PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles reportedly showed interest this offseason in signing 10-year veteran outfielder Chris Young, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.
Heard today that #phillies and #orioles were both interested in Chris Young before #redsox laid a 2-yr, $13M payday on him.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 5, 2015
Young, 32, signed with the Red Sox on Nov. 30, two days before the Phillies' claim of outfielder Peter Bourjos off waivers. Bourjos proved to be $11 million cheaper option for the Phillies, as the two sides avoided arbitration on Dec. 2 by agreeing to a one-year, $2 million contract.
Similarly, the Orioles acquired infielder/outfielder Mark Trumbo from the Seattle Mariners on Dec. 2 in a three-player transaction.
Young is a career .235/.314/.429 hitter with 446 extra-base hits and 528 runs batted over 1,243 games and 4,685 plate appearances.
Both Young and free agent outfielder Justin Upton manned two-thirds of the Arizona Diamondbacks' outfield from 2007-2012, where the two committed just 73 errors spanning 3,622 chances in 13,241 2/3 combined innings.
It is not clear whether the Phillies are still in pursuit of another outfielder. They currently have five players at the position listed on their 40-man roster, which currently stands at 38: Bourjos, Aaron Altherr, Cody Asche, Odubel Herrera and Roman Quinn.
Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
