What Will It Take For the Phillies To Cut Delmon Young?
By John Stolnis
Jun 6, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Delmon Young hits a solo home run in the 5th inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
When Ruben Amaro Jr. signed Delmon Young as a free agent shortly before the start of the season, the argument in favor of the signing was that it was a low-cost, high-reward move.
Of course, just about everyone who follows baseball knew what was going to happen. They’ve been watching Delmon Young play Major League Baseball for eight years now. He had a career WAR of 2.4 heading into the season, a lifetime OPS of .742, only one season in which he’d hit more than 20 HRs, a career high of 35 walks in a season, and was renowned as one of the worst defensive players in the game.
No one, other than Amaro, really thought Young was going to be any good. And much to no one’s surprise, he hasn’t been.
Young came into Sunday’s series finale against Milwaukee hitting .232/.290/.438 for an OPS of .728, with 6 HRs, 5 2Bs and 14 RBIs. He’s walked 8 times and struck out 29 in 124 plate appearances.
Despite his awful numbers and horrific defense, Charlie Manuel decided that, with Ryan Howard getting the night off Saturday night, Young would bat cleanup. Once again, the results were predictable.
Young went 0 for 4 with two more strikeouts, including a lifeless 3-pitch K with runners on second and third with no out. He also has misplayed several balls in the outfield in recent weeks, leading one to wonder just what the hell Young is still doing on this team.
John Mayberry is no prize, but he’s at least as good as Young offensively, and is superior defensively and on the bases. Perhaps Manuel is simply trolling Amaro right now, putting Young in high profile positions to show his general manager how abysmal Young really is.
That would be a pretty Machiavellian route for ‘ol Cholly to take. But it can’t be ruled out. Because otherwise, logic cannot provide me with a reason why Delmon Young is still a Phillie, other than Amaro just wants to shove Delmon’s bloated face up everyone’s butts.
If Young’s performance so far this season not only isn’t enough to get him cut, but actually earned him a promotion to the CLEANUP spot on Saturday night, perhaps THIS is what it will take for the Phils to finally cut this anti-semitic waste of space.
- Throw a bat at Charlie Manuel
- Urinate in Ruben Amaro’s iced tea
- Take nude photos of himself and upload them to Chase Utley‘s cell phone
- Hang a dead rabbit from his locker stall
- Steal Cliff Lee‘s SUV
- Set Citizens Bank Park on fire
It looks like it’s probably going to take something like that for Delmon Young to get released by this team. Because it certainly isn’t going to happen based on his play on the field.
At least, it hasn’t so far.