A week after being designated for assignment, the outfielder has been released.
Consider the Chris Young era officially over as of this evening.
Roster note: The Mets have released Chris Young.
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 16, 2014The move to release Young was hardly a surprise. With Juan Lagares asserting himself as the Mets' center fielder of the future and the team moving toward younger players in left—like Matt den Dekker—along with the veteran's offensive struggles, it was a situation that was bound to happen.
Young was brought aboard last November after signing a one year, $7.25 million contract in hopes that he would return in some form to the player that hit 132 home runs with the Diamondbacks in seven seasons, despite a lackluster 2012 with the Athletics. But he never got it going in Queens. Young hit just .205 with eight home runs and 28 runs batted in through 88 games this season. Over his final nine games with the team, he was just 4-for-27 with one run batted in, which finally led to him being designated for assignment a week ago.
Young is only 30 years old, and there is bound to be a team out there that can make use of his services. Unfortunately for the Mets, he never panned out for them.