The Nationals signed Dmitri Young to a minor league contract. This is an interesting deal because I believe it was Jim Bowden who drafted Dmitri Young way back when he was with the Reds. Young had a breakout season in 2003 for a poor Tiger team and then had decent but injury filled seasons in 2004 and 2005. Things hit rock bottom in 2006 when he faced criminal charges for assaulting his girl friend. He eventually went into rehab, came back around the All Star break but then was cut abruptly in early September.
I had a brief conversation with Brian from Tigerblog. He told me that some of the players didn’t want Young to came back and it was eventually his negative attitude that got him cut. At least that was the speculation amongst the media. It also didn’t hurt that he was pretty mediocre in August and September.
Now he’ll get a shot to make the Nationals. You’d hope Manny Acta wouldn’t put up with negativity so you’d have to assume Young will be on a short leash. He should make for an interesting guy to keep any eye on this spring though, because when he’s on, he can rake.