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.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com