DY (Once Again)

Taken from Rob Parker's Clubhouse Confidential, Sept. 16, 2006

My peepsare telling me Dmitri Young's release wasn't because of a lack of production or that he was a cancer in the clubhouse.

Instead, it was pure and simple payback.

You have to go back to last season for this to make sense.

Former manager Alan Trammell and batting coach Kirk Gibson, moles say, didn't want Young to get the 500 at-bats needed to have his $8 million option for this season picked up.

General manager Dave Dombrowski, however, overruled them -- for the sake of P.R. for potential free agents.

So, Young was inserted back into the lineup and got the necessary at-bats.

But, once Young got the necessary at-bats, he bowed out, saying he was injured and couldn't play for the rest of the season.

Dombrowski, moles say, was furious and felt Young had embarrassed and hoodwinked him.

For the record, there was never any meeting between Dombrowski and Young.

Fast forward to this season, when Dombrowski, moles say, was so down on Young that he didn't want him to rejoin the team after his 30-day rehab stint for depression and alcohol.

But Dombrowski had little choice since, to that point, the GM hadn't been able to secure a left-handed hitter via a trade.