Kuzul

For the first time all season, the Philadelphia Phillies will have their full lineup available when the team begins its series with the Cleveland Indians tonight. No, the Phillies' most recent roster additions are not the same as last season’s, when Chase Utley and Ryan Howard returned prior to the All-Star break. However, the arrivals of two right-handed hitting lineup options this year can still boost an offense that is slowly heating up as the first month of the season concludes. The first option, Carlos Ruiz, returned from a 25-game suspension last Sunday and picked up a double in the Phillies win. Just two days later, the Phillies have now activated Delmon Young from the disabled list according to Paul Casella on the team's official website.   Young’s presence means that the Phillies' lineup has picked up two right-handed hitting options in three days, and gives the team its full ...

Delmon Young has been a Phillie for a very short time, and per Ruben Amaro Jr., already Young is being penned in as the Phillies' starting right fielder in 2013 (h/t hardballtalk.nbcsports.com).Young hit .267 with 18 home runs and 74 runs batted in for the Detroit Tigers in 2012. Young is a right-handed hitter, he is only 27 years old and he's coming off ankle surgery.For all of those reasons, and because Young is kind of a jerk, a guy who once drove in 112 runs in a single season and was the American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player in 2012 took the Phillies' low-ball offer of one year with a $750,000.00 base salary.Incentives could push the deal's value to $3.5 million, per mlb.com.For weeks, Phillies fans were hearing that the Phillies were interested in signing right-handed outfielder Cody Ross, who instead went to the Arizona Diamondbacks for three years and $26 million.Ross' 2012 ...

Getting a right-handed bat for the outfield was one of the offseason priorities for the Philadelphia Phillies.General manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. finally got his man by signing Delmon Young to a one-year, $750,000 contract on Tuesday (Jan. 22), as announced by the team and reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Matt Gelb.Last year for the Detroit Tigers, Young hit .267 with a .707 OPS, 18 home runs and 74 RBI in 608 plate appearances. He was especially impressive in the postseason, however. As the Tigers made a run to the World Series, Young batted .313 with a .907 OPS, three homers and nine RBI. The initial guess is that Young will be a platoon outfielder with the Phillies. That role should suit him well since he hit .308 with an .833 OPS, seven homers and 26 RBI versus left-handed pitching last season. For his career, Young has a .307 average and .824 OPS against ...

The Detroit Tigers came into the 2012 MLB season with expectations of World Series grandeur. Now nearing the 2012 MLB All-Star break, the Tigers are hovering just below .500. The team hasn't been consistent all season, which leads to heavy trade talks amongst restless members of the media and fans. One name that has been brought up frequently in water cooler trade debates this season has been Delmon Young. Tigers fans have become suddenly spoiled by the team spending big bucks in free agency and tasting success since 2006. With over 80 games to be played, this is no time to hit the panic button. There's plenty of time left in the season and the Tigers won't be trading Young for multiple reasons. The former No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 MLB draft is only 26 years old and has yet to hit his prime. After being traded from the Minnesota ...

Whenever an athlete is playing on the last year of his or her contract, it is crucial to have a good season in order to parlay that success into a long-term deal.No matter a player's age, if he shows he can perform at a substantial level, he will greatly enhance his chances of a long-term deal.Every free-agent class has its top-tier players, but for every good player that maintains their previous levels of excellence, such as Cole Hamels and Zack Greinke, there are guys who do not perform as well when the money is on the line. There are a variety of reasons why these players fail. Whether it is age, luck or simply an inability to handle the big moments, their stats do not live up to their expectations heading into the season.Here are five guys who are having disastrous seasons in their contract year.Begin Slideshow

Earlier today, Buster Olney reported that Miguel Cabrera has a small fracture under his right eye and might be out a week or two. It almost goes without saying that Cabrera is a very lucky man. As a Cyclops who has undergone numerous vision-altering (and destroying) eye surgeries, you just don’t want to get in a position when the doctors have to start poking at your peepers with a shrimp fork. I don’t mean to denigrate the wonderful professionals who saved my life, but once you go down that road, there really aren’t a lot of good outcomes. For me, a writer, it means small but significant limitations on my activities. For a ballplayer, it can be the end. If Kirby Puckett was still alive, you could ask him about it. I alluded to the Tigers’ short-term alternatives to Cabrera in yesterday’s post on the mishap. Assuming the ...

As the Detroit Tigers gear up for their ALCS showdown with the defending league champs, the club got some bad news on the medical front. The injury oblique Delmon Young suffered in Game 5 against the Yankees is serious enough that he was left off the ALCS roster altogether. For most teams, losing their regular No. 3 hitter when they’re already facing a superior offense would be the death knell for their chances at a pennant. The Tigers’s roster being what it is, though, they could be headed to the World Series even without Young. First and foremost, of course, the Tigers boast the best pitcher in the A.L. in Justin Verlander. With the presumptive Cy Young winner getting to start Game 1 (and a potential Game 5 at home), the Tigers may not need to score many runs to get a pair of wins. Then, too, Young is being ...

On August 15, the Minnesota Twins traded then-struggling outfielder Delmon Young to the Detroit Tigers for two minor-league prospects. The change of scenery proved to make a big difference.In 84 games as a member of the Twins this season, Young batted .266 with four home runs and 32 RBI. In only 40 games as a Tiger, he hit .274 with eight bombs and equaled his RBI tally. This production became something the Tigers and manager Jim Leyland grew used to while making their run to the playoffs.In September, Young finished third in RBI for the club and tied with Miguel Cabrera for the club lead in home runs.With all that said, Detroit will have to find a way to win without his bat in the lineup if they are going to beat the Texas Rangers and advance to the World Series. Young is out of the AL Championship Series because ...

There have been many words used to describe the Minnesota Twins' 2011 campaign—frustrating, humiliating, injury-ridden, disappointing, lost.However, one word that has come into view following their assent from the American League Central's cellar: historic?That's right. The Twins have a chance to erase the largest deficit in Major League Baseball history, should they come all the way back to win the division.As of June 2, the Twins sat 16 1/2 games behind the division-leading Cleveland Indians. By June 25, following a three-game losing streak, the Twins have closed that gap to eight games behind Cleveland and seven games behind the Detroit Tigers (who I identify as the real team to beat in this division).Should the Twins erase the deficit it would be the largest comeback in MLB history.The current record is held by the 1914 Boston Braves, who sat at 26-40 in early July that season, 15 games back in the ...

There's no doubt that 2010-2011 has been extremely disappointing for Minnesota sports fans. The Timberwolves again failed to hit 20 wins, the Wild missed the playoffs yet again, and the Vikings look to be in a free fall after being within one 14-men in the huddle penalty from the Super Bowl only 18 months ago.It would seem that things couldn't get any worse.But hope springs eternal and the time is right for baseball, the one constant within the Minnesota sports landscape. With the new stadium smell still hovering over Target Field the expectations have been the greatest for the local nine. What was supposed to be a season full of hope appears to be falling in line with all of the other professional teams as the Twins are in the midst of the single greatest turnaround in franchise history—the problem is this turnaround is in the negative direction.Taking a look as what ...