The Houston Astros might still be in shambles in the real world, but in the eyes of Michael Young, they are just fine. The Rangers infielder, who is disgruntled by the way he has been treated by Texas, is looking for a fresh start on a new team. His no-trade clause allows him to be dealt to just 8 teams, and the Astros are one of them.
Rumors have already picked up around a Carlos Lee for Michael Young swap, and while our own David Coleman thinks Young isn't a fit, Fangraphs' Dave Cameron thinks the two of them would be a good swap for each other.
While Cameron makes some good points in his piece, I don't think the Astros have the same valuation of Chris Johnson and Bill Hall that he does. Johnson is, frankly, the only young player in the Astros lineup that they can safely rely on to hit like a MLB player. They obviously have an inflated opinion of Hall as well, given that they were willing to displace Jeff Keppinger of his starting job for him. Do the Astros really need to have three infielders that play best at second and third base that make more money than they probably should? Particularly when one of their few good young players is locked into third base?
Don't get me wrong, the Astros absolutely should be exploring every avenue to get rid of Lee's contract, but dealing him for Young doesn't seem to help them much at all. In fact, the contracts make it so that the Astros have the albatross of Young's deal an extra year. Are the Astros really desperate enough to get rid of Lee that they'd take on an extra year of high-dollar salary?