After Deadline: Vets Michael Young, Marlon Byrd Shrug Off Rangers Inactivity, Key Another Win

Michael Young on lack of trade deadline additions: "It won't impact my play and I'm not going to let impact anybody else's either." (Photo: R.P. Washburne)

ARLINGTON - Since he became a major leaguer for good in 2001, Michael Young has played 1,312 games, ninth most in all of baseball, none of them in the post-season.

Nobody has played more games in that time and experienced more team futility than Young.

That is not a stat of which any player would be proud.

He is no stranger to the comings, goings and non-doings of the trade deadline. He watched the Rangers essentially stand pat in 2004 when they led the AL West. He saw a team below .500 play deadline-buyers in 2006 only to have it turn into yet another losing season. And in 2007, he sat in a bit of shock as the Rangers traded away 1B Mark Teixeira, the guy he expected to “dog-pile” celebrate with after a Rangers championship, in the ruins of a season.

So Thursday, when it appeared the Rangers had a real shot at Roy Halladay, he didn’t get too excited. And Friday, when the deadline passed and the Rangers had nothing to show for it, he did what he normally does at deadline time. He swallowed hard, answered some questions about the team’s playoff chances without any significant additions, and went out and reached base twice. The Rangers went on to win after a rain-delay, 5-4 over Seattle.

“When a player comments at the deadline, a lot of times, it’s counter-productive,” Young said. “I’m not in the meetings and not part of the discussions; it’s not my responsibility. My responsibility is to go out and win tonight. My focus is to win tonight. The club has to look at more than just this year. You ask a player and he’s going to say give up whatever it takes to get [Halladay]. But the player’s mind is – and should be focused on the moment.  But that said, we have a good club, we like our club. We are good and getting better. We’ve played well this season.”

Let’s be clear: Young – and every veteran player in the clubhouse – was openly rooting for the Rangers to acquire Halladay. As he said, it’s a players job to think about winning the season at hand. What goes unsaid, is that it is the front office’s job to think about winning both now and long-term.

As it turns out, no matter what price GM Jon Daniels might have ultimately been willing to pay, Halladay wasn’t coming to Texas. Even the Rangers had been given assurances more than a week ago that it wouldn’t be an issue for Halladay to waive his no-trade clause to join the Rangers, when he was asked formally on Thursday by Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi, he responded with a pretty flat “no.”

So, while other clubs in the AL playoff races added the likes of Victor Martinez and Casey Kotchman (to the wild-card leading Red Sox, who are by 1.5 games on the Rangers), Jake Peavy (to the White Sox, who still figure in the wild card race), Orlando Cabrera (to Minnesota, also in the wild card hunt), and Jarrod Washburn (to the Tigers, who lead the AL Central, but would trail the Rangers in the wild card race), Young and the other Ranger vets sat there and just watched the somber news from the MLB Network. The only other significant contender that didn’t make an addition – the AL West-leading Angels.

“I think it’s clear that our team operates a little bit differently than others,” Young said. “The White Sox went out and gave up a lot to get Peavy. They got a one of the best pitchers in the game, but gave up four really good young players. Their thoughts were entirely centered around this season. I think I saw one time that [Chicago GM] Kenny Williams said he would never rebuild. That’s his approach. We are looking at this year and the future. There is going to be a small difference in philosophy between the clubs.”

“You can say that it isn’t going to impact you until you are blue in the face, but you are still going to have that feeling where will be, I don’t know whether you’d call it ‘disappointment,’ or what, ” said OF Marlon Byrd. “It’s only natural. But we’ve got to go out there and do what we can to win with the 25 guys we have here. I’ve believed in this team since spring training. We have confidence in ourselves. I think we looked at the deadline like something that could have put us over the top. It doesn’t mean we don’t have confidence; we are a confident bunch. If this makes us come together even more, we’ve got to do that.

“What we can’t let happen is for that feeling to be a long-term thing. We’ve got to bounce back quickly. ”

Said Young: “I don’t think not adding anybody will matter to this club. For me, I’ve been through it too many times to let it affect my play. And if it’s not going impact my play, I’m not going to let it impact anybody else’s either.”

A couple hours later, Byrd, who has played 730-playoff free games in his career, hit a three-run homer that provided the difference in the Rangers 10th win in the last 12 games. Young had singled just ahead of the homer.

If the team needed a message that no changes means nothing has changed, the veteran duo sent it right then.