Last night, I spent attempting to nap from a long day at work(was up at 4 AM to work until 4 PM) and I got bombarded by the Rays possible trade from 3:30 PM on.
At first, I read it the details of the trade and asked myself "Do we really want to give up Delmon Young this early in his career without having to wonder what might've been or what kind of a player he could become?"
As the night wore on and the trade seemed rollercoaster like in it's ups-and-downs and loops, I started to come up with an answer to the question I had asked myself.
While he profiled to be a "can't-miss" future All-Star/MVP Outfielder out of High School, he may lead the life of a Gary Sheffield-like player. If he doesn't like how stuff is being ran, he'll either speak about it until he's urged to shut up or he'll just dog it until the team that controls his contract decides to give up on him.
I'm not questiong whether or not Delmon, at 22, has the talent to become a player of his "potential" and "ceiling", I think that it's foolish of us to wait for him to grow up and change into the hitter that he could be come. Do we really think that Delmon will suddenly learn to take his first pitch for a ball or become a 75-90 walks a year player at the age of 24 or 25, when the team has it's best potential of contending for a playoff spot? I doubt it, he may even become worse? Are we willing to take that chance or trade him for pitching(young pitching, also) and fix our fielding woes in the same respect?