The Mets completed their one-year deal with Chris Young, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork, who first reported the deal (Twitter links). The agreement guarantees the right-hander $1.1MM, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). Agent Lon Babby represents Young, who can earn up to $4.5MM if he reaches all the deal's incentives.
Injuries have limited Young to just 36 starts in the past three seasons, but he was durable and effective from 2005-07, when he started 30 or more games per season. He has always been hard to hit (7.4 H/9), but vulnerable to walks (3.5 BB/9). In 135 career starts (751 2/3 innings), the 6'10'' right-hander has a 3.80 ERA. He missed most of last season with a shoulder strain before pitching for the Padres in September.
Young will join Mike Pelfrey, Jon Niese, R.A. Dickey and Chris Capuano in the team's rotation if the pitchers remain healthy this spring. Johan Santana should join the group midway through the season.
The deal reunites Young with two of his former Padres bosses, current Mets execs Sandy Alderson and Paul DePodesta.
That only took two months…
Better late than Never. Never late is better
Ah, the almighty words of Drake.
Ah, the almighty words of Drake.
I like the direction they are going in, not over paying and getting some great potential pitchers even tankersly
Here’s to a healthy season for Young, Capuano, and the rest of the Mets. Let them help themselves get back on track as well as this organization.
LETS GO METS!!!
Some things will go wrong, they always do. If we hit at least 1 good starter that would be awesome
The Mets definitely have the best rotation in baseball right now…if we were playing basketball.
PG- Dickey 6’2” (Santana 6’0” when he’s healthy)
SG- Capuano 6’2”
SF- Niese 6’4”
PF- Pelfrey 6’7”
C- Young 6’10”
all you need is Lebron James.
Overkill?
I don’t know what NY team was more devastated by the Cliff Lee signing, the Mess or Yankees. Say hello to last place for the next five years.
Go Phillies!
Last place? That’s a joke, right?
How is it a joke? The Mets clearly trail Philadelphia and Atlanta and probably Florida, too. The Nationals and Mets may indeed be fighting to stay out of last.
How are they trailing Philadelphia and Atlanta, we haven’t even played a spring training game yet. Do the Phillies have an automatic 10 win head start?
I’d like this sign if I were a Mets fan. It has potential to work out if Young stays healthy, which could be difficult considering the fact he’s on the mets.
Send your negative vibes back to last decade.
oh where they WON the world series?
In New York, all the negative vibes I hear about the Mets are from their fans. They typically talk about other teams and make fun of the Yankees, and if I mention anything they did favorably they usually groan.
You must be talking about the “Mets fans” who were expecting us to sign Lee and Crawford, while trading Beltran for 4 blue chip prospects. I, my friend, am a realist and you don’t read much on these boards from people who fall in my demographic.
I think you have to be a masochist to be a Met fan.
I thought they would go after John Garland, but this is a pretty good either way.
Most people seem to over look the potential advantage citi field gives to the mets now, It is basically the big market Petco. I imagine alot of rehab and flyball pitchers would love to re-establish value by pitching there given the pitcher friendly confines and the added attention that comes with playeing in new york.
Garland loves West Coast – let it go
If Young gives us 15 starts that would be really good – bye time till Santana basically
I can’t wait to see what the man can do! On the other hand I really gotta see whether the guy will actually last a season for a change…
Either way, for the first time this offseason I am actually excited about a player the Amazins signed!!
“A Player”
Pardon me, but I’m excited about all of the players the Mets signed! Capuano, Bucholz, Young, Harris, Carrasco, and Paulino…These players all have a chance to have productive seasons. Even Harris off the bench might work…Also, they are looking at a couple of other guys as well…Possibly Tim Byrdak?
“Pardon me, but I’m excited about all of the players the Mets signed!”
No problem, Spanny. Even without those signings I’ve learned to expect you to be excited pretty much ALL the time!
Haha! Put it this way,
Hey listen, I’m just a happy fellow. But I will say this, last season at Citi Field was AMAZING, but I anticipate the sun to be even brighter and the grass to be even greener this season…Thus the Mets are finally on the right track…Finally the 7 train will be less scary going through the tunnel as well. Go Mets!
The Mets can’t do any worse than the last few years, they have been a train wreck! There are many teams that don’t have their offensive talent and do much better. They could finish last this year with the improvement of the Nats, and Marlins. The Mets pitching won’t be close to being good enough.
You might be right, but how have the Nats improved their pitching outside of Gorzy today?
The nats and the marlins have improved? Care to elaborate?
The Nats, no.
The Marlins, overall, yes. MUCH improved pen. Added Vazquez to replace Robertson,plus the fact alone that in the last month of the season, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco, Hanley, Chris Coughlan, 3 starting catchers, and the top 3 bats off the bench were all either injured, or playing inured, and 7 of their 9 starting positions were all played by guys who started the season in AAA. I’d say opening day 2011 is a imrovement yes.
I think you’re a year too early… but love the optimism!
Alderson is trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents in 2011. Wish our bench was a tad stronger
Me too but hope we can take it slow with him. I’m hoping for 20 starts
If both or one is healthy that is a good thing. Don’t expect much but if they do even better.
when Johan comes back healthy, Mets will have better rotation than yanks right now.
Johan
Pelf
Dickey
Niese
Young
Seriously?
Pelfrey’s garbage, Niese is garbage.
Not compared to some guy called Oliver Pérez they’re not!!!
Coolstorybro222, meet Fangraphs. Fangraphs, meet coolstorybro222.
Seriously though, check up on your facts before spouting, well for lack of a better word, garbage.
You have no idea what you’re talking about, @coolstorybro.
a 4.12 era last year with a WAR of a whopping 1.9? LOL.
no wonder the mets are the butthole of the NL east.
Puts him ahead of Jair Jurrjens. And Pelfrey’s 2.9 puts him higher than Tim Hudson. I guess those guys suck, too.
Oh wow. So you compare pelfrey and niese to two pitchers that have had down years? Ok. next?
It’s convenient for you to ignore that he was also comparing a #2 and #4 to the two best pitchers on the Braves, down years or not.
you are making it very evident that you have no idea what you’re talking about. How did Hudson have a ‘down year?’ Why don’t you just leave before you continue to make a bigger fool of yourself.
I don’t really agree with with what the guy said, but I don’t know where you’re getting the notion that Pelfrey and Niese are garbage. Especially Niese, he has a lot of potential. But just so we can be clear on the argument, who exactly is going to fill out the bottom two spots in the yankees’ rotation?
Wow. Is your name Dennis Ribant?
Garbage? Man that’s ignorant
yo seriously you’re not a met fan so stop commenting on mets transactions dude. go somewhere else
Ignorant. Niese pitched wonderfully in his first full season. Pelfrey had a great first half. Cool story, bro.
Ignorant. Niese pitched wonderfully in his first full season. Pelfrey had a great first half. Cool story, bro.
Be serious, the Mets staff is not good. Johan has been on the decline the last few years, Pelfrey has had one good season, Dickey, Neise, and Young are big ? Your drinking the Alderson kool- aid.
Johan was our anchor. You are right. We have no pitching
Mets didn’t win when Johan pitched, even if he was great.
Yeah your offense IS REALLY OUTSTANDING I MEAN REALLY.
THE SIMPSONS SUCKS
HEY!!
if only you could get banned for being annoying
Mets didn’t win when Johan pitched, even if he was great.
How is that not good? Pelfrey and Dickey each had solid seasons last year, even with Pelfrey’s terrible month in the summer. Niese showed he can handle big league hitting, and Young was very good in his short sample after returning. Not to mention Johan pitched to an ERA < 3.00.
haha keep dreaming
Pelfrey 4.33 ERA in weak NL, Santana good, but not as good as CC the last few years, Dickey 4.70 ERA in 7 years, AJ much better stuff 3.99 in 11 years, Neise and Hughes not contest. Nova looks to be a better pitcher than Young coming off and injury. He is from Princeton I will say he is smarter than the Yankees staff.
I don’t think comparing pitchers through their career numbers really tells the whole story. R.A. Dickey had a 2.84 ERA last year, his only full season in the bigs. Burnett’s ERA on the other hand, has been rising steadily for the past 7 years and was 5.26 last year. Last time I checked 2.84 is much better than 5.26.
I’m not saying that one pitching staff is better than the other…but your argument goes down the drain when you start judging some pitchers by their career numbers and others by the last few years.
Yanks need rebound from AJ or they are in big trouble dude.
CC plus Hughes and pray for rain.
And hope that Nutrisystem caters the post game spread so CC doesn’t surpass 350 pounds and break down…
oh come on, landing 300 pounds on a knee coming off surgery can’t possibly be a bad thing, can it?
I hate to make light of anyone’s injury BUT CC has lost about 20 lbs this off season and has never missed any time while on that “300 lb” frame. Now compare him to the svelte Johan Santana who has finished the last two years on the DL. Just saying. I hope they both stay healthy but you can’t just assume things.
His 6’7 frame makes it a little easier to carry that weight around anyway
CC plus Hughes and pray for rain.
And hope that Nutrisystem caters the post game spread so CC doesn’t surpass 350 pounds and break down…
So you’re saying that when Johan comes back from his SHOULDER SURGERY, which they say will be mid-season, and IF he’s anywhere near the ace he was THEN the Mets are better than the Yanks?
And IF R.A Dickey doesn’t remember that he’s RA Dickey, the 36 yr old w/the career 4.75 FIP who throws his knuckle ball 85% of the time and backs it up with the nifty 83 mph FB.
A lot of ifs to proclaim they’re hands down better.
That looks like a menu to NL hitters more than a rotation. Hitters are licking their chops.
Biggest off season acquisition by the Mets in every way.
like your avatar.
Conan O’Brien?
(I know it’s Benton Quest)
Have there been any reports/rumors as to who will be waived from the now-full 40 man roster to make room for Young, or is this a minor league deal?
Oliver Pérez!!
Oops! Sorry guy. For a moment there I was completely overcome by wishful thinking!
I wish and I’d even take Luis Castillo instead. My wild guess is Mike Nickeas since Dusty Ryan and Raul Chavez are both in the fold on minor league deals at C.
Yeah haha, they are going to bring both Perez and Castillo to spring training and see how they do, just for the hell of it.
Yea, some team might be desperate enough to trade for them if the Mets pick up the majority of the contract.
Yea, some team might be desperate enough to trade for them if the Mets pick up the majority of the contract.
Mets still can move Santana to the 60 day DL, opening a slot.
I’m not sure how the 60 day DL works.. Is it 60 days from the day he is put on or 60 days from the start of the season? Spring training? Because the Mets just cleared him for a program to begin throwing by the start of ST so you gotta make sure he will be eligible to come off when he needs to.
smart
interesting – don’t worry that slime ball Rubin will let us know
Chris Young is good and i wish him a healthy season but, everybody in the nl east just got an extra stolen base.
tough to hold guys on when your 6’10
In Young’s case it’s also tough to hold on to the ball before delivering a pitch, ha ha!
Ever notice?
I am a Yankees fan with no love for the Mets but I will say Mets fans should keep their fingers crossed as they have the chance to be the surprise team of 2011. If Capuano and Young are fully recovered and pitch like they have in the past, Pelfrey builds upon and improves from 2010, Dickey has the same type of year he did in 2010 and Santana comes back healthy this team can have one of the top 5 staffs in the National League. If Beltran and Reyes are healthy with another solid year by Wright the Mets have a legitimate chance at the NL Wildcard. If the Phillies were not in their division they would have an even better chance at the playoffs. I am not predicting the Mets will make the playoffs but I am saying their fans have reason to look forward to 2011 which is more than they had the past few years. It is a very big IF but if all their players are healthy they can surprise in 2011.
if the entire Pirates starting rotation pitches like Roy Halladay did in 2010, i’d say they have a good chance to make the playoffs too.
Sure if they had superstars like Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Bay plus rising solid players like Pagan and Davis in their lineup the P-rats could be a contender.
But they don’t and the Mets do, and the mets were in first place without Bay and Beltran just last year…
Sure if they had superstars like Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Bay plus rising solid players like Pagan and Davis in their lineup the P-rats could be a contender.
But they don’t and the Mets do, and the mets were in first place without Bay and Beltran just last year…
Well, the Pirates have never shown signs of being good, while Mets starters have. Young + Capuano are former All-Stars, Pelfrey had a great first half and Niese had a good middle. Don’t forget about RA Dickey.
yet you haven’t made it to the playoffs in years?
Do you enjoy trolling the mets with every post you make? do you really have no other life?
right, cause that’s essentially the comparison he was making…
Wow – your a true baseball fan
There is talk of them trying Perez as a situational lefty- not the worst idea in the world. If he can be useful in this role and K-Rod is healthy and can keep out of trouble Mets fans can be optimistic. Look the last few years going into the year it was pretty clear the Mets were going no where. I will give Alderson credit because some minor moves give reason for optimism.
Even if everything does not go the Mets way fans can have some hope. A healthy Young or Capuano may bring a nice return at the deadline if they are out of it so Alderson is atleast making some moves which put the Mets back on a contending path.
Perez would make one hell of an expensive loogy , but agreed cant be anyworse than starting the guy and letting righties tee up on him
Or he could just be hell as a LOOGY period.
Stay healthy Chris Young. This could really help the Mets.
Another solid move by Sandy Alderson. I’m looking forward to see what he can do this upcoming season. I’m hoping Young could make 20-25 starts at the most this season & at the same time be effective. I’m also hoping that this is not the last move the Mets make before Spring Training.
I’m looking at the FA list and while it seems that there’s little left pitching wise, after doing some homework on baseball-reference, I believe the Mets should pick up Tim Byrdak (like I’ve called for for months now), David Riske, Chris Ray (minor league deal), and Manny Delcarmen (minor league deal) just to be on the safe side. Duchscherer also wouldn’t be a bad option either. If I were the Mets, I’d be thinking that you cannot have enough pitching.
The Mets have the worst pitching in the NL East.
I’m a hardcore Met fan, and I almost agree – Nats are bad without Stras
OK, your right, the Nats and Mets staffs are poor!
That is definitely debatable – only time will tell. I’d still take the mets rotation over the nats, and the offenses aren’t even close
and you have the worst comment on this site right now, aside from the knucklehead that said niese and pelfrey are garbage
So their rotation is worse than the Marlins? You must really like Volstad and Nolasco’s 5+ ERA. And the Nats rotation isn’t even worth mentioning.
i like this move
once johan gets back (which i think will be sooner than expected) their rotation would look like this
Santana
Pelfrey
Dickey
Young
Niese (who i think has great potential, based on the way he started last season)
this is not a bad pitching staff. Sure its not the phillies, but it has great depth. If our line up can produce the way it should, we have a chance for the wild card
All bias aside, the Mets have ZERO chance at the wildcard, Marlins and Braves all have better pitching to carry them into the playoffs and both have better offenses to boot.
Come on, the Marlins have a better offense than the Mets right now? They look to have a horrible rotation, bullpen, and bench, but their lineup definitely looks better than Florida’s…
Are you serious? Horrible rotation? Horrible bullpen? Better offense? Every Marlins pitcher trumps the equivalent position in rotation on the Mets…even with Santana in the mix. The 2011 Marlins will have a top 5 NL BP. Their offense is very young, and probably the largest dark horse in MLB this year…hope youre prepared to eat your own words.
Now if you want to compare jail time, the Mets definitely win there.
Yo Alderson has made great moves with the limited resources he has to work with. Now imagine what he will do with MONEY AVAILABLE!! That’s what I’m talkin about, 2012 and beyond – smart, harvard law graduates with proven, winning experience at our FO. We have a great era ahead of us Met fans. And watch us contend this year, we will make it watchable and in the hunt all season
100% agreed I AM PUMPED FOR THIS SEASON…NO NEED FOR WILD CARD WHEN WE CAN MAKE DIVISION CHAMPIONS
I am liking Alderson’s approach to build this team up
even if we aren’t contending by the trade deadline, if these little additions work out, they could be great trade chips I AM PUMPED CAN’T WAIT FOR SPRING TRAINING
100% agreed I AM PUMPED FOR THIS SEASON…NO NEED FOR WILD CARD WHEN WE CAN MAKE DIVISION CHAMPIONS
I am liking Alderson’s approach to build this team up
even if we aren’t contending by the trade deadline, if these little additions work out, they could be great trade chips I AM PUMPED CAN’T WAIT FOR SPRING TRAINING
Mets moving to the NL Central or something?
Nah. Probably just too much coffee while reading MLBTR.
nahh i just love the mets and am very optimistic on what could happen this coming season. i feel their top of their line up is under rated, after the last couple of seasons, being injured and all that. Now that they are all healthy i think they will surprise many people, along with their rotation.
Not to bust your bubble but if the Mets lineup is underrated as you say then it also follows that they have been underperforming for years. Let’s not kid ourselves that was all because of injuries or that it can’t happen again. At least three of the more exciting names we picked up have pretty extensive injury histories. So maybe the possibilities are exciting but we got too many question marks to even think about declaring victory over a division rival with a stacked rotation – a month before spring training even starts. Stay positive but try to keep some perspective.
Aw, division champs. That’s cute.
I like the deals Alderson has made. This isn’t a year the Mets can spend hundreds of millions so they’re taking a low risk high reward approach. Worst case is they get hurt. Best case is a strong first half and try to flip em.
best case is a strong 1st half, then they add some more pieces and have a stronger 2nd half and make the playoffs.
Thought Young may have been coming back to SD for a moment there. Pity.
Man, that rotation does not look very impressive without Santana. Nevertheless the CY signing is solid if he’s healthy at $1MM.
Another low-risk, high reward move for Sandy Alderson and Co. I just hope they hired a competent medical staff to keep these guys healthy and if they could the Mets can surprise alot of people in 2011! LGM 2011!
The Mets are definitely an intriguing team for 2011 and I personally like all the moves Alderson and company have been making. As everyone has stated, low risk/high reward kind of guys. The real question I have is that even if the Mets are competitive in 2011 does Alderson look to move contracts mid-season? Let’s say Beltran and K-Rod are performing up to their standards, does Sandy look to deal them regardless and take advantage of their stock when it is high.
It would seem to be a smart approach, but I think that would cause a frenzy in new york in their in the race.. i can picture it now lol
I definitely like the low risk/high reward signings. We also have a safety net in Gee. I think the pitching will be adequate this year. Pelfrey continues to be a consistent work horse. Niese was amazing until he began to tire and Dickey was flat out amazing. I don’t expect Dickey to pitch to a sub-3 ERA again, but I think he’s smart enough with a great work ethic that will help him stay successful. If we can get quite a few starts from Capuano and Young we may be in good shape.
I won’t blame all of the offensive woes on HoJo, but he certainly didn’t help things. I think with a healthy Bay, Beltran and Reyes (yes, a lot of “ifs”, but still) we can be a fun team to watch.
Who is eating up all the salary on the Mets? I thought they only had a few hurt/worthless players Beltran, Pimpin Oliver, Santana, Castillo– thats only 60 million.
add in Bay, Reyes, and K-Rod and you’re at about 100 mil. Not one of those players earned their contract last year
That’s a great signing he can mentor the young pitchers the Mets have like Jonathan Niese
While the Mets haven’t exactly lit the world on fire with their off season signings, I must say they were all smart moves not made by Minaya. Another low risk, high reward signing with Young. I know the Mets have all of the pieces in place to contend this year. Will they win the division? Probably not. A wildcard spot? Nah. But, they will compete. If the mets offense can stay healthy this year, they going to turn some heads. I don’t think people really remember how great Bay and Beltran are when healthy. I think there is enough depth in the rotation to hold them over till Johan returns. The bullpen doesn’t look too shabby either. Now, all the Mets have to do to put a period on this successful off season is sign a second basemen. Another low risk, high reward guy. There are still some decent names out there…Felipe Lopez, Willy Aybar, and Orlando Cabrera. I know, he’s a shortstop but he’s 36 years old. He’s always been known to be a team player so maybe he would come play second for the Mets. His veteran leadership and passion for the game could rub off on some of the other guys in the clubhouse. Basically what I am getting too is that if I have to watch a platoon of Ruben Tejada/Willie Harris/Luis Castillo all year at second base I might just kill myself.
You realize they have the rule 5 pick, Brad Emaus, and are experimenting with Murphy at 2nd? The infield roster is getting a little crowded as it is, Tejada will start the year in AAA, Willie Harris will be the 4th/5th outfielder if he makes the ML squad, and Castillo will be gone before April. I wouldn’t mind bringing in Lopez/Aybar/Cabrera on NRI if possible, but guaranteed contracts need to be going to pitchers, not 5th and 6th options for second base.
Dude, you can’t honestly place any value on a rule five draft pick, that’s just insane. While I do like Murphy, that’s even a bigger question mark. He’s coming off of a major, season ending injury. I know he’s got some decent pop in his bat but his defense was pretty much deplorable the year before last, regardless of what position the Mets used him as. All of those guys I mentioned will at least get minor league deals. I’d rather sign a known commodity for cheap than place my faith in a rule five draft pick and a guy who basically missed the whole year with a “high grade” MCL tear. MCL tears are scary enough, let alone one classified as “high grade.”
What I think I really like about Sandy is the sense of depth he is giving to this team. Pelfrey had a great start last season but with Santana going down and the team losing and all the problems he must have been affected the second half. That was when they really fell to the bottom. Pelfrey is still going to have to be the “ace” of this staff but Sandy has really been able to give him some great support this off-season
deleted.
Mets rotation is better then the phillies now. We have a no arm santana, inconsistent pelfrey, knuckle ball dickey, johnny neise, Chris young who hasn’t pitched in a year and no bullpen. Look out phillies here we come