Michael Young Retiring

Michael Young, the 7-time all-star third basemen, has decided to retire.Young has been hinting at retirement the entire offseason, so it didn't surprise most. But it still surprised and disapointed me a lot. Young, at 37, is still completly healthy, while Lance Berkman, who retired yesterday also at age 37, has been dealing with bad knee issues. Age 37 is not that old, and Young hasn't shown many signs of decline. He combined to hit .279 for the Phillies and Dodgers in 2013, which is not a typical Michael Young season, but still by most standards is not that bad. Also, the Dodgers have reportedly offered Young a contract to return to LA, and other teams still have interest in Young. But this is mostly a family issue. When Young was talking about the possibility of retiring, he mentioned his desire to have more family time, which is typical for a ballplayer. Still, by choosing to retire, Young may have lost his chance to make the hall-of-fame. He has been in the league since 2000 with Texas, and played their until 2012. After playing with Philadelphia and LA in 2013, Young has spent 14 years in the bigs. Most of the time, 14 years is not long enough to make into the hall-of-fame. He has been one of the most consistent and versatile(has played every infield position) players of his era, and clearly has more left in the tank. To this point, Young has 2,375 hits for a batting average of .300, and has hit 185 home runs. Maybe a couple more solid seasons, and Young could've reached 3,000 hits, and therefore would have easily punched his ticket to Cooperstown.