The Delusional Nutjob And His Enablers
Mike HindmanOK. Since I've already burned every bridge known to Rangers Baseball Blogosphere mankind, I figured I might as well unload. Here we go.
Michael Young has lost his f***ing mind. That much we know.
Oh, you want evidence that he's lost his mind?
The first one comes from the "I'm too classy to blast people publicly and let me demonstrate that fact by blasting people publicly" department:
I've been misled and manipulated and I'm sick of it.... Other than that, I’m not going to reveal any details about how this process unfolded. It's not my nature to start blasting people publicly when I don't think it's necessary. I don't think it's fair or productive for anybody, particularly my teammates and coaching staff.
The next one comes from the "The Rangers are big fat liars and let me prove that to you by admitting that they aren't" department:
The suggestion that I've had a change of heart [about moving to DH] and asked for a trade is a manipulation of the truth.... I'll be the first to admit that I was not particularly keen on the idea of being a DH. But I did agree to do it. I wanted to put the team first. I wanted to be a Ranger. But in light of events that happened in the process, I got pushed into a corner one too many times. I could't take it anymore.
So, in other words Mikey, you didn't "have a change of heart" you got your feelings hurt and then changed your mind. And you didn't "ask for a trade" you demanded they trade you because you heard that they were trying to trade you and that hurt your feelings.
Got it.
You nutjob.
But how did he get there? How did this man who was once so humble, so dependable, so hard working and so committed to winning become a such a delusional prima donna? Like most people who become delusional and detached from reality -- Michael Jackson, Brian Wilson, Mike Tyson, Axl Rose, Sarah Palin -- it took a lot of people sending him the wrong message and praising and rewarding him for things that don't actually deserve praise and rewards over a considerable period of time.
Almost exactly four years ago, Jon Daniels culminated a woeful year-long run of decisions (broken up only by the Milwaukee deal that brought Texas Nelson Cruz) by handing Michael Young an $80 million contract for $16 million AAV. Compared to handing away Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young for Adam Eaton and Aki Otsuka, signing Frank Catalanotto for $13.5 million (and surrendering the 16th pick in the 2007 draft for the privilege) for no apparent reason, dealing John Danks and Nick Masset for a giant stick of balsa wood, the Young deal wasn't as devastating, but at some point, the chickens come home to roost on every bad deal.
The deal that the Rangers gave to Young early in 2007 made him one of the ten highest-paid players in baseball by AAV. He was not, had not and would never be one of the ten most productive players in baseball. The Rangers knew that. So, why did they pay him as if he was?
Young was handed that asinine contract, in large part, to show him how much the Rangers appreciated his "sacrifice" in volunteering to move from second base to shortstop to accommodate another prima donna named Alfonso Soriano.
Now that the chickens have come home to roost and some of us wonder how Michael Young became such a narcissistic jackass, we can look back at that moment and see that the Rangers encouraged Young's delusions by treating a pretty good player as if he were a superstar for no good reason. This seems to have taught Young that he was entitled to things because he was "Michael Young, Face of the Franchise" rather than for what he actually did on the field.
The local megia -- who already liked this very clean-cut, hard-working, immensely likable young man a whole lot -- immediately seized on this theme and wildly over-mythologized Young's "sacrifice." It was easy for the beats and columnists to fall in love with Young after having to deal with jackwagons like Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano and Mark Teixeira. Young, by comparison, was humble and accountable and accessible. And so the folks in the press box created a narrative of Young bordering on beatification (Patron Saint of Sports Sacrifice), and then they kept doing it, and doing it and doing it some more.
What has always bothered me about this -- and I can tell you with all honesty that it really has bothered me all along -- is that Young's sacrifice was nothing special and certainly, the beats and columnists knew enough baseball history to know this as well.
George Brett -- a Face of the Franchise in ways that Michael Young could never imagine -- moved from third base to first base and then to DH to accommodate younger players (and trust me, Kevin Seitzer was no Elvis Andrus) and hide his diminishing defensive skills.
Carl Yastrzemski came up as a left fielder in 1961, played primarily at 1b in 1970, moved back to LF for a couple of years, and then back to 1B in 1973 which is where he got most of his at-bats until moving back to LF in 1977. In 78, 79 and 80 his at bats came at 1B, LF and DH. He finished up his career as the Red So'x primary DH in 1982 and 1983.
Hit machine and Hall of Famer Paul Molitor came up as a 2B/SS in 1978. He saw almost all of his action in the outfield in 1981 and became the Brewers regular 3B in 1982. In 1991, at age 30, Molitor became a DH/1B (but a DH first and foremost) which his how he played out his final eight seasons.
The Brewers also moved Hall of Famer Robin Yount from short to left to center without all of this drama.
The greatest hitter of his generation,Pete Rose, came up as a 2B in 1963, moved to LF in 1967, RF in 1968, 3B in 1975 and 1B in 1979.
Ichiro moved from right to center and back to right to accommodate other players. He's sort of the face of his franchise, no?
But god forbid Michael Young -- who isn't half the ballplayer that any of the above-named immortals were -- should be "asked" to move over from a position where he is not only the weakest link, by far, on an otherwise stellar defensive unit but also embarassing himself on a more-or-less daily basis.
Nonetheless, if you have been reading about Michael Young through the works of our local scribes over the past six or seven years, you would have been led to believe that no player in the history of baseball has ever sacrificed so much for the sake of his team. These writers knew better, but they were having too much fun building their monument to Young to tell the truth. Some ignorant fans bought into the narrative. That's regrettable.
But worse than that, Young evidently bought into the narrative.
Somewhere along the line -- born of an unjustifiable contract and nurtured by a fawning local media contingent who cannot separate the dancer from the dance (yeah, I dropped a Yeats reference in an angry baseball blog post ... that's how I roll) -- Michael Young came to believe that he was entitled to things because he was "Face of the Franchise" and The Patron Saint of "Sacrifice."
Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers began to ascend and they did so in large part because they became a true meritocracy.
Feldman didn't deliver and he was out. Harden didn't either, and he was out. Salty didn't either, and he was out. If you didn't produce, you didn't play.
And if you played, you played where you could most help the ballclub. Period.
They moved Josh Hamilton and his 5.9 center field UZR in 2009 to left field and replaced it with Julio Borbon's center field UZR of 8.9 in 2010. In the process, they upgraded LF defense from David Murphy's 3.2 UZR in 2009 to Hamilton's 6.8 in 2010, and yet they still found a way to get Murphy enough at-bats to become a very positive force in the lineup.
Hamilton would rather be an everyday center fielder. Murphy would rather be an everyday left fielder. They didn't get what they wanted because it wasn't what was best for the ballclub. Neftali Feliz would rather be a starter, but he was the best closer they had and so he closed. If he wants to start this year, he's going to have to earn it. And the Rangers will give him the opportunity to earn it just like C.J. Wilson finally got what he always wanted -- a rotation slot -- by going out there in Surprise and earning the job, breaking camp as the club's best starter.
Alexi Ogando skyrocketed to the big leagues from the DSL by being an absolute beast. Chris Davis didn't earn the job at first and was replaced. Justin Smoak became expendable by not producing sufficiently to make himself essential. The Rangers went out to get Jorge Cantu to fill a void at first, but he didn't produce and so they gave Mitch Moreland a chance to earn the f**ing job, which he did. And he's going to have to earn it again this spring.
A huge part of the genius of the 2010 Texas Rangers was using their resources as effectively as possible and that can be done only through a true meritocracy where there are no entitlements.
But Michael Young and his -5.4 UZR is evidently entitled to play in the field. Not because he's a good defender (and Young's continuing insistence that he is a legitimate answer in the field is probably the clearest evidence of his descent into delusional madness), but -- I guess -- because he's the Face of the Franchise.
Nucking futs.
It's nice to see at least one of the luminaries of the local press distance himself from the Patron Saint of Sports Sacrifice narrative today and I cannot applaud Gil Lebreton enough for his outstanding contribution to the Startlegram today.
But in general, the narrative is alive and well thanks to crap nonsense like this from Jim Reeves who is so completely smitten with Saint Michael that he actually writes that the club should make a move that hurts the organization because Young "deserves" it.
Reader Comments (191)
@ Joe ok I giveup earlier today you accused the forum of "group speak"!! Like said i am on youngs side who knows he may have lost his mind who knows I don't you don't even JD don't know that only YOung knows that. Also if you are a rangers fan what is not to like about the overall job that JD has done with the team yes he may not have handled this right but if you are not for JD's overall body of work then man I can't help you. I did not want be the one to say it, but it looks like i am going to I believe i speak for most of the commenters on this site. Man most of the people here are just flat sick of you and want joey to ban you.So just wakeup and smell the rose man because now all you are doing is talking in circles and talking out of both sides of your mouth just like Jerry Jones does.
Thin skinned and freaking annoyed are completely different things.
We all need to give Joe the jdb treatment and just ignore him. Maybe he will just go away. I am very guilty of taking the bait and stoking the fire. For that, I apologize to the rest of you guys.
Adam,
You also do not have to read my posts, just ignore them if they bother you so.
The reason I am complaining about this rant is because I find BBTiA content better than this. I find excellent analysis here from Pras, Joey, Mike, and posters. I think the platform is hindered by obnoxious rants like this, and since I find the content here of value I wish that were not so.
Joe
@ Adam I took the bait one more time but after waht I just siad i am done with said person.
Walters,
I accused the site commenters of group speak on this issue. I find the comments here in general to be high quality.
I also love the job JD has done with this team, why would you think otherwise? I also think he royally screw up the MY situation.
I've annoyed everyone to no end? No one is forced to read my posts. The fact that everyone is so annoyed rather than writing me off shows the strength of my arguments especially here where I have voiced my disapproval of Hindman's obnoxious rant.
Comparisons of me to jdb are ridiculous desperate ad hominem attacks.
If Joey were to ban my IP he would be guilty of blatant and unabashed unfairness.
Again, the majority here is very think skinned indeed.
Joe
I was dissapointed in this rant too. I thought it would be about joe.
Walters,
I am not bating anyone.
I am making my arguments in a respectful way.
Joe
johnnyranger,
lol
Joe
@Pabloesque - I've been laying out a bit lately because there's been a decent amount of tension, and I have a hard time not fueling it. I laid out some of my thoughts in a forum post entitled "Was Michael Young ever the best Ranger?". Thanks for saying hello.
@Joe - I think you'll agree that in all of our personal interactions in the forum, I've tried to be as helpful as I possibly can. I don't believe that comparing you to jdb is fair; however, it is quite clear that you have a lot of the others around here very annoyed. You wouldn't believe the number of times I've refrained from replying to someone's thoughts in the comment section because I feared they'd just get pissed off and continue to insight others' vitriol. I think you've made it pretty clear that it's Mr. Hindman's post that you dislike (not all of them but definitely this one). There are plenty of other comments in this section that also took issue with his tone. Your opinion is duly noted, but pounding it into the ground is not productive in the least. Perhaps it would be best if you took it easy for a little while (at least on this thread). It's also probably a good idea to avoid throwing around terms like "group think" and "thin-skinned"; they're never productive when aimed at other members of a forum such as this.
@everyone else - try to take it easy and enjoy that there's actually something related to baseball that we can discuss right now.
BBTiA got a shoutout from the Hardline today, neato! I do not think they know much about baseball, at all, but good for JM & Crew.
Bush League article from what was once a Big League blog.
MY get a big head after the AL Pennant? Nobody will put MY at middle infield again. He's not got the range. The Rangers need him though. 200 hits in this line up are a must. Our pitching took a hit so we've got to be better at the plate. I bet MY is a Ranger . I hope he is.
Hindman: I've never read you before, but I'll be checking in daily after this. I've loved watching Michael Young over the years, and I hope he stays on in his new role and gets over it -- just like he did when they moved him to third. Baseball players are fun to watch; not fun to listen to (Ricky excepted).
I hate Mike Young so bad. I hope to never see him in a Ranger uniform again.
Outstanding article. It totally changed my mond on the situation.
Is this what passes for journalism here now?
Might as well fold this shithole now that Matches has flown the coop for higher respectibility
God forbid any ranger ever sign a contract that looks bad in retrospect...this crowd would as soon watch him die than piss on him to put out a fire...
not to mention the dishonesty of the OP here...s/b his last article here if any integrity exists here
Might as well fold this shithole now that Matches has flown the coop for higher respectibility
I have not "flown the coop," and have no intention of doing so in the foreseeable future. My Baseball Prospectus gig entails one article a week.
Here is my entire policy on the content of BBTiA, a policy which I've upheld for a long time -- if I bring you aboard, you have virtual carte blanche to write about whatever you feel is of interest, provided the subject matter is not so esoteric that it is of virtually zero interest to the audience at large. I'm a hands-off editor, and if I wasn't Parks and Josh and David and Mike and Pras probably would have told me to go screw myself by now. Sometimes this leads to strong analytical pieces, and sometimes it leads to emotionally driven pieces, such as this one. We can't please everyone (unless we stopped taking chances altogether and began writing emotionless, analysis-devoid fodder), and we realize this; we can only write what we believe in, and if elicits some degree of reader criticism, or pisses some people off to the point that they no longer wish to read the website, then that's just how it is. I do hope you'll find the quality of the work and thoroughness of the analysis day in and day out is worth returning for, however.
And if you don't ... well, much love for stopping by. I really do have much love for everyone that visits the website to see what we have to say. It took a very long time to get to where we are now in terms of popularity. I can remember sub-200 visit days through the entirety of my first year blogging. Trust me when I say that I value every single reader, and that I don't like to see any of them swear us off permanently. But the day we start churning out middle-ground crap that doesn't offend anyone or that nobody can disagree with, but that also doesn't incite any critical thought, is the day I close this place up and go do something else.
I also have no intention of banning anyone at the present time (short of my favorite little twerp jdb), but will be looking to bring a moderator or two on board to monitor the forum. This is very difficult for me, because I have no urge to stifle debate and I realize a little punching of the chops is inevitable on a message board, but some of the sniping has gone far beyond what I originally envisioned. I would hope everyone realizes what an incredible beating it is for me to have to go around and clean up messes, and that it subtracts from the available time I have to pursue more pleasurable pursuits like generating content, listening to Drake, and long-distance running. So, please, just take a deep breath, sip a little Hennessy, and relax just a bit. Gracias.
Mike,
Absolute brilliance. Thank you!
First of all, Kevin Seitzer was every bit as good as Elvis Andrus has shown thus far, maybe better, and there is no way to tell how good Andrus will be in the future. Second of all, Michael Young is the clubhouse leader of the team. I see your point on the willingness of past players with far more talent to be flexible, but I have to say that regardless of whether or not Michael Young is an idiot, the Rangers losing him will negatively impact the clubhouse.
"First of all, Kevin Seitzer was every bit as good as Elvis Andrus has shown thus far, maybe better, and there is no way to tell how good Andrus will be in the future"
Really? Are you serious?
The best way to tell MY is delusional is that he is focused on his next contract. He is currently overpaid by half and he will be 37 when his next deal comes.
His market value will be hurt more than anything by the realization across baseball that the bashball era is over and pitching and defense will rule the day.
Old guys who are declining in the field dont fit into that paradigm and will not command the bucks.
And forget the whiners, this is the best resource on the net about the Rangers. Nothing else is even close.
go back to your keyboard and pull some more simplistic material out your butt. ill continue to listen to what coaches and teammates have to say about a guy over what some self-righteous blogger pulls out of the air because he feels entitled to comment on issues he will never fully understand. and on a side note, Neftali Feliz has said multiple times he would rather close than start. small detail and ya, your probably right that small details have zero importance in bloggo-land, but id rather not get a warped idea of things just because its easy
@whool - Could you find and post some examples of Feliz saying he'd rather close than start? I'd certainly appreciate it. After looking around myself, I haven't been able to find anything. Thanks.
Mr. Hindman you nailed it. Thanks for the article. Very well done.
whool, you will never hear the straight facts from teammates about one of their own. Did you ever hear anyone complain about Milton Bradley or Vicente Padilla while they were here?
YALL CLEARLY DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS SO STOP CALLING PEOPLE NAMES AND TURNING ON ONE OF THE BEST RANGERS EVER WHEN YOU DONT EVEN KNOW THE DETAILS YOU NUTJOBS IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CHANGING POSITIONS
So let me get this straight. Michael Young is a terrible player and selfishly requested a trade. Huh I guess I was mistaken. My bad. It seems I thought that he was projected to have a 116 RC+ next year. My mistake. I had also thought that he agreed and had no problem with the Beltre trade and moving to DH. Silly me. My thought had been he objected to not having his DH spot and playing at all. But, you see, that would make sense and just be silly. Of course you're right, you're so smart you can use obscenities.
Dave H,
I have thought that too, about Feliz not wanting to start. I don't think he has said he doesn't want to start but he has said that he really like to close. On the official Rangers site there was a video recently I think on mlb network where they asked him the question. If you pay attention to his tone and demeanor it seems like he was not thrilled too much about starting. Hes real excited about closing though.
We shall see. I hope he wants it like CJ wanted it last year because we could really use him pitching 7 innings every 5 days.
Joe
Agree about the gutter language. Unable to share this article on facebook as I would have liked.
YALL CLEARLY DONT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS SO STOP CALLING PEOPLE NAMES AND TURNING ON ONE OF THE BEST RANGERS EVER WHEN YOU DONT EVEN KNOW THE DETAILS YOU NUTJOBS IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CHANGING POSITIONS
Why are you yelling, you're a foot from me
Joey, I thought of the same quote. LOL
Scoops Callahan here.
And what rough trade, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Arlington to be born?
If anyone is really going to complain about language, then it's time to grow up. Unless, of course, you still need an escort to a rated R movie and need earplugs while in it.
In that case, I apologize.
Great read, btw. I hope this MY stuff clears itself up in Spring Training.
Philly, no one complained to you.
Excellent. The George Brett reference was brilliant evidence to back up your argument. I'm jealous, I didn't write this.
Right on brother! Well put, to the point and an excellent piece of writing!
Tremendous.
And to a commenter below, if they left with as much class as they supposedly brought to the table while they were here, then wouldn't be ripped on the way out the door.
If he deserved to be made into a deity for asking to move to a more glamorous position "for the sake of the team", then he certainly deserves to be ripped for whining like a baby when it has become apparent to almost everyone on the planet that he isn't good enough to play the infield on an everyday basis.
Outstanding!