The Los Angeles Dodgers have traded for Phillies third baseman Michael Young, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox. The only real question I have is…why?
Young is hitting .276/.336/.395 this year with eight homers as a member of the Phillies, numbers boosted by an OPS nearly 100 points higher at Citizens Bank Park than on the road. Heading to the pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium will likely repress some of his offense if his .158 home ISO and .083 road ISO are any indication.
This seems like merely a depth move in case the Juan Uribe bubble bursts, but I'm not sure Young is even a massive upgrade over an in the tank Uribe. Uribe came into Saturday night's Dodgers-Padres game hitting .268/.326/.395, a nearly identical line to Young's for the season. Uribe has consistently graded out as an above average defender at third, while Young is one of the worst glovemen in baseball. Neither player can hit lefthanders either, so it's not as if this is going to be a situation like Justin Morneau going to the Pirates, which sets up a better platoon at a key position.
But why not trade Young a month ago when his value was at least a fraction higher? In August, Young hit a dreadful .234/.280/.298 and had been shifted across the diamond to make room for Cody Asche at third base. His move will open up first base for the season's final month for Darin Ruf, and maybe the Phillies can actually move on with some sort of rebuilding plan. It just seems a little bizarre for this move to come a month after both the Red Sox and Yankees showed interest in Young, which would have let the rebuild get started earlier in Philadelphia.
UPDATE: According to Rosenthal, Rob Rasmussen is the return for the Phillies. You may know him as one of the players traded from the Marlins to the Astros last summer for Carlos Lee before Houston dealt him to Los Angeles for John Ely. The 24-year old has a 4.11 ERA this year, split between AAA Albuquerque and AA Chattanooga, striking out 113 and walking 60 in 135 2/3 innings.
