Chris Young is nearing the end of his deal with the Rangers, as the executive VP and general manager will be out of contract once the season is over. The team is taking steps to keep Young in the fold, however, as owner Ray Davis outlined in a statement to Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News.
“Chris Young and I have been meeting over the last couple of months to discuss a contract extension beyond the 2024 season. I absolutely want him to continue overseeing baseball operations for the Texas Rangers for many years to come,” Davis said. “I admire and respect CY’s leadership and vision very much and will always be grateful for the important role he played to help bring a World Series championship to Arlington for the first time. While there is no final resolution at this time, we will continue to work towards coming to an agreement. CY and I agree that our immediate focus is the 2024 season and defending our title.”
Davis’ final sentence implies that the two sides could be putting talks on the back burner until closer to the end of the season, or perhaps even until after the Rangers have completed their 162 games and whatever might await of another postseason run. In technical terms, most executive contracts that expire “after the season” usually have an official end date at the end of October or the start of November, rather than the literal end of a team’s final game.
Assuming this situation exists with Young’s contract, the Rangers would have some extra time in their exclusive negotiating window to finalize a new deal before Young officially hits the open market. It also isn’t uncommon for some front office heads (the Yankees’ Brian Cashman and the Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman are recent examples) to stay in their positions beyond the official end of their prior contracts, as it is understood that the executives will be staying even it might take weeks or even months into the offseason before a new deal is officially finalized or announced.
Davis’ statement plainly outlines the Rangers’ interest in retaining the 45-year-old Young, though the GM might have interest in testing the market to see what other opportunities await…or, to see what offers are on the table to provide more leverage in negotiations with Texas. Baseball operations leadership jobs don’t come available too often, but among known contract situations within front offices, Angels GM Perry Minasian is entering the last year of his deal, and the Twins’ duo of chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine. Speculatively speaking, it seems possible that Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins or Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller could be on the hot seat if their teams don’t reach the playoffs.
This season’s results could also obviously lead some unexpected positions opening up in the coming months. After all, Young’s elevation to the top job in Texas in August 2022 was itself something of a surprise after the club parted ways with longtime president of baseball operations Jon Daniels. Young had been working as Daniels’ chief lieutenant since December 2020, and he suddenly became tasked with getting the Rangers back into contention after a big spending spree in the 2021-22 offseason led to another losing record in 2022.
Needless to say, Young’s first full season running the front office was a roaring success. Texas went 90-72 and narrowly missed out on the AL West crown by losing a tiebreaker to the Astros, but then caught fire in the playoffs en route to the World Series title. The long list of contributors to the Rangers’ championship included trade deadline pickup Jordan Montgomery and offseason signing Nathan Eovaldi, to cite two of the many moves Young made to add the final touches to the title-winning roster.
The follow-up hasn’t been as strong, as the Rangers carry a modest 30-33 record into today’s action. The club has been hampered by injuries to almost every member of the starting rotation, though the pitching staff has somewhat remarkably still managed to post respectable numbers even in these short-handed circumstances. The lineup, however, has disappointed — staples like Adolis Garcia and Jonah Heim have been average at best, highly-touted rookies Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford haven’t broken out, and Josh Jung has spent almost the entire season on the injured list.
The returns of injured players could help Texas dig out of this hole, and naturally there’s still well over half the season yet to be played. Still, it hasn’t been the follow-up the organization wanted to its championship run, even if Young’s hands were somewhat tied by budgetary restraints during the offseason. Since the Rangers don’t have a TV contract beyond the 2024 season to the ongoing Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy proceedings, ownership cut back on the spending last winter, so Texas didn’t see anything close to the mega-deals that landed Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, or Jacob deGrom.
It could be that this overarching broadcasting uncertainty also factored into Young’s own contractual situation, if ownership wanted a better sense of its future revenues before locking up Young. It isn’t known if Young received any kind of a raise after being promoted to the top job in 2022, so with both a promotion and a championship ring now on his resume, Young certainly has a strong case for a very lucrative new deal. Young might also conceivably be given the title of president of baseball operations and another exec could become the new GM, depending on how the Rangers want to officially set the hierarchy of their baseball ops group.
One of the few former players currently acting as a Major League front office boss, Young tossed 1297 2/3 innings over 271 career games with the Rangers, Padres, Mets, Mariners, and Royals from 2004-17. His 13 seasons in the bigs included such highlights as an All-Star nod with San Diego in 2007, and another ring as a member of Kansas City’s World Series team in 2015. After retiring, Young spent three years working in a variety of roles with Major League Baseball itself before becoming the Rangers’ general manager.
CY should get all the money. He’s done an amazing job for the Rangers.
I agree that CY has done a good job, but sorry, no, Ron Darling does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Good pitcher, for sure. But c’mon, his ERA (3.87) would be the highest of any pitcher ever in the Hall if he was elected.
Reread his username.
Edit:Just saw your comment below. The irony is amazing.
@Remember-I know. That’s what I’m saying.
He should be here for a long time
Mark is an excellent writer, but he needs to proofread before final submission. He is apparently in too much of a hurry, as he often misses words and thoughts get derailed due to poor word choices and sentence structure. It detracts from what are otherwise very thoughtful and interesting pieces.
You are a loud to ignore the mistakes.
So you’re pointing out that Mark isn’t an excellent writer.
Pedant muted
He waiting for the White Sox job.
I know the Rangers just won the World Series with Young as the GM, but I really don’t think hes that good. Hes definetly an average GM. Most of his big moves havent worked out (Degrom, trading for Scherzer). Young’s issue is that hes too full of himself. He did nothing to improve this bullpen, in fact is got even worse than last years which was one of the worst in the league. Didn’t replace Garver’s production after letting him walk. The rotation has a lot of holes now since they let 2 of their starters walk in free agency last year and they never replaced them. I am a big Wyatt Langford guy so I’m ok with that pick but his other big draft picks of Flaherty and Rocker have been big time busts. All in all, I’d give Young a B grade, his hire of Bochy was spot on. I do think that they won the World Series in spite of Young though
He won the World Series under his watch. His picks still have time. Langford was a steal and he took advantage of the opportunity. The trade for Montgomery was genius. Evoldi was another good deal. Still is. Garver hardly hit jack this year. The team has been ravaged by injury.
It’s how you finish that counts. With all the players returning in the second half, along with some smart moves at the deadline, I’m sure he’ll earn that A he deserves.
Like “his hire of Bochy was spot on”.
I disagree
While every gm talks about getting more pitching, Chris young does it. While scherzer didn’t pitch great last year, there are a dozen quotes from players that said when the deal was made, the team realized the front office was serious, so they had to be too.
You say the team won despite Chris young. Last year he added Eovaldi, scherzer, Montgomery. There’s no way this team makes the World Series without them
There isn’t a week that goes by where the younger pitchers arent quoted as saying how much they learn from Eovaldi, scherzer, and degrom. He’s building a pitching culture
Yes, adding bochy was huge. But so was adding Mike maddux and the rest of the coaching staff. Gone are the days of the the first time manager so the former gm can have full control. He surrounds himself with smart people
The rangers had no money this offseason because of ballys. But they still signed Yates and David Robertson to help with the bullpen. Injuries have hurt this team to where they have to rely on overexposing guys like yerri rodriguez and Jonathan hernandez. Otherwise, we’d have guys like lorenzen Bradford, or gray moved to the bullpen, and the team looks much different
If anything, I think they relied too much on carter and Langford being a huge part of this offense. But the loss of jung was bigger than anyone expected. But again, they had no money
You mentioned garver, who is having a terrible offensive year. I’d rather have Yates, lorenzen (great signing) and 3 million instead of garver. Wise decision
IMO, Chris young is the best gm the rangers have ever had
Jonathan Daniels.
@Almond I agree 100%, I’d add Heaney to the potential bullpen mix. Always thought his stuff would translate very well. I feel the Gray contract is underrated… and Almond Joys are great.
@gogreen agreed on all fronts. Especially the almond joys being great. Now, Mounds? Absolute trash.
Blah on almond joys. Sometimes I worry about our society
If he waits til after the season he could be the Padres GM
There shouldn’t be a comma after “or.”