Young out of a full-time role is to send him packing because he knows Mr. Loyalty Ron Washington won't turn his back on his favorite player.
Young is a 10/5 guy in MLB, which means he's been in the league for at least 10 years and with the same team for at least five years. That gives him full no-trade veto power. Rumor out of the Winter Meetings was that the Rangers and Phillies had agreed to a deal to send Young to Philly, where he could be an everyday third baseman, with the only speed bump being the no-trade clause that Young has to waive.
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Young is Mr. Ranger, and rightfully so. But it's time for him to move on instead of sitting on the bench full-time and pinch-hitting while playing once or twice a week to give guys breathers. There's no nice way to go about it, and it might get ugly, but it needs to happen.
