After reigniting his career with the New York Yankees in 2015, Chris Young has accepted a contract offer from their rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal and CBS Sports' Jon Heyman reported Monday that Young agreed to a multiyear contract with Boston, pending a physical. Rosenthal reported Tuesday that Young's deal is for two years worth $13 million.
Young had a rough three-year stretch offensively from 2012 to 2014, ranking 82nd out of 97 qualified outfielders (minimum 1,000 at-bats) in FanGraphs' offensive value. He turned things around with the Yankees last season, posting a .972 OPS against left-handed pitching.
Moving forward, Young's best role will be as a platoon outfielder, as he did nothing against right-handed pitchers last season to warrant starting against them.
That may bug Young, who told Alex Putterman of Baseball Prospectus in August that he didn't want to be pigeonholed into a specific role: "As a player, you never really label yourself in any kind of way. I don’t label myself as a guy who crushes lefties. At the same token I don’t label myself as a guy who can’t hit righties because I was a guy who played every day for quite a while as well. So I don’t label myself in any kind of way."
MLB.com's Mike Petriello was quick to weigh in on the news, stating, "Young is a very nice piece for [Boston], but he's not really an everyday starter, and isn't someone that forces a trade to happen."
As long as he understands the situation he's walking into, along with his new team having a left-handed hitter who can hit righties, this marriage has tremendous potential. Young isn't a star anymore, but carving out a good niche shows how well he's adjusted with age (he's 32).
Even though being a platoon player does limit Young's ceiling, it still makes him incredibly valuable. Right-handed hitters with any kind of power are the greatest luxury in baseball right now because there aren't as many as there used to be.
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