Now That's a Team Player

Michael Young has finally accepted his move to third base and is no longer seeking a trade. What a quick reversal that was.

"After some careful consideration over the last month or so and in an effort not to let this thing drag out," Young said during a conference call, "I decided to put an end to this and start bearing down on playing third base." ESPN

Hopefully Young recognized that refusing to move to third base was making both him and the organization look bad. And asking for a trade was simply ludicrous; the Rangers had NO chance to move Young, especially with the handsome contract extension the Rangers gave him before the season began. The focus needs to be on pitching, not Michael Young.

In the end, this is a good move for the Rangers. Young was a good defensive shortstop, not a great one, and folks inside the Rangers organization seem to love Andrus's defensive potential.

"I heard he made a lot of improvements during the season, and it won't take him long to learn things if he isn't quite ready," Chris Davis said. "He's definitely an electric player. He can do some amazing things defensively. He was out there almost every time I was taking extra hacks, trying to get his mechanics ironed out and working on his fielding. You don't have to question his work ethic."

Who knows? The Rangers could have the next Omar Vizquel on their hands. Let's hope for their sake they do, because their pitching needs all the help they can get.

So as a Rangers fan, you have to feel good that this situation is over. Having the face of the franchise spouting off about how the organization mistreated him is never a good thing. Plus installing Andrus as the starting shortstop is an important step for the future of the Rangers, who need to evaluate if this guy is really their shortstop of the future. The Rangers likely aren't going anywhere this year (unless they get some pitching) so having Andrus play shortstop now is a good move.

Now that Young has been taken care of, it's time to go after Ben Sheets, Jon Daniels. Make it happen.