The Angels have signed outfielder Chris Young to a one-year, major league contract, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports (Twitter links). The deal comes with a $2MM base salary plus incentives for the CAA Sports client.
The 34-year-old Young brings experience at all three outfield spots and has been a plus defender in his career (19 Defensive Runs Saved, 8.5 Ultimate Zone Rating). He hasn’t seen much action lately in center field, though, and that’ll be the case again this year if Mike Trout stays healthy. Playing time could be hard to come by in the corners, too, given that the Angels also feature established starters in left field (Justin Upton) and right field (Kole Calhoun). Young logged 363 innings in the corners with the Red Sox in 2017 and accounted for minus-4 DRS and a minus-3.4 UZR.
Young is known more for his work on the offensive side, where he has produced a .237/.316/.430 line with 185 home runs and 140 stolen bases across 5,188 plate appearances with several teams. Given that the righty-swinging Young has become a southpaw-hitting platoon player as his career has progressed, the former 30-home run hasn’t racked up great counting stats in recent years. However, he tends to make his playing time count, evidenced by a .262/.361/.466 slash in 1,366 PAs versus left-handers. Young was uncharacteristically poor against lefties last year, though, en route to a .235/.322/.387 overall line and a minus-0.2 fWAR in 276 trips to the plate.
The Angels are obviously betting on a bounce-back showing from Young, who was a terrific bench option for the Yankees in 2015 and the Red Sox in ’16. If he returns to his lefty-mashing ways in 2018, it’d be a boon for an Angels offense that scuffled versus southpaws last season (.240/.332/.356).
Chris Carter. Chris Young. Chris Tillman next?
Chris duncan
Chris Archer
Might as well… we don’t need to keep him at this point.
Kris Kringle?
Krispy Kreme?
The other Chris Young is next
hes already signed to the pads
Why Chris Young though. Is he going to be the backup to Justin Upton??
Perhaps a Calhoon/Young platoon?
Perhaps he’s just a 4th outfielder. They still exist.
Glad the Angels aren’t looking into another large contract after the flurry of moves this offseason. Keep some of that cash for mid season acquisitions.
Hmm, seems like they needed a lefty bat
Stat link goes to the Royals pitcher. I’m assuming we are talking about former Yankee Chris Young.
Wrong Chris Young is linked…
Wrong link for Chris Young
Holy smokes. Wrong Chris Young linked.
Young link wrong for Chris.
I just threw myself through a window. Wrong Chris Young linked.
Lol
Chris Colabello?
Christian Slater?
Was hoping they would get either Revere or Maybin to be the 4th outfielder but granted not much playing time that there wasn’t much of a chance
that will have to wait until another offseason, unless one of their first names is chris
Wow, Chris Young is a good guy (from his Yankee days) and from the left side he probably still has something to offer.
BUT……237 overall, his defensive metrics in this article quote before 2014 and after he’s a disaster…..sad to say but don’t you think the Angels could find some other solution as a 4th outfielder that offers something better than this?
For 2 million dollars and the promise of very little playing time unless an injury happens. Probably not.
They still have EYJ on the books.
Considering his base-running ability and the better Defensive he brings, one could argue they had a better fit for the 4th OF spot in house already
Yeah, I like EYJ a bit more, though I think EYJ was signed to a minor league deal.
They may keep 5 Ofers on hand. Maybe not with Ohtani, but maybe.
Yeah, don’t see the point in signing Young to a major-league deal. Eric Young Jr. has much better potential.
Agree.
Having EYJ on hand for minimum but still going out and giving the last roster spot to Young at a 2m cost …well, seems like the team is burning 2m dollars for no rhyme or reason, to me
And even if they aren’t confident in EYJ, we just saw Rajai take a minor league deal. So how in the world did they come up with Young being worth that 2million on a ML deal to begin with?
should be a good pickup as backup OF
Young was a good bench piece for the Sox in 16. Was almost a non factor second half of last season tho. May be toast. All told he’s he great clubhouse guy tho.
Wrong Chris Young link, not the pitcher!!
Who is gonna be the next former Yankee to go to LAA
My problem with Hosmer deal is that Padres didnt frontload the contract enough. They shouldve made it so that Hosmer gets paid less than $10mil per yr for last 3 years. That wouldve made it easier to move him later. Their payroll is so low, and with their prior bad acqusitions coming off the books, they can afford $22-25 mil per yr for 5 yrs.
This story is about Young, not Hosmer
Maybe there’s a Chris Hosmer somewhere
Thank God. I was terrified the Sox were going to resign him.
2010 called, they are very high on the current Angels roster.
What other players are the Angels in talks with, if any??
Do they have like 45 guys on their roster now?
Honestly i think eric young is a better fit for the 4th outfielder with the speed and left handed bat so i would prefer this to be a minor league deal but won’t matter much anyways so
“Young is known more for his work on the offensive side, where he has produced a .237/.316/.430” lol
.746 OPS isn’t all that bad for a 4th OF
Chris Young is an Astros killer. He hits well over .400 with power against them.
So they sign Chris carter and Chris young both guys who are free swingers that hit well on one side of the plate and terribly on the other side. Both platoon players. Is this a depth move?
Exactly what side of the plate does Chris Carter hit well from??????
He’s strictly a righty hitter and the last time we saw him on the Yankees, he couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
I got a chance to see Chris Carter in a batting practice this off season. He’s also been spending a lot of time hitting off of tee and doing a lot of base running drills that are out of this world. He will easily be a 20/20 guy this year with over a .300 batting average.
Now that’s funny FOB:)
As a Stros I can tell you that no matter if he’s hitting .200 or .275.. he’ll kill the Astros. don’t matter whose pitching.
lefty, righty, straighty.. don’t matter. I’m not happy about this and neither should you.