Michael Young Feels Manipulated and Wants, Expects Trade

Michael Young – a veteran with the Rangers, a leader to the entire team, possibly the face of the franchise – wants to be traded from the Texas Rangers. Why? He feels “manipulated and misled” not because he was dissatisfied with having to be the team’s designated hitter and utility infielder, which was what his 2011 role and position was going to be with the team due to the signing of Adrian Beltre in January.

Young has been tight shut about what’s going on between him and the Rangers but he finally chose to speak out about what’s going on and this is some of what he had to say.

"I want to be traded because I have been manipulated and misled in this process,” Young said. “I don’t want to take it anymore. I would have preferred this to stay behind closed doors. The shame of this is I have a great group of teammates that I’ve grown to love. But at this point I don’t think (it can be worked out). I think a trade is going to happen."

Apparently, some serious stuff has been going on “behind the scenes” and Michael Young is sick and tired of it. He had no intention during his media talks to go into detail about what’s been going down. However, he doesn’t want to be viewed as a DH because he thinks he still has a lot of time left in his career and once you go DH, you are going to be viewed as a DH and hardly anything else. He doesn’t want that. I can’t say that I blame him, but I would love to see him stay with the Rangers. When the Rangers confirmed that Young did in fact want to be traded on Monday afternoon, they said they wanted to try to accommodate Young to keep him with the club. However, it would have to be in the club’s best interest.

In a conversation with Nolan Ryan over this past weekend, some of the above information was exchanged. This is what Ryan had to say when Young expressed his feelings about the DH role limiting his career.

"He doesn’t view himself as a designated hitter at this point in his career. At this point, he still views himself as an everyday player. I understand the way he feels. I expressed to Michael my feelings about our ballclub, the role he would play on it and the number of at-bats he would get. I tried to assure him that from a career perspective, I didn’t think it was a step down. Michael’s feeling is that once you go to DH, you’re going to be considered a DH. He feels that limits him as far as his career."

Young signed a five-year contract worth $80 million back in 2007 and there are 3 years left on the contract totaling more than $40 million. The money that is left on Young’s contract is what is potentially holding trade talks back and not allowing one to successfully go through. If the Rangers were willing to absorb part of Young’s contract, which they are likely not, it would help a trade to go through.

Due to a partial no-trade clause within his contract, Young had a list of eight teams that if he needed or had to be traded from the Rangers that he was interested in going to. While the eight teams haven’t been officially released, a source says that the eight teams on the list included the Rockies and Angels who have shown interest in the 34-year-old among the Twins, Yankees (which would just be awful!!), Padres, Dodgers, Astros (at least he would stay within the same state), and the Cardinals.

Josh Hamilton, who is also in talks with the Rangers but for different reasons, has said that “obviously it would be disappointing” should a Michael Young trade go down. Young’s strong leadership would be missed.

Do you guys blame Michael Young for wanting to get everything out in the open and straightened out? Do you think the Rangers were wrong to say they weren’t trading Young when they were in fact working on a trade behind the scenes, which is part of the upset of Young? Since a trade is expected, where do you think Young will end up based off his eight teams? Where do you want him to go?

If you like my stuff, you can follow me on Twitter or you can friend us on Facebook!