It was thought Chris Young might not even pitch this season coming off serious shoulder surgery. Instead, he collected $350,000 in bonuses last night for reaching the 20 starts-110 innings milestone.
That’s a lot of money for a supposedly cheap team out of contention to shell out the final week of the season. Other teams in similar situations have pulled the player so they wouldn’t have to pay the bonus.
Young, a free-agent this winter, logged 115 innings, his most since 2007, and there will be some contender in need of another arm that will be interested. There’s no shortage of teams that could use a reliable arm such as Young’s.
“All in all, there were some really good things,” Young said of his season last night after giving up two run in six innings in a very quality start. “It was a great year, to bounce back. … When I decided to have the surgery and rehab, I knew it would be a long process. I knew there would be some bumps in the road.
“But I really believed that if I dedicated myself to it that I could be a very competitive and successful major league pitcher. My record might not show it, but I feel like I proved that.”
Some team will be impressed, but what about the Mets?
Young is close to GM Sandy Alderson from their days in San Diego, so that could work in his favor, however, you really expect him at this stage of his career to explore all his options. Young outpitched his 4-9 record (4.19 ERA) and often fell victim to bullpen breakdowns and a lack of run support.
Young had the same surgery as Johan Santana, but the latter took substantially longer to recover. Coming off surgery, Young is more suited for the regular routine of a starter rather than the unpredictable, up-and-down regime of a long reliever, which at this time is apparently the most the Mets can offer.
Their projected rotation next year has Santana, R.A. Dickey, Jon Niese, Matt Harvey and Dillon Gee, along with Zack Wheeler, Collin McHugh and Jeremy Hefner in possible reserve. However, Santana has broke down several times since signing with the Mets, so why, another year older, should we expect anything different next season?
Gee is also coming off an injury, while Harvey, Wheeler, McHugh and Hefner are unproven over a full season on this level. Sometime next season, you know they’ll need a veteran stop-gap.
Thoughts from Joe D.
Let’s just say I was mildly shocked that they allowed Young to even make that start which cost the team $350,000. If things were as bad as some say, you think that would have really happened?
You think they would have tossed away a third of a million dollars on one meaningless road game in the last week of a season in which losses are expected to be a reported $20 million?
The “we are broke” excuse is now officially out of steam.
I chatted with Eno Sarris on Twitter on Thursday and even he agreed that CRG was not brought in to oversee a bankruptcy as first reported, but to stop the bleeding and set the owners on a path of sustainability and future profitability. I said that from jump street. I outlined it all, the path, the cost-cutting measures, all of it – right up to the year they would begin to turn a profit again – the year 2013. You read all of that here.
Remember this cartoon I posted in 2011?
