The Red Sox are adding a veteran outfielder to the fold, and the move might be a precursor to a bigger deal.
Chris Young has agreed to a multi-year deal pending a physical, Fox Sports reports. He provides experience among a young group of outfielders and his bat should play well at Fenway Park, but the question is where he'll end up on the depth chart by the time spring training rolls around.
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The Red Sox already have Mookie Betts, Rusney Castillo, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Brock Holt in the outfield, but only Betts made a real impact last season. His .820 OPS and 118 OPS+ were second only to David Ortiz on the team, and he played the entire season at age 22.
While it would seem to behoove Boston to hang on to its center fielder, one of the other three young outfielders could be packaged in a deal for much-needed pitching, with Young there to fill in the gaps.
The 32-year-old just wrapped up his 10th season in the majors, hitting .252/.320/.453 in a reserve role with the Yankees. An All-Star for the Diamondbacks in 2010, Young hasn't topped 375 plate appearances in a season since 2011, so he isn't an everyday option anymore. But his right-handed, dead-pull swing should be an asset at Fenway and he crushed left-handed pitching last year (.972 OPS, compared to just .585 against right-handers).
That should make him an asset off the bench and in a spot starting role for John Farrell, though his usage plan certainly could evolve depending on what else Dave Dombrowski has up his sleeve with the winter meetings fast approaching.
