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Chris Young gives Red Sox flexibility

Chris Young hit homers in roughly one out of every 26 plate appearances against lefties in his career, a home run rate that ranks ahead of every current Red Sox except for David Ortiz.Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press/File 2015

Why would the Red Sox sign outfielder Chris Young to a multiyear deal? Three simple concepts offer some hint of an answer: Uncertainty, flexibility, and Fenway.

Uncertainty? The Red Sox right now envision having Jackie Bradley Jr. in center, Mookie Betts in right, and Rusney Castillo in left. Betts is a player around whom teams are built. He's shown enough that his talent is viewed as a known quantity. Bradley and Castillo, on the other hand, represent players who require significant insurance policies.

Bradley's resume now features one 25-game big league stretch like few others in recent memory, a run from last August to early September in which he hit an astounding .446/.489/.952. That run is sandwiched on one side by 188 games in which Bradley hit .188/.267/.268 and another 25-game run in which he hit .138/.247/.263.

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Between his flash of brilliance this year and his minor league track record, there's reason for the Red Sox to believe that the two canyons traveled by Bradley may not be representative of who he is — but as the Sox learned in 2014, when they passed on players like Rajai Davis and made just one depth acquisition (Grady Sizemore) behind Bradley, they also can't ignore worst-case scenarios with Bradley.

Similarly, Rusney Castillo showed hints of the talent that convinced the Sox to sign him for $72.5 million, but he ultimately posted a .253/.288/.359 line that included .222/.258/.308 marks against righties. He might be an everyday big league outfielder, particularly as he gains greater comfort in his new environment after enduring the turbulence of defection, relocation, and adaptation. But what if he's not?

Young's ideal role is as a solid fourth outfielder who serves as a weapon against lefthanded pitchers. He has excellent numbers against lefties, with a .263/.362/.474 line yielding an .837 OPS — with the career OPS being a tick below players like Jonny Gomes, Hunter Pence, Dustin Pedroia, and Carlos Beltran. In 2015, he was particularly strong against lefties, hitting .327/.397/.575 with a .972 OPS that ranked 14th in the majors against lefties (min. 100 plate appearances). He's hit homers in roughly one out of every 26 plate appearances against lefties in his career, a home run rate that ranks ahead of every current member of the Red Sox roster except for David Ortiz.

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Young' s career numbers against righties are far less impressive. He's hit same-handed pitchers at a career .224/.293/.411 clip. Still, those marks exceed those that Bradley has posted for his career and that Castillo posted in 2015, and there's a decent chance that Fenway Park would help to improve some of those numbers.

Though advance defensive metrics suggest that the 32-year-old has declined from one of the best outfielders in the game to roughly average, he's capable of playing all three outfield spots, meaning that the Sox can use him – along with the leftthanded Brock Holt – to manage the playing time of Betts, Bradley, and Castillo.

Of course, the addition of Young also makes it easier for the Sox to use a player like Bradley as a trade chip. In a world, for instance, where the Red Sox fail to sign David Price or Zack Greinke, they could use Bradley as a trade chip while pursuing a top lefthanded hitting outfielder such as Alex Gordon or Jason Heyward – two of the top all-around outfielders in the game. By forging a deeper group of outfielders, the Red Sox now have increased flexibility to consider deals – even if such possibilities represent something other than the primary reason for his acquisition.

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Meanwhile, as a dead pull hitter, Young has a chance to take advantage of playing at Fenway Park, after having spent the last two years in home parks (Yankee Stadium, CitiField) that proved hostile to his offensive numbers. A look at the "Fenway Park overlay" in ESPN's Home Run Tracker suggests that all of Young's homers would have had plenty of distance to clear Fenway – and, presumably, many of his deep outs would have had a chance to sneak off the wall. While a relatively small sample, it's worth noting that Young has put up huge numbers in 73 career plate appearances at Fenway Park, posting a .344/.431/.623 line in Boston – a considerable step up relative to his career marks at Yankee Stadium (.255/.323/.455).

There's intriguing evidence of his comfort hitting in Boston in the form of Young's equal number of walks (10) and strikeouts (10) at Fenway – a notable departure for a player who has more than two strikeouts per walk throughout his career. All of that suggests a player who might have some upside beyond his recent career marks, but an understanding that he'd represent a valuable roster addition even if he simply performs to his career track record.

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In short, Young represents a strong complementary player with at least a chance to be something more than that, depending on what happens to him in a park that may reward his pull power and the performance of the still-unproven players he's been brought in to support, Bradley and Castillo. He represents the sort of acquisition that defined the strength of the 2013 Red Sox and whose absence contributed to the weakness of the lineup for significant stretches of 2014 and 2015.


Follow Alex Speier on Twitter at @alexspeier.