As we continue our nominations for the least valuable player of the 2014 New York Mets, it may be safe to assume that we could just stop the search right here. One would be hard pressed to find a worse candidate (or for our purposes, a better one) than Chris Young.
His season began with major question marks as he had to start the season rehabbing an injury. When he finally broke his extended spring training, he quickly showed he wasn’t worth the hype.
Like many fans, It’s no secret I’ve never been a fan of his acquisition. Even to the point of writing before the trade deadline about the feeling of deja vu he gave me when watching him play.
That lack of confidence was confirmed with a horrid season in orange and blue. In fact, his 2014 in Queens was reminiscent of a Jason Bay stratosphere of struggling.
He was the veteran outfielder that was supposed to compliment Curtis Granderson in the outfield and add depth in the lineup for David Wright. He did neither. In particular, the latter never panned out. In 88 games played in Queens, Young posted a .205 AVG with eight home runs, twelve doubles and 28 RBI.
While on the surface, those numbers don’t sound too dreadful, there are three things to consider. One, he was brought in at a high salary to be a major role on this team. Two, when compared to other players with about the same amount of opportunities, he performed far worse. Three, he made the Mets look bad while making their rival look good
As previously mentioned, he was brought in at a high price for a major role. That price was $7.25M for just one year. For that type of money, he needed to be so much more than what he became. A veteran making that type of income has high expectations that he has to live up to.
Secondly, When players like Wilmer Flores (98 total bases in 78 games compared to Young’s 88 total bases in 88 games), Travis d’Arnaud (160 total bases in 108 games) and Eric Young Jr (87 total bases in 100 games) are performing as well or better in just as many limited innings as Chris Young, it speaks of mediocrity for the expensive veteran outfielder.
Finally, the Mets had given up on Young and cut ties with him while handing the reigns to Juan Lagares. Who was there to add him to their roster but the cross town rival Yankees. With the Yankees, he posted a .282 AVG with three home runs in 23 games in the Bronx.
This begged the question why couldn’t he do that with the Mets? Was it the way the Mets utilized him? Was it the field? Who knows. The point is, he excelled with someone else and did it mostly on the Mets’ dime.
A deeper look at his overall team value numbers shows a more disturbing trend. While Young had average numbers for a half a season, further statistics show that he was anything but average or above. His RBAT is -3, his RFIELD is -3, RAA was -7, he posted a -0.0 WAR, a .491 waaWL% and a -0.6 dWAR.
With negative numbers like these, it’s easy to see why he failed to play up to his contract. Was he pushing himself too hard like the previously mentioned Jason Bay? Maybe. Was he playing injured for the majority of the season? Maybe also.
Regardless of the excuse or reason, one thing is certain. Either way, he played his way onto the short list of least valuable New York Mets of the 2014 season.
I would take Nelson Cruz at his worst fielding and batting than CY at his best. Talk about a Madoff investment. Geez! And he really tried to put forth his best effort. What did Alderson see in him? After 1 month you knew this was one disastrous signing.
It’s not fair to compare the 2, considering Chris Young signed so early and Cruz signed right when spring training started. Cruz was looking for a multi-year deal at first, but obviously did not get it. Young was looking to play into a multi-year deal so was eager to sign.
Frank, I feel we should call it the “Chris Young Award” and give it to Curtis Granderson, leadoff hitter. Want to hear Granderson’s stats hitting #1 or #2?
270 abs, 49hits, 30r, 7hrs, 17rbi, 63k, 32bb.
That is a line of: .181/.268/.292
Also, I recommend the moron that had him there that long present him the award!
FYI: His non-leadoff average was .268, not that bad.
But TexasGus in the immortal words of Homer Simpson in response to being called a moron,”But that doesn’t make me a bad person!” Instead of a gold plated trophy maybe we can have a working miniature toilet mounted on a pedestal of Citifield with the caption, ‘I do my best thinking here!”. Best regards Fred and Jeff.
Chris Young was the Least Valuable Player hands down. Did he have to be?
Except for a period between July 2 – 19th he was a starter. Why?
By mid June, his OPS dropped to sub .600 and it was obvious to all that he should get reduced playing time. A platoon was in order.(yes, I know his splits were higher vs RHP but the platoon was more for his platoon partner). Instead he continued to start, except for the aforesaid period, right to his release on August 8th. This I blame on TC for not using his personnel properly. A platoon may not have helped either and he still may have been cut but at least you had a RH home run threat on the bench which was something the team lacked. The CY signing showed two weaknesses of the Met management. 1. Sandy is bad at evaluating free agents. 2. TC sticks with veterans too long and is reluctant to platoon. These two are perpetuating mistakes that management needs to evaluate and attempt to correct.
I don’t think it’s fair to pin the blame on TC for playing CY as a starter for that period of time. There could of been a closed door meeting between him and SA with the GM telling him to play him in the hopes that he gets “hot” and then trade him. Blame SA from beginning to end. For a team on such a tight budget this disastrous signing costs the Mets any chance of signing any other potential FA’s that could of helped them. Chris Young’s contract accounted for nearly 10% of the Mets 2014 payroll! At least we know that SA will not be looking for the next Rick Ankiel this off season. And that in itself is an addition by subtraction.
Im just curious, isnt it obvious as the sky is blue that he was a LVP nominee and likely winner?
I would rank him as the Most Obvious LVP, but who is lurking in the tall grass as one of the Least Obvious LVP?