#CutFace

Young demanded a trade in Jan 2011 when the Rangers signed Napoli as Young thought Napoli was going to be the mainstay DH and Young was going to be benched. The Rockies were close to trading for Young but the Rangers would have had to pick up most of his salary and the deal fell through. Young will be in his final year of his contract next year and will be making 17M. No team out there will pick up that tab unless the Rangers pay Young to play for another team. Which would mean that JD deems MY as such a detriment to the team that it is better for the Rangers to pay his 17M and have him play for someone else than to keep him here. That seems highly unlikely and he will most likely be the starting DH for the Rangers in 2013.

That does not sound unlikely at all, MFix. He will do that if Wash refuses to bench MY.

MFix, I would argue that the only way Wash stops playing Young is if Young is no longer an option. And if JD cares about Young's alarming playing time even a fraction as much as some of us care about it, that could mean that a deal such as you described might not be so far fetched. Take away his stallions and he'll have to use the ponies.

My name is Keystone Heavy, and I strongly approve this movement.

If there is a taker! There is no doubt that when I listen to the interviews with JD that he is so ready for MY to ride the bench and by calling up Olt he thought he would force the issue. JD was even quoted as saying that Olt wasn't called up to ride the bench, but basically he has. Young hasn't missed a start and it doesn't look like he will. There seems to be a power struggle between JD and Wash and Wash is being defiant. It seems that if Wash has MY on the roster he will be in the starting lineup.

#CutFace

This has the potential to become a messy ordeal if it's not handled very carefully. If that comes to pass, Wash will have to shoulder most of the blame for it.

Based on what we see from the outside, we're practically forced to assume that issue will have to be resolved by the GM, with ownership backing. On the one hand, I completely understand why the organization doesn't want to create the impression that it's running the team on the field from upstairs. That's a very slippery slope, and you undermine your own manager at your peril. On the other hand, if the manager refuses to put his best nine players on the field every night, then JD has no choice. He has to get involved.

The Oswalt-to-bullpen move was obviously an organizational decision. So was the decision to call Olt to the show. When those decisions were announced, they were conveyed with a palpable theme of accountability. Results, not egos, are supposed to matter. And as for Olt, the record is clear -- JD made the move with the expectation that Olt would play.

I think it's reasonable to assume that JD hoped that these moves would have a domino effect in other areas, likely including Michael Young's playing time. JD wants results, but he doesn't want to be put in the position where he has to tell his manager who plays and how often. But now Wash is evidently putting him in exactly that position. Olt plays rarely, and Murphy becomes an everyday player based on a jaw-dropping and unsustainable .533 BABIP against lefties, and who pays for it? Craig Gentry -- a 2.9 fWAR player (in only 208 PAs!), while Young and his -1.4 fWAR keeps playing every damn day.

Ultimately, JD may have no choice but to force Wash's hand. If he wants to play Murphy every night, fine. But Gentry needs to play, too. So do Olt and Moreland. And the price for that increased production has to be Young. There's just no other way around it. And if he's half the leader they say he is, well ... maybe we'll find out about that once and for all.

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.

We lost, Wash. You were wrong.

We are toast tomorrow if MY is not pencilled in the lineup card.

This mistake was playing Young instead of Craig Gentry during the middle part of the season. Young accumulated negative WAR this season. An avg. DH would've accumulated 2.0 WAR, which would've put us over the top.

But all that's in the past now. We just need a win on Friday.

Fake TxBall..please DIE DIE DIE

That's awfully rude. I am real, not fake. Just like MY's talent is real, not a mirage. He will pull himself into a positive WAR over the remainder of this year.

I'd say bench Kinsler-he's pitiful the last month. Whereas MY is hitting 310 the last 25 games.