Red Sox Sign Outfielder Chris Young
According to Ken Rosenthal, the Red Sox have signed outfielder Chris Young to a multi-year deal. The reviews are in, and fans are LOVING this signing.
Well, if you want to know why the Red Sox just signed Young to a multi-year deal, the answer is quite simple. Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had been in the market for a right-handed hitting outfielder, and he just got one that’s a former All Star who mashes lefties.
But I do understand the confusion. Earlier this month, the Boston Herald reported that “Young is seeking an everyday job with his next ballclub, and he has received indications from the Red Sox that their interest in him is not as a fourth outfielder but as an everyday outfielder or at least one with significant playing time.”
A few days prior to that report, Dombrowski was on WEEI saying that there is “no question” that the Red Sox starting outfield in 2016 will be Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Rusney Castillo. I think some fans misinterpreted that Herald report, because the term “everyday outfielder” was thrown in there. In my eyes, 350 plate appearances is “significant playing time”, and Young can still get that without being an everyday player. In 2015, the Red Sox managed to give Allen Craig, Shane Victorino, Daniel Nava and Alejandro De Aza a combined 450 plate appearances. In 2016, the Red Sox can give those plate appearances to a guy who actually has a chance at doing some damage (with the exception of De Aza, who was actually pretty good).
Now the question is, where are those plate appearances going to come from? Young performed really well in a platoon role for the Yankees last season, hitting .327 with a .972 OPS against left-handed pitching. Well, he’s not taking significant playing time away from Betts. That much, we know. Oddly enough, as a left-handed hitter, Bradley performed much better against left-handed pitching (.306 BA, .918 OPS) than he did against right-handed pitching (.221 BA, .791 OPS). And then you have Castillo, who also sees the ball much better against left-handed pitching (.318 BA, .817 OPS) than against right-handed pitching (.222 BA, .566 OPS).
So to answer the question of where the plate appearances will come from, I think the Red Sox are anticipating, or at least preparing themselves for, a scenario in which Bradley’s bat falls off the face of the earth again, or if Castillo continues down the path of being a player who can’t stay healthy. For those speculating that this signing means that a trade involving one of the starting outfielders is imminent, I just don’t see it. Young just provides some insurance for an outfield that we tend to forget is very much unproven at the major league level.
