Since BBTIA's #cookie talk and Free Mike Olt! movements were so successful, I thought we should take a crack at a Bench Michael Young! movement.

Wash has made clear his intent to exile Craig Gentry (2.9 WAR (in 200 PAs!), 124 wRC+, 12.7 UZR) in order to Save Face (-1.4 WAR, 66 wRC+, -4 UZR). I'm no expert, but statistically speaking, this seems like a bad move assuming that one's goal is to, you know, WIN baseball games.

So please, feel free to register your approval or disapproval of the Bench Michael Young! movement.

But #leadership! What does Gentry know about THAT? Huh? Huh?!!

I'd love to find out.

And for the record, if you extrapolate from Gentry's current performance to a 600 PA season, he'd be on a 9 WAR pace. Quick. What was Josh Hamilton's WAR during his MVP season in 2010? Answer: 8.5. But you know, Gentry just doesn't have the #leadership required to merit playing time. The only thing that he can do is play elite+ defense . . . and run super fast . . . and hit really well . . . and score a lot of runs . . . and generally contribute to a winning ball club.

Free Mike Olt didn't EXACTLY work, as the Bench Michael Young! movement is still a huge road block to Olt really getting freed.

I'm all for it, but unfortunately to make it work it really has to be the "Replace Ron Washington" movement. JD has given him these tools and he simply refuses to utilize them. I don't get it, and I don't get why the FO puts up with it.

At least he's not in the lineup today.

The Cut Michael Young movement might be better. Take Ron off the hook.

Is FreeMikeOlt even a good idea at this point?

If we were optimizing our lineups, might the VERY best lineup right now not include Gentry everyday in CF and Murphy everyday at DH, with a Moreland/Olt platoon at 1B?

like this Scooby?

Kinsler
Andrus
Hamilton
Beltre
Murphy (DH)
Cruz
Napoli/Soto 65/35
Olt/Moreland (Platoon)
Gentry

We can dream

A bench MY post... how original!!

@ Joe: Yes, but I would flip Cruz and Murphy against LHP.

Scooby, I'm not going to split hairs. If Wash wants to play Murph's hot hand, that's fine with me. I think there may still be some room in their for Olt PAs. Particularly, if we continue to have a nice division lead, I'd like to see Beltre get some days off. He has chronically bad hamstrings, and we'll need him in the playoffs. I also like the Olt/Moreland platoon, giving Nap some extra rest. He's going to be catching a lot of games in Oct. (hopefully).

The most important part is taking MY out of the equation. No matter how you slice it, he's keeping better players off the field.

At this stage, I'm not too worried about the division. What haunts me is the idea of MY GIDPs and PADMYs in the playoffs. Particularly, if we make it to the WS, I don't want to see MY anywhere near 1B in the NL park against a RHP. It's just a nightmare.

Kyle, are you the same Kyle who has thousands of posts on MLBTradeRumors?

If they are good posts and you are about to compliment me then yes... otherwise no, that is not me.

I would have kept Torrealba and released Young. Young adds no flexibility defensively as Olt can play 1B and 3B, Gonzalez #B, SS & 2B. Having a third catcher gives you the ability to DH Napoli without possibly losing the DH spot. And Torrealba was actually putting up better offensive numbers than Young.

I have it on good authority that Michael Young will not be playing for the Rangers tonight.

Agreed Andy, but never underestimate Wash...even on an off day...

how many times has Ron Washington as manager filled out a big league lineup card?

how many times has Michael Young been in said lineup?

who was the entrenched all star who embraced the first time manager when some of his peers didn't?

who was standing front row at Wash's 2010 press confrence supporting his manager?

i think young should sit as much as the next guy here, but its pretty clear that wash isn't going to be the one to effectively end my's career.

Scoob, I think you're on to something. I strongly disagree with Murphy cutting into Gentry's playing time. If Wash insists on playing Murphy every day, that needs to come out of Young's hide, not Gentry's.

For one thing, Murphy apparently "won" his job and ended the platoon by virtue of improved performance against LHP. What's really driving that, however, is a jaw-dropping -- and unsustainable -- .533 BABIP against lefties in only 48 PAs. This means he's out-performing his career splits against LHP to the tune of 117/128/095. This cannot continue long-term. Against RHP, his 2012 splits are all around career norms, which would tend to support the notion that the 2012 Murphy is still the Murphy we thought we knew, but with an extraordinary stroke of luck against lefties. Even at that, his bWAR for the season is sitting at 1.6.

Gentry's bWAR, on the other hand, is nearly a full win higher at 2.5. Yes, he's better against lefties, but his RH #s aren't too shabby with about an even split in PAs: 369/454/464 vs. LHP; 293/352/384 vs. RHP. And unlike Murphy, Gentry's splits are also more in line with career norms.

But this should have never been about Murphy vs. Gentry. It should be about Murphy AND Gentry vs. Young, since they're both dramatically out-performing MY. For that matter, so is Moreland. Pick a metric -- any one will do, and the case has been made a thousand times over on this site. OPS+ is particularly revealing: Murphy 124, Moreland 121, Gentry 116, Young 68. And yet only Kinsler and Andrus have more PAs than Young for the year.

Bottom line, there's a case to be made that Young shouldn't be taking PAs away from any of them.

"Wash has made clear his intent to exile Craig Gentry (2.9 WAR (in 200 PAs!), 124 wRC+, 12.7 UZR) in order to Save Face (-1.4 WAR, 66 wRC+, -4 UZR)."

I see what you did there... "save face"

Has Wash been confronted or questioned in post game conference or any other time by the media as to why MY plays or if he (Wash) is aware of the wretched number comps or if he (Wash) is even knowledgeable re the sabre-world? If so, his answer?

Why Ron Washington resents Olt being called up: read below:

http://thefixreport.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/ron-washington-roy-oswalt-mike-olt-and-the-michael-young-factor-21/

Washington has been asked about his lineup on the Ben and Skin show on 1033 (9-12) and he was very defensive and angry about being questioned about it. He threw out the same hyperbole that no matter what lineup he puts out there he will be criticized for it. And if the teams wins he was right and everybody else was wrong. This is a very incredibly intellectually lazy answer, not willing to take in other people's input. Like say for example, the Rangers scored 9 runs yesterday and M. Young had no part in any one of those runs. How can your DH go 1-5 with only a weak single and not be apart of any of your scoring and the manager still defends Young as his go to guy? Gentry and Olt will be spending a lot of time on the bench and Young's time will not diminish. Washington has been clear about his loyalty to Young and he is going to stick with him to the bitter end, even if the end is bitter!

In the same vein, I guess that JD, Nolan et.al. have little choice but to back Wash...at least until the off season and hopefully then have a come to Abner meeting.

Is it even realistic to think JD would trade Face and pick up the whole tab to say the Marlins (Ozzie's Man-Crush) or Rockies (last known trade partner)? Netting anything and/or just getting rid of him would be better than putting him on the lineup card every damn day.

Young is not a trade candidate anywhere without Young himself signing off. In order to trade Young he would have to get pissed off at his current level of playing time and demand a trade. That's not happening. Even if young demanded a trade anywhere you would have to find a team willing to take him... Again, not happening with his current production, even if the rangers paid all his contract. Maybe a trade with a Japanese team would be the most realistic. He might have some value as a ph there.