Jan
4
2013

Young Could Make Perfect Sense To Replace Dickey In Mets Rotation

chris young

Chris Young remains a viable option to be re-signed to fill the rotation void according to what a source told Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.

Young, returning from surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his right shoulder, made 20 starts for the Mets in 2012 and went 4-9 with a 4.15 ERA in 115 innings. The innings total was his highest since logging 173 innings with San Diego in 2007. Young earned roughly $2.3 million with performance-based incentives.

“His record didn’t indicate it, but we didn’t get him a lot of run support,” Terry Collins said after Young’s final start of the season. “But he did a very good job, and I’m very happy he made it through the year healthy. His last two starts his velocity climbed. His velocity was up 3, 4 mph, which I was very impressed with.”

Last night on Mets Hot Stove, David Lennon and Andy Martino joined Kevin Burkhardt and they all agreed that Young would most likely pitch even better than last season when he was coming back from shoulder surgery, and that he could be a nice signing if the price is right. I would tend to agree with them.

At the end of last season, Young had regained some life on his fastball and as the season wore on, his performance improved. He ended the month of September with a 2.73 ERA.

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About the Author: Craig Lerner

I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.

70 Comments + Add Comment

  • 3
    2
    1…

    • LoL, you can almost see what’s coming can’t you?

      As far as Young is concerned he gave the Mets for the most part at least 5 innings and outside of a handful of starts he kept the Mets in most of his starts.

      For a back of rotation starter with some MLB experience that some of the younger pitchers can take advantage of said experience he’d be ok.

      • What clowns….. They cannot saya word about their lordship other than his holiness his greatness and his perfection. And people wonder how hitler came to power.

        • Comparing Alderson, or anyone in Sports is just downright DISGUSTING and OFFENSIVE, but that’s what you do though.

          • Comparing anyone to HITLER

        • 51′s or Padilla or whoever you are, have you lost leave of your senses? What a despicable and ugly thing to say about anyone. You’re banned, so please just stay away from this site. This might be the worst comment I’ve ever seen and I’m leaving it live and removing the names as a testament to how pathetic and ignorant you are. Unbelievable!

  • 20 starts 115 innings….
    He recorded an out past the 6th inning 7 times and pitched into the 8th 0 times.

    • Don’t worry: he’ll win the CY this year, and then we can trade him.

      • Well hell, then sign me up as long as we can trade him for a long term answer in the OF.

  • If there’s noise of young coming to the mets, there’s a likely possibility he’ll be back with the mets.. This is getting sad by the second. It’s getting so bad that i no longer wanna even rant about what’s going on.. At this point the defeated attitude of the FO is rubbing up on me as well… Gee.

    • “. It’s getting so bad that i no longer wanna even rant about what’s going on.. ”

      Wowsa.

    • I wouldn’t mind a flyer on Young. He did end the season on an upswing so what’s the harm?

      • I am not so sure that is the direction I would go in but true there isn’t much harm. Personally I would rather see what Mejia and Familia have to offer while bringing in a guy who can be the long-man and then slide into starting if needed. Maybe a guy like Tim Stauffer?

        • I don’t have a problem with seeing what Mejia can do either but still think they need to bring in someone like Young for depth.

          If the starting rotation is going to be:
          - Johan
          - Niese
          - Harvey
          - Gee
          - Mejia

          …that leaves very little depth in case of injuries – especially before mid season when supposedly Wheeler will make his debut. I know we’ve got Hefner and McHugh but what if one of these starting 5 goes down early, for the year (much like Pelfrey did?)

          Worst case scenario is we can sign Young, he pitches fairly decent and maybe we can flip him at the trade deadline to a contender who needs pitching.

          • Like I said, I would rather that guy be a guy who can pitch in LR and Young specifically can’t.

    • Alex, I am certain you have plenty of powerful ranting left. However, occasional breaks wouldn’t hurt :) Like, man, it’s only JANUARY!!!

  • NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Anyone but Young. Give Zambrano’s agent a call; he closed at the year well in Miami.

  • Eh. I’d still rather see Mejia or Familia. It’s not like we’re going to overtake the Phillies, Braves or Nationals anytime soon.

    • The problem with Familia is he doesnt have control of three pitches hence is most likely a whipping post as a ml starter. He could excel in the BP though (I have a feeling the Mets are counting on this).

      Mejia, to me, seems no where ready for the big leagues. Missing a year for TJ surgery coupled with the fact he spent a season in the BP in 2010 really stunted his development. It looks like he needs another season in AAA to hone himself.

      • I certainly understand the situation on Familia. Maybe his future does lie in the BP. But I would like to see them get a dozen starts each in a season which for all intents and purposes should be one where we can evaluate what we have and get some clarification on prospects while we look toward 2014.

    • Your right, I forgot to consider that Young could take away Mejia or Familia as 5th spot choices. I’d really like to see one of them get a shot. Maybe the better route is to seek a starter that can also pitch out of the pen if need be. I’d hate to see Familia held back due to Young being there.

      • “Personally I would rather see what Mejia and Familia have to offer while bringing in a guy who can be the long-man and then slide into starting if needed. Maybe a guy like Tim Stauffer?”

        See even you and I can think alike occasionally. LOL.

        • :-)

        • THIS!!!

          Ive been waiving the Poms Poms and promoting Tim Stauffer on MMO all offseason. He fills “”4 NEEDS”" for the Mets

          1. Potential 5th starter if Mejia, Familia or Mchugh arent up to the challenge
          2. Bullpen Arm with tremendous success when he was called upon to do so in 2010
          3. He’s CHEAP!!! (and from New York) Padres are only offering him a minor league deal
          4. He’ll satisfy Sandman and Google Boys fetish for ex-Padres :)

  • I´ve called this for quite a while.
    Chris Young signing a 1-year deal with the Mets at 3 to 4 million $, maybe with a few incentives.
    And to be honest, he´s a better choice than Carl Pavano.
    And he may be a more valuable choice than Tim Stauffer and Shawn Marcum – who have had much more recent shoulder issues and are similar sorts of pitchers.

    Basically, it allows Mejia, Wheeler and McHugh to progress at their pace and be available once they´re ready – not when they´re needed. Each of these three would benefit from spending half a season at AAA, after a combined total of less than 30 starts for all three of them.

    Familia is a reliever to me and I´d stop waiting for him finding more consistent command, let alone coming up with a decent off-speed pitch.

    • Chris Young signing a 1-year deal with the Mets at 3 to 4 million $, maybe with a few incentives.
      And to be honest, he´s a better choice than Carl Pavano”

      Those 2 comment alone should be able to tell anyone how much you know about baseball….

      • And that is why ?
        Both are fragile & mediocre back-end of the rotation SP.
        Young is 3 years younger and had the better 2012 season of the too.
        Young´s career ERA+ is 108 (vs. 96 from Pavano), ERA is 3.79 for his career, 4.39 for Pavano.
        Last season, Young averaged 5.75 innings per start, Pavano averaged 5.73 innings per start.
        Both throw slop and shouldn´t be in a playoff caliber rotation. Both are decent choices as # 5 starters though.

        Considering that mediocre back-end SP like Jeremy Guthrie are getting 3-year deals worth 8 million per year, a less durable pitcher like Young should expect to get about half of that, based on a 1-year deal.

    • >>>And he may be a more valuable choice than Tim Stauffer and Shawn Marcum – who have had much more recent shoulder issues and are similar sorts of pitchers.

      Lol….Really?!?!

      You do realize Chris Young is always hurt? 9yr career he has never come close to 200Innings pitched. Id give him a minor league deal and a spring training invite just for depth but Id much rather Stauffer whom is more versatile and can pitch out of the pen.

      If Sandman’s supporters believe 2014 is the year(which I doubt) then Mejia, Familia and McHugh should get the opportunity to compete for that spot not an injury prone Young whom was supposed to be nothing more than a stop gap.

      If Shawn Marcum can be had I’d do it for 1 simple fact–He could be a valuable trade chip come mid-season or maintain a spot in the rotation when the Mets trade Santana mid-season. And we know they will dangle him if/when he pitches well this season and what playoff contending team wouldnt want an extremely competitive Johan for a shot at the World Series.

      Who knows, Maybe some of that extra money that Sandman Alderson is hoarding is to send to another team to pay some of Johans salary($25M in 2013 + $5.5M Buyout 2014) in a mid-season trade for top prospects like he did with Beltran. Hopefully he gets more than one prospect in a deal this time if thats the route he takes.

  • I’d rather sign Delmon Young

  • I’ve always been a big fan of Young. Great pitbull mentality and grinds it out with every pitch. The injuries have just taken too much of a toll on him. If scouts and coaches feel he will have better stamina where he can consistently pitch STRONGLY into the 6th I got no problem with it. If he cannot get the stamina back then move on.

    • “If scouts and coaches feel he will have better stamina where he can consistently pitch STRONGLY into the 6th I got no problem with it. If he cannot get the stamina back then move on.”

      Agreed.

  • Mostly for the sake of humor, I am hoping they sign Chris Young to a MAJOR league contract. I want to see the festivities

    • LOL, true. Just as if they would have signed Omar Q to a MLB deal it would solve a lot of problems for Sandy…

    • True fan …jessup longs for her mets to suck. There is nothing lower in sports than a clown like you dearest jessup.

      • i’m glad I could acquire such a loyal fan as you to go with the rest. enjoy your time here at MMO

        • Hi Jessep,

          I think we were all embarrassed when reading those inexcusable remarks aimed at you.

          Joey

          • Joey – I got an email from another user suggesting I may have missed something. I’m glad I didn’t see it though

          • Joey I heard it’s possible this “person” compared Alderson to a former dictator in Germany? You know for anybody out there that thinks that is funny or thinks it’s acceptable. Remember one thing.

            Sandy Alderson’s father was an Air Force fighter pilot in World War 2. The mere thought of even suggesting a comparison of a baseball GM to a nazi dictator is disgusting enough but pair it with the fact the man’s own father was involved in that war – shows just how despicable and out of touch somebody is

            • Hi Jessep,

              My late mother-in-law’s mom was murdered by the Nazis in Poland and her late brother was in a concentration camp and beaten so bad that he had a broken shoulder that disfigured him for the rest of his life.

              I’m not against irreverent humor – I’m a big fan of Seth McFarlane – but this was pure insensitivity and ignorance and a cruel thing to say even in jest.

  • I agree with dooby. I posted on this a few weeks ago. Let young hold the spot until one of the minor leaguers is ready. If young is doing well he can be dealt at the deadline. With Santana a question as usual the mets need extra depth at the SP position. Anybody but american idle.

  • You guys are so pathetic… Your lord has failed miserably, has made all you followers and lovers of his look stupid as hell, and yet here still you are… Looking for excuses and trying to laugh your sorrows away by joking about chris young .. So sad.

    • Just as an FYI there are probably some people who find the fact you claim “their lord” is a baseball GM to be a tad offensive depending on their religious beliefs.

      Maybe you could be respectful and just refer to him as Sandy Alderson? Because your point would be the same just less offensive to people who may take their lord as something not to be joked around with?

    • Do me a favor, i know you’re probably gonna go ahead and use this as an excuse that some people might find that offensive to start some instigation with joe d, at this point, go ahead, we all know you are a known ra_cist and nothing has happened to you, so go right ahead and tell joe d that “some people” might find that insensitive… however, the fact that you are a known ra_cist is not…

  • Chris Young would be available mid season if the Mets have no one else to fill the fifth slot if Mejia or Familia cannot cut the slack – of if a starter goes down to injury for any extended length of time.

    Otherwise, why use a roster spot for Chris at this time?

    • Joey, why would he be available mid-season? He’s healthy now and with the lack of pitching on the market someone will sign him. Unless you are thinking by trade and that would be hell-a-foolish.

      • Hi TRS,

        Do you really think anybody else would take him?

        • Hell yes I do Joey. Look at the FA contracts signed.

          • Hi TRS,

            Yes, he might be gobbled up by other teams by spring training so maybe I should have said Chris Young and others. At this point, I don’t think a roster spot should be taken up by a fill-in when we have some young arms to look at.

            • That’s why I want a guy like Capuano when he came in. Someone that can pitch either in the #5 spot or long-relief. A guy like Stauffer.

              • We already have Laffey & Hefner for long relief.
                Colin McHugh & Darin Gorski also look like future long reliever / spot starter types, I guess.

                That said, whether it´s Chris Young, Stauffer, Pavano or one of the other suspects won´t really matter in the big picture anyway.

                • True but I would rather have those two at AAA and a viable experienced starter in as the longman. Gotta figure we will need at least 8 SP.

                  • Hi TRS,

                    EIGHT?! Then I agree – Cy Young…, err, I meant Sign Young. Just can’t get R.A. out of my mind. :) But again, it depends upon if either or both show they are not ready for the big leagues.

                    Also, we never know when much younger and healthier starters become available that other teams simply gave up on and the Mets seeing something in their mechanics would make it worth giving them a shot. Since we’re punting on 2013 we can still experiment with younger has beens than older ones.

                    • Yeah, I think the average team uses around 8-9 starters every year for one reason or another.

  • I don’t have a particular problem with them signing Young knowing the alternative is pitching Hefner and Schwinden instead….

    Its a risk though as we will again have two pitchers coming off the same type of injury which has no real recovery history to draw from to anticipate with and only one credible option to go to should either of those two get hurt (Wheeler)

    Personally if Mejia wasn’t also coming back from TJ surgery and still hasn’t pitched a full season even in AAA I would prefer to start him.

    And even if that wasn’t the case we still need to have a starter in reserve should Santana start off strong and have some trade value at the deadline.

    So I can’t say it would be dumb to have a Young laying around but it is a bit risky to have three of your rotation arms coming off partial seasons due to injuries and thinking NONE of them will relapse or need some DL time.

    • Metsie, don’t you think you would rather have someone who can adjust to coming out of the pen if things go right with Mejia and Wheeler?

      • Sure I would but do you see us moving to get anyone on that front?

        No one denies that PEN was one of the top priorities..right up until the time we traded away our best starter to get a Catcher and no OF help (which was the other priority)

        We made this problem with our insistence of fixing the LOWEST priority on our list!

        If they had gotten Gose instead of Snydergaard I might have a very different opinion of the Dickey deal…
        Cause at least we would have filled TWO positions of need with Wheeler on the way to make up for the loss to the rotation.

        And as far as Mejia and Young go both make the need for Pen arms even GREATER because neither has proved they can get past the 6th inning without going to your pen.

        Dickey at least was pretty good at getting to the 7th and 8th innings where you could rest the majority of your pen and get by with just a closer and setup man….

        Now you have Niese as the one guy who goes deep into games and he is not even all that good at that!
        Santana barely made it past the 6th, Gee is coming off surgery too, Mejia as well and so too would Young is we re-sign him….

        But getting to the 6th inning is till better and further than guys like Schwinden and Hefner got you isnt’t it?

        Thats the only reason why I don’thave a BIG issue with signing Young…Not because he is the BEST option just better than the internal alternatives right now.

        I definitly want to give Mejia the shot though…Still want an option to go to if Mejia fails other than the two guys I mentioned.

        • I forgot to metion arvey who I believe they will put on a strict pitchcount due to his newness and want to protect him from injury that could hurt the next two years when they will be under pressure…

          So he too will not be getting many 7th and 8th inning appearances unless he is having a monsterous day and even then they will pull him at the first sign of trouble or 110 pitches whichever comes first.

  • We need someone who can give us better than 4-9 with a 4.15 ERA in 115 innings, even as the 5th starter.

    • in 2/3 of a season (20 starts he made) those are 5th SP #s. probably better than many.

      other than record which is not as under his control (and Terry did point out he got crappy run support), and could easily have been 6-7 instead with the same pitching.

      • Call me crazy, but I want pitchers with over 500 records and under 4.00 ERAs. Even my 5th starter.

  • Maybe they can sign Young for $4 mil and another scrap heap guy for $3 mil and pitch them the same day. Call it a 5 1/2 man rotation. Young gets the first 4-5 innings, the other guy the next 3-4 innings. Hell, we’ll call them both starters, inning eaters, and so long as we call them starters, they can be labeled bullpen savers too. Even better, maybe Laffey can do that. We already have him.

  • If they re-sign Chris Young it may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

    • I know right, Sandy would have finally signed a MLB deal and everyone would be HAP HAPP HAPPY!

      • I honestly dont see or get the joke about Mets finally signing a Major leaguer to a contract.

        Whats so funny about that? I think Mets fans are in an uproar because Sandy promised he would improve the team compared to last year and so far he hasnt done that. He is far behind on that front.

        You cant fault the Mets fans for being upset…This team holds a dinner for Season ticket holders every year at the end of the season. With the sole purpose being to convince them to continue to support there product(team) by spending more of there hard earned money and in return they will put a worthy product on the field. True fans whom fall for this are naive, but they are being taken advantage of by sleezy door to door salesman tactics and cant get fair return on their money when the product isnt improved.

        • I think it is comical because they don’t seem to even care if it is a quality player only that they haven’t signed a MLB contract. They could sign one if they wanted but if it is just for the hell of it? I would love for them to have gotten Upton but other than that in the OF there wasn’t that much there.

          It’s just IMO we are becoming a whinny group for sure. We already knew they weren’t spending money this offseason. Any fan with common sense knew that so if they invested in expensive season tickets based on GM talk instead of looking at evidence that’s on them.

          • Do you really think your FA signigs should be Superstar or nothing?
            Is that REALLY a smart approach to take in building an MLB Franchise?

            Robin Ventura, Mike Hampton, Cliff Floyd, and Tom Glavine (just to name a few) would have never been Mets under that way of thinking….

            The problem with WHINING about not even TRYING here is not an issue with fans being negative about the FO..It’s about being Positive with a lot of the names ON the team!
            It’s all the fans of the FO that wish to give up and call it a season in January not the rest of us!

            If the following:
            Ike Davis (32 HRs last year and maybe more if he gets his BA back up)
            Wright (Has been an All Star before and had his best seasonsince 2008)
            Tejada (Hit .289 and didn’t lose much in the glove from Reyes)
            Murphy (Hit .291 and played a decent 2B for a guy coming off consecutive years of Knee Surgery)
            Harvey (looked pretty damn good in his short time and will be here all year in 2013)
            Niese (took another step towards being a top 1 or 2 starter)
            Gee (looked good and fought a lack of run support and his injury shortened his year)

            If all of those guys have a really good year or at least repeat what they did in 2012 thats a pretty good season right there….
            Then add

            Wheeler (who everyone touts as the great kid savior we are waiting to build around)
            d’Arnaud (who was good enough supposedly to let a Cy Young Pitcher go)
            Duda (who if he gets back to 2011 hitting as opposed to 2012 will be a major force for us)

            So what is NOT there?
            OF and Bullpen, two positions we have barely touched and the OFers we have couldn’t even get an MLB contract thats how bad they are precieved to be by the league!

            So don’t tell me the Whiners are the ones not using common sense here…
            It’s all the folks who are happy just going into a season hoping some magical fairy will wave a wand and make the team good enough to get Sandy off his ass and on the feed troth.

  • Mets are better off singing no one then resigning Chris Young. GTFO.

    • The mets are better off forfeiting 162 games.

  • Never enough pitching. Bring him. Just have the long reliever ready by the 5th inning.

NL East Standings

TeamWLPct.GB
Braves4228.600 -
Nationals3435.4937.5
Phillies3437.4798.5
Mets2540.38514.5
Marlins2247.31919.5

Last updated: 06/18/2013

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