Philadelphia Phillies: Top Possible Trades to Acquire Michael Young to Play RF

Michael Young of the Texas Rangers made it clear that he is not happy with his current situation in Texas, where Young’s role will be reduced to designated hitter, with the signing of Adrian Beltre.

Young has long been a good sport to the Rangers.  Young came up as a second baseman, working on the other side of second base to his natural position of shortstop, because the Rangers had Alex Rodriguez.

Then, Young moved to shortstop after Alex Rodriguez was traded to the New York Yankees to play third base there.

Then, Elvis Andrus was acquired in a trade for Mark Teixeira. Once again, Young changed positions, this time to third base.

It sounds as if enough is enough for Young, Yahoo’s Tim Brown writes.

“They will attempt to trade him in the coming days, according to a source familiar with those conversations, in part because Young has grown disillusioned with his diminished role on the team.”

While Young has been linked to the Angels and Rockies, the Phillies would make perfect sense as a landing spot for Young to fill the hole left by Jayson Werth signing with the Nationals.  

Here are the top trade scenarios to land him for the Phillies.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Cliff Lee & Top 17 Questions Heading Into Spring Training

Heading into the 2011 season, the Philadelphia Phillies are widely believed to be the favorite in the National League East, and maybe even the National League. 

However, to say that a team is without holes is unreasonable; in the case of the 2011 Phillies, there are indeed many questions that remain as they head to Clearwater to begin Spring Training.  On Friday, the Phillies packed up their trucks and sent the team’s gear down I-95 to Florida.

Here are the top 17 questions that remain going into Spring Training.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Trading Cliff Lee and Other Ways To Replenish Farm System

 

The Phillies have pulled off some trades for some top pitching talent over the past few seasons. 

In 2008, the Phillies traded Josh Outman, Adrian Cardenas and one other to acquire Joe Blanton. 

In 2009, the Phillies traded Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald and Jason Knapp to acquire Cliff Lee. Then, in the offseason that year, the Phillies traded Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Travis D’Arnaud for Roy Halladay.  

During the 2010 season, the Phillies traded J.A. Happ, Anthony Gose and another player for Roy Oswalt.

As you can tell, the Phillies system has been decimated by trades and therefore there is very little talent at the AA and AAA levels that can come up to the major league club and help fill specific needs.

Here are some ways the Phillies can strategically replenish the farm system.

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Philadelphia Phillies Need To Re-Sign Chad Durbin Before He Signs Elsewhere

It is already February, 13 days until pitchers and catchers are set to report to sunny Clearwater, Florida. But one familiar face to the Philadelphia Phillies is not going to be with them. At least as of right now, anyway.

Chad Durbin, the workhorse who signed with the Phillies prior to the 2008 season and contributed greatly to their playoff appearances in 2008, 2009 and 2010, seems to be the odd man out in this situation. When the Phillies offered arbitration to Kyle Kendrick and signed him to a $2.45 million contract, it was not necessarily to be a starting pitcher on the Phillies staff.

Because the Phillies have Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, Joe Blanton and fifth starter Cole Hamels, Kendrick is getting bumped to the bullpen. But with Danys Baez entrenched in the bullpen because the Phillies are paying him $2.5 million, there is no room for Durbin.

Durbin was not necessarily a long reliever or “mop up” man, but he could pitch multiple innings in the middle of a game and keep the game close. In one instance in 2009, Cole Hamels left the game in the fourth inning due to an injury. Durbin pitched the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, making way for the setup man and closer, and the Phillies won.

While I previously wrote that Greg Dobbs would be missed, Chad Durbin would be missed much more. Let’s hope the Phillies sign him and trade someone to make room.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Greg Dobbs: Top 5 Reasons The Philadelphia Phillies Will Regret Letting Him Go

The Philadelphia Phillies lost another player from their World Series winning team when Greg Dobbs signed a minor-league contract with the Florida Marlins.

This loss will really hurt the Phillies in several ways.  Fans should not be dissuaded by Greg Dobbs’ bad year in 2010; many players have a down year now and then. 

Here are the top reasons the Phillies will miss having Greg Dobbs on their roster.

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Philadelphia Phillies: The 10 Most Underrated Trades in Team History

The topic of trades has been a hot debate in Philadelphia Phillies fan circles, ever since the Phillies traded Cliff Lee away to the Seattle Mariners for Philippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies and J.C. Ramirez. 

But the Cliff Lee trade a year later may turn out to be one of the more underrated deals in Philadelphia Phillies history.  The challenges of a general manager are many, and may not be the very obvious things that a fan wants to see or hear. 

But in the end, the success of the general manager depends on how the trade has worked out long term. 

Here is a list of the 10 most underrated Phillies trades in the recent era.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Their Top 7 Relievers

The following slide show is going to show who the Phillies top seven relievers are.  Relief pitching has become an important position in the Major Leagues.

It is important to recognize who is good and can help the Phillies get back to the World Series and then win it all over again. 

While the Phillies have one of baseball’s best rotations, it will all be for nothing if the bullpen cannot nail down leads in the late innings.

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