I'm beginning to wonder. Even if he could be traded anywhere, no trade would happen because no one wants him. An All-Star and supposedly "clutch-hitter" that no one wants. It's kind of sad if you think about it.

The best fits are the Brewers Mets and Cubs but theres the no trade thing so idk if theyre really a fit

I think the Dodgers are a great fit. Casey Blake is not a good option at 3B. They could use Young at 2B and push Uribe to 3B. The Angels are also a good fit, as are the Rockies, who really need a 2B upgrade. The Cardinals need a 3B badly, and the Cubs could use help at 2B. Detroit is a contending team badly in need of a 2B as well.

Lots of options. One will happen.

Not sure a deal will happen. What has made you think a deal will happen? There has been no movement recently.

The Cubs are a fit because I want them to be. I would rather have Zambrano and his contract than Young and his contract.

Also, the Cubs always do stupid things, and most of the times, the Rangers do smart things.

But Z has a Full No Trade Clause and has stated he will not be going anywhere

There hasn't been no movement recently. There's been no reported movment recently. JD works silently behind the scenes. Whenever Young gets dealt, whether it's now or next offseason, it will likely come out of the blue. It's Pitchers and Cathers time. Hope springs eternal. All of these teams are hoping they see something out of a kid or a journeyman that makes them think they don't need to upgrade. Let them spend a month actually watching these guys in Spring Training, and someone is likely to come to believe that they have a monster-sized hole in the IF, and furthemore that they sit at a spot on the win curve where overpaying in some fashion to get Michael Young to fill that hole could possibly be the difference between playoffs and not, such that it would be worth it to do so. I currently think the Tigers, Rockies, and Dodgers, in that order, are the most likely to make that determination.

Not at 48 million dollars.

2011:$17.875M, 2012:$18M, 2013:$19.25M vesting player option
35.875 if the option doesn't vest.
55.125 if the option vests.
The option vests based upon Cy Young voting (top two or top four +healthy at the end of 2012).
Obviously if that option vests, he's worth it. Otherwise, the Rangers would save ~12 million and get out of the expense one year earlier. If the Rangers decided that's what they wanted to do, I think Carlos would waive his no-trade, but there's a solid chance he'd want that option guaranteed to change his stance on the no-trade clause. I don't think Zambrano is the type of player JD et al would want to add in a MY trade.

@ WWJDD?:

The money is not the issue. That is a sunk cost. You pay it if he's here, you pay much of it if he leaves. We're going to trade Young, and eat a buttload of that salary. Obviously, no one in baseball is going to eat the whole $48m, unless we are taking back an equally egregious contract.

The question at hand is not "how much salary do you have to pay to move him?"

The question is "how much salary do you SAVE by moving him (i.e. how much will the trading partner eat)? And with that amount of dollars over the next 3 years, can JD generate more wins than you lose by losing Michael Young?" The answer, fo me, is a resounding yes. I would be stunned if Young posted more than 1.5 WAR getting most of his ABs at DH, and would be unsurprised if he ended up at roughly replacement level or even below (given what replacement level is for the DH position). And JD id a wizard at generating WAR from wholecloth. Give JD $6-8m a year over 3 years, and he'll find one or more valuable pieces to add.

Scooby,

The Tigers and Rockies think they're contenders without Young so they're not going to give up anything to get him and the Dodgers don't have any money. JD would literally have to give Young away at this point which is something he has said many times he's not going to do. The only way it still happens at this point is if a contender with deep pockets has a season ending injury early in Spring Training that forces someone's hand (Ii.e. Cano in new York, Utley with Philly or Pedroia in Boston). And if it doesn't happen early enough the FO and Young will have mended fences and MY will start the season as the fulltime DH.I know how much you want to see MY go but I still don't see it happening. Sorry buddy.

If the Tigers or Rockies see a gaping black hole at 2B, even if they can contend without upgrading that spot, they'll try to upgrade. Someone will decide that Young is well worth giving up a prospect and paying $6-8m a year.

With the Dodgers, you'd have to make it cash-neutral for them by getting back a ML player plus kicking in cash, but there are options (Kemp and we kick in Borbon, one of their SPs and we kick in Hunter).

Also, never take JD's public statements at face value.

LOL Scooby - LA's gonna kick in a SP? Which one - please don't say Vince Padilla. I fail to understand the idea that LA is in on this thing. Yes, Mike is from Cal. Yes, in the past the Dodgers have had a habit of biting on overpriced, slow, white dudes who can't field. But they supposedly have learned their lesson and are trying to get it going back in the right direction.

That means the only deal we'd have with them is something like this: We send them Young and assume 90% of his contract. They send us Casey Blake. And what would be the fooging point of that?

Makes no sense.

Scooby

I thought we decided that Young couldn't field. At least that's what you've been saying for quite a while now. If he's that poor of a fielder why would the Rockies or Tigers be so desperate to acquire him.

I've got a trade with the Mets involving MY:

Trade MY, Engel Beltre, Davis, Sardinas

for

Beltran, K-Rod, 20 mil in cash for MY's salary.

A lot of cash for the upcoming year, but both are free agents after the year and we'll get the picks if we can't resign them. Plus the trade provides us with an amazing OF and a quality mentor to Borbon...although Murphy gets screwed. Then it gives us a closer in case Feliz makes the rotation. Provides the Mets relief and an answer at 2nd and/or SS in case Reyes gets traded or walks.

Would you trade MY, Engel Beltre and cash straight up for Beltran instead?

...I would.

@P1 Stefen - Beltran curently lines up to be a type B free agent. With an all-star caliber season, he could jump back to type A compensation status, but with another injury plagued season he could lose all compensation status (playing time is a major factor in the compensation formula). K-Rod is currently a type A player, but with legal/health issues, he could lose enough time to drop down to a type B.

@ arp:

That's absolutely not what I've been saying. What I've been saying repeatedly is that his BAT isn't good enough to DH and his only real on-field value now is to be traded somewhere where he can be a plus-bat, minus-glove 2B/3B for a team with a good staff, good defense, weak lineup and a festering hole at one of hose 2 positions. The Tigers and Rockies potentially have that festering hole at 2B, and the Dodgers at 3B.

There are 30 starting spots at 3B and another 30 at 2B. I think Michael Young is still a top-30 player at both spots (barely) despite his poor defense because his bat is still very, very good compared to a league average 2B and good compared to league average at 3B. His bat is terrible compared to league average at 1B and DH and he has no business playing those positions. The problem is that the Rangers have MUCH better options at 2B and 3B where Kinsler is a top-7-or-8 2B and Beltre a top-5 3B. So Young has no real on-field value to the Rangers. Especially if he's going to "demand" DH ABs he doesn't deserve.

If the Tigers or Rockies decide that their existing 2B options are going to hit .240 with a sub-.300 OBP and no power, they may well decide that Young is a worthwhile investment as an above-average bat/below-average glove to fill the hole.

@WWJDD?:

How about Hiroki Kuroda (makes $15 m this year) for Young, Hunter, O'Day, Erlin, and Castillo plus $16m (half of Young's salary for 2012-2013)? Kuroda is 36 and in his contract year, and the Dodgers would retain a strong rotation without him, especially by adding Hunter as a #5 (Hunter's pitch-to-contact style would play nicely in Dodger Stadium), improve their offense by replacing Blake wih Young, strengthen their bullpen, and receive prospects. Kuroda would give the Rangers an excellent 1-2-3 in the rotation.

That is too much for Kuroda for one year. Maybe, maybe, if they picked up all of Young's salary, but I'd rather take a chance on our young guys than bring in a veteran who you would not want to sign long term at a high cost in prospects for one year.

@ Dave H, I did realize they were both fringe players due to injury, success, being a psycho, etc. I do think if K-Rod came, he would definitely keep his Type-A status bc he would close enough games and/or keep a low ERA. Beltran is a wild card. He's only a couple years removed from dominance and although he's been a different player since knee surgery, he looked to come on at the end of the season. We all know Arlington is a hitters dream park and would surely pad his stats to put him back into Type-A status. Plus he's an extremely gifted defensive outfielder. Could you imagine a Hambone, Beltran, Nellie OF...? If not, it was a gamble worth taking at greatness.

@P1 Stefen - It could work out in either direction, but it's way too much of a risk for the talent and cash you're sending their way. If we could be slightly more confident that Beltran is healthy now (not a guarantee of success, just capable of playing >= 80% of a full season) and if K-Rod didn't appear to be a lunatic, then that trade might make sense if you put Borbon in the deal instead of Beltre.

Scooby,

The Rockies and Dodgers are already below average fielding teams so how does the addition of another bat constitute an improvement. I don't disagree with you on the premise that Young is a -glove and would fit with a solid defensive team however when your teams rank 20th and 24th respectively on the defensive side of the ball adding Young will make little to no difference over the coarse of the year. He actually still fits better here because we can hide his deficiancies while still getting a benefit from his stick.

I believe your type-casting the DH position. It doesn't have to be a position strictly for mashers especially if you already have a team loaded with power bats which the Rangers do. Young as a DH can fill the role as consistent table setter, something Napoli isn't really suited for. I also fail to see why you think his bat is terrible in comparison to other 1B/DH types. Last year he finished with 99 runs, 91 RBI and 21 HR, as production goes that's pretty solid. In fact when compared to other 1B last season he would have ranked 8th in runs scored, 10th in RBI and tied for 15th in HR. If you compare him to strictly DH types he would have ranked 1st in runs scored, 4th in RBI and tied for 5th in HR. Perhaps his slash lines aren't as sexy as some would like but when it comes to actually putting runs across the plate he grades well above average at both 1B and DH.

Ultimately I believe there will be a "come to Jesus" meeting between MY and the FO during which the FO apologizes to MY for whatever he found so offensive and he accepts his new Super Utility role. I also wouldn't be surprised to see them ask him to take some turns in the OF at some point in the hopes that he could pick up some extra AB's at a COF spot to rest Cruz and Hamilton a little more. Especially if Borbon slips up again.

BTW the rankings I listed for Young at 1B were for both leagues and not just the AL.

Of course he scored a lot of runs. He was hitting in front of Josh Hamilton. Of course he drove in a lot of runs. Hitting in a very friendly park, in one of baseball's very best lineups, getting a ton of ABs in the 2 hole, and seeing good pitches on every AB because he was hitting in front of Josh Hamilton. Slash lines are much more meaningful, and OPS+ more meaningful still, and by these meaningful measures he doesn't cut it at 1B/DH.

As for not fitting in LA or Col, for me, if I was running bthe Rockies, i'd be trying to capitalize on my ballpark with the plus bat/minus glove types. Colorado is a special case because of its park. The Dodgers strength is in its pitching. They were poor offensively last season, and have a gaping hole at 3B. They get next to no offense from their IF, and desperately need to change that.