Veteran third baseman Michael Young officially became a member of the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, as Major League Baseball approved the trade with the Texas Rangers.
As reported Saturday, the Phillies will get the 36-year-old Young in exchange for two pitchers — reliever Josh Lindblom and minor-leaguer Lisalverto Bonilla.
Philadelphia is only paying $6 million of Young's $16 million salary in 2013, with the rest being picked up by the Rangers. The Phillies will reinstate the former All Star's no-trade clause.
The move was hard for Rangers manager Ron Washington to deal with: "if there was crying in baseball, I'd cry," Washington told media members during a conference call Sunday.
Young had played for the Rangers for all of his 13 seasons in the big leagues. For years, Young has been rumored to be part of possible trades but, in the end, he always stayed with Texas.
In Sunday's conference call, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said Young was willing to compete for at bats, but the organization couldn't promise any for the veteran.
The Rangers already have a solid corps of corner infielders with third baseman Adrian Beltre, first baseman Mitch Moreland and up-and-coming slugger Mike Olt.