Texas Rangers

Young to third

Michael Young is headed to third base, albeit reluctantly. The five-time All-Star just completed a conference call with local beat writers to announce that it's time to get the controversy behind him and get ready to move from shortstop.

"After some careful consideration over the last month or so, and in an effort to not let this thing drag out and move forward at the task at hand -- which is winning baseball -- I've decided to put an end to this and start bearing down and playing third base."

He is no longer seeking a trade, and he wants to see first-hand if the Rangers can indeed become contenders with a young nucleus bubbling in the minor-leagues. He also regrets that the fans were forced to take sides between a player and the franchise, and he laments any questions that have been thrust upon his assumed replacement at shortstop, Elvis Andrus.

Young isn't expecting an easy transition to third base. He said he might as well be moving to left field. But he also said third base will be a challenge that will get his competitive fires going.

"In my heart, I'm a middle infielder," Young said. "I don't believe the team was really pursuing a trade. They were trying to get me to play third base. So, I didn't see much of a point in letting this thing drag on."

-- Jeff Wilson

Rangers, McCarthy agree to deal

The Rangers have agreed to a contract with starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy, who was eligible for arbitration for the first time in his career. The right-hander signed a one-year deal for $650,000. Marlon Byrd, Frank Francisco and C.J. Wilson are also eligible for arbitration. McCarthy went 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA in an injury-plagued 2008 season.

- Anthony Andro

Winter Development Camp participants

The Rangers will hold a pitching mini-camp, with the much fancier name above, beginning next week, and the following pitchers will participate:

Group 1: Matt Harrison, Luis Mendoza, Thomas Diamond, Guillermo Moscoso, Derek Holland, Kasey Kiker, Blake Beavan, John Bannister and Tim Murphy.

Group 2: Warner Madrigal, Brandon McCarthy, Tommy Hunter, Doug Mathis, Neftali Feliz, Omar Poveda, Michael Main, Eric Hurley, Andrew Laughter and Michael Ballard.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden and Kevin Richardson will be the three catchers.

-- Jeff Wilson

Crux of the Problem

   Of the few -- and I mean very few -- who have made an attempt to defend the way the Rangers handled the Michael Young situation, it's interesting that not one of those columnists/reporters/bloggers actually talked to Young himself.

   What that tells me is that they have one side of the story, that is, if they've talked to general manager Jon Daniels. And they're buying into his version, or his side of things.

   I repeat, the crux of this situation isn't about Young moving to third, although you could debate that point, too. It's about whether he was paid the proper respect in the process. Clearly, he believes that didn't happen. That's what made him angry and got his back up.

   This isn't about the economy -- and trying to put the baseball economy into real life terms just doesn't work -- and it's not about another money-grubbing player. This is Michael Young, for heaven's sake. He's got his money already and will be paid no matter what. It's about how a team handles a special, valuable player -- a player the Rangers chose to make the face of the franchise -- to make something like this palatable and acceptable.

   The Rangers failed miserably in that effort and they're taking the PR hit because of it.

     -- JIM REEVES

  

Quiet town-hall meeting

General manager Jon Daniels sat before a group of fans tonight at a Rangers town-hall meeting in Lewisville, part of the Rangers Caravan, but he was let off the hook on the Michael Young situation. The first question was about Young, but no fans followed up to Daniels' answer (Young at third is best for the team, expects Young to be on the team).

Daniels spoke with local TV crews and the usual suspects from the print media, giving the same answers. Of note, Daniels still hasn't spoken to Young since last month, though he spoke to agent Dan Lozano on Monday night. Daniels is also concerned about a report that suggests many general managers and agents around baseball are looking down at Young's actions.

Here's this from the ESPN blog of Buster Olney:

Many rival executives and even some agents have little sympathy for Young, and some are flat-out appalled by his response. "The guy is well-compensated by the Rangers, and the Rangers are asking him to make a change that they think is good for the team," one executive said. "They should tell him, 'You're unhappy? OK, would you like to void your contract?' And of course the answer would be no."

Said another official: "What a joke. It's all about him, and not about the Rangers."

Daniels has a different view the negative light Young might be caught in.

"I think that's unfortunate," he said. "I think the guy's allowed to have his reaction to something like this. Anybody who has been around Michael knows he's a tremendous person, he's a big member of the community. The man won the Marvin Miller Award this year, so I think that's unfortunate and that's certainly not coming from us and won't."

Also from the Academy Sports and Outdoors in Lewisville:

Daniels set the record straight on an si.com report that said the Rangers have been shopping Young around for more than a month. There were conversations at the winter meetings in Las Vegas -- which isn't breaking news -- but nothing advanced past the "tire-kicking stage," Daniels said.

Right-hander Ben Sheets remains "a person of interest," Daniels said, drawing upon his Law & Order Lingo Handbook. Most conversations with Sheets' agent, Casey Close, have been about another Close client, Jason Jennings.

-- Jeff Wilson

Rangers invite six minor-leaguers to spring training

The Rangers have invited six minor-league players to major league spring training: pitchers Neftali Feliz and Derek Holland, infielders Elvis Andrus and Justin Smoak, and catchers Manny Pina and Kevin Richardson.

 

Feliz was 10-6 with a 2.69 ERA at Low A Clinton and Double A Frisco last season. Smoak, the Rangers’ No. 1 pick in the June 2008 draft, batted .353 with two clubs in the Arizona Fall League. 

 

Andrus, expected to be the team’s eventual shortstop this season, batted .295 at Frisco last season. He was second in the Texas League with 54 stolen bases.

 

Pina, 21, and Richardson, 28, both saw brief action for the Rangers in last year’s spring training. 

Richardson

will be in his eighth season in the

Texas

organization, while Pina will be in his fifth.  It is the first invitation to big league camp for both catchers.

 

The first workout for pitchers and catchers is Feb. 15 in Surprise,

Ariz.

The first full squad workout is Feb. 19.

OK, I think we've all pretty much agreed that the Rangers bungled the Michael Young situation badly. Jon Daniels and Ron Washington (and I've been told he said almost nothing) can't walk out of that meeting with Young feeling as he did.

But now let's take the longer view. This situation arrived a year sooner than most of us thought it would, but there's no question it was coming, probably by this time next year, and the Rangers and Young were going to be faced with this dilemma. Michael was going to have to move somewhere to make room for Andrus.

With the Rangers' current vacancy at third and the club's evaluation that Andrus is ready, it just came sooner rather than later.

Now let's ask the most pertinent question of all: Are they a better club with Andrus at short and Young at third than Young at short and Travis Metcalf, for instance, at third?

If the Rangers' talent evaluators are right, absolutely. His 32 errors last season aside, Andrus is projected as a defensive whiz, maybe the best defensive shortstop in Rangers' history. Young's work ethic, strong arm and instincts would likely make him at least an adequate third baseman, even though he's only played eight innings there (in 2002) in his life.

Daniels is right when he says that this move is designed to move the team closer to its goal of a World Series championship.

But this isn't fantasy baseball or some board game. Players' feelings, especially one with the respect Young has earned, do matter.

That should have been the longest lunch in history, when Daniels and Washington met with Young, because they couldn't let him walk out of there until everyone was on the same page and if that meant delaying Andrus' arrival until the spring of 2010, so be it.

   -- JIM REEVES

No new callers

General manager Jon Daniels said earlier this evening that he wasn't flooded with phone calls from interested clubs today after it was revealed that Michael Young has asked to be traded after balking at the Rangers' desire to move him to third base.

Some of that is contract. Young is owed $62 million over the next five years with a no-trade clause. Regardless of whether clubs believe he's older than they'd prefer or his power numbers aren't worth the money, the current state of the economy plays a role in limited trade partners.

Another reason for no increase in interest might be that most believe Young and the Rangers will find common ground. Daniels fully expects that the situation will be resolved and that Young will remain in Arlington. As a third baseman.

Daniels hopes a direct line of communication opens again with Young, who felt the Rangers were dictating his career path rather than asking if he'd move to third base. That wasn't Daniels' intention during a meeting last month.

"If there was one element I could change, it is that Michael leave the meeting with a different sentiment than was intended," Daniels said. "Our full expectation iss that Michael will be a part of this team. We're happy about that. We don't want to trade this guy."

-- Jeff Wilson

What Jon Daniels said

General manager Jon Daniels said he is trying to speed up the process of making the Rangers a contender. That's why he requested that Michael Young move to third base with the intention of getting Elvis Andrus in the major leagues.

"The thought process here is, effectively, 'How do we get all of our championship-caliber players on the field at once and all of our ready and near-ready championship-caliber players to play together as quickly as possible so we can accelerate the growth curve for our club?'

"We know Michael is a championship-caliber player. We believe Elvis has the ability to be in short order. The way to get everyone on the field at once would be to have Michael move to third base.

"We met with Michael before the holidays. We talked it through -- what it meant for Michael, what it meant for the club. I think he understood all the reasons. It certainly was a shock to him. He has not necessarily agreed with the move.

"Our desire is for Michael to play third base. He's got to buy-in to what we're doing and buy-in to the concept that we're a better club with what we believe are all of our championship-caliber players lined up.

"As I told Michael, we have to much respect for him -- with the work he's put in, the person that he is, what he does for our community, what he does for our clubhouse, what he's done on the field -- that we weren't going to put him in a situation like [Alfonso] Soriano was when he was traded to the Nationals. That's the farthest thing from our desires.

"I'll continue to take a look at [trading Young], if that's the club's desire and Michael's desire. There is a level of interest, but nothing at this point that would make any sense for us going forward as far as trying to win a championship. It's not a front-burner thing right now."

-- Jeff Wilson

Michael Young speaks

Shortstop Michael Young had these things to say in response to news that the Rangers have asked him to move to third base. Read closely. Very interesting. He knows that position changes happen, especially at shortstop, and that there have been whispers about him moving. But he didn't expect it for 2009, especially after winning a Gold Glove in 2008.

On his reaction: "It was shocking, to be honest with you. One thing that deserves to be noted is it wasn’t a request. It was them telling me what was going to happen. That was a fine line that I thought had been crossed."

On the December meeting with general manager Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington: "After a while, I asked them, 'What’s going on here?' At that point, they said I’m a third baseman. If I’m going to have a career with the Rangers, it’s going to be as a third baseman."

“I didn’t think that was a stance that was going to be taken. I didn’t think it was something that was going to be such a hard line. I was disappointed with the way things went, and as a result, here we are."

On what has happened since the meeting: "I did have a conversation with [team president] Nolan [Ryan] a few days ago, and it went very well. Nolan’s call was just to see just where I was at. But the team’s stance was ... their stance hasn’t changed, and neither has mine."

"I sought out some of my teammates, some of my former teammates, people I know in the game and respect, and everybody encouraged the stance I was going to take and said I was doing the right thing."

On what he believes will happen: "I don’t know. Time will tell. They have their stance, and they have mine. We’ll see. It's gotten to be difficult. I’ve earned my job. I feel like all I’ve been my career, and will continue to be, is a team player. That’s what I want to do. But at the same time, a team player, it has to be a give and take with the player. It has to be that everyone’s best interest is at heart.

"I really don’t know. The ball is in their court right now. Tomorrow, I’m going to wake up, I’m going to do my workouts, I’m going to go get ready to play winning baseball. As far as what happens at spring training time will tell."

 

-- Jeff Wilson