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The comparison to Jamie Moyer is instructive. Yes, Young is RH and Jamie is LH and there's a considerable difference in height. But both are extremely intelligent and have found ways to FAR exceed their *expected* capabilities by SABR measures.
When Jamie was traded to the Ms, at age 33, he was in the midst of a season with a 4.50 ERA and a 5.02 FIP, yet he had won 7 and lost just 1 for Boston, in spite of a 1.533 WHIP. He'd walked 27 and struck out 50 in 111 IP. He'd had a good year in 1993 with Baltimore (ERA = 3.43, FIP = 3.61, WHIP = 1.263, 90 K, 38 BB, 152 IP), but in 1996 was considered a basic journeyman; a marginal replacement level pitcher. He was traded for an marginal outfielder who would accumulate 6.3 WAR in the rest of his career of parts of 11 seasons.
With the Ms, Jamie went 145-87 (.625), had an ERA = 3.97 and an FIP = 4.38 with a 1.254 WHIP. During that time he K'd 5.4 / 9 and walked 2.6 / 9. He accumulated 34.6 WAR in 11 seasons in Seattle.
No statistical measure predicted that Jamie Moyer, starting at age 33, would become the ace of a staff that would, in his age 38 season, set an all-time win record, while he went 20-6. But Jamie knew how to pitch; it just took some time for him to find out where he got hurt and where he could get outs without getting hurt.
It continues to baffle me why obviously bright people reject the idea of growth and getting better at an incredibly complex game, where fractions of an inch and milli-seconds make the difference between a Home Run and an infield pop-up. Maybe there is a truth to the *generality* that jocks are not all that smart. But Chris Young and Jamie Moyer certainly prove the exceptions - as, it seems, do Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, and James Jones - these are guys who think about and look for ways to improve and DO SO.
Chris Young may reach a limit where his ability to do what he wants to do with the baseball is no longer so sharp. Jamie finally reached that point at about age 45-46. But I see no PRESENT reason to think Chris Young can't be successful for some time to come. " A man's gotta know his limitations" says Harry Callahan to Briggs, who sees everything as fixed, that a certain point of view will always prevail. Talent doesn't always prevail; knowing how far your talent extends and staying within it seems to get far better results in baseball as in life.
Now, does this mean I think Chris Young should pitch in Arlington in the heat of the summer IF a decent alternative exists? Well, a manager needs to understand his players' limitations as well, and the statistics DO show that it may be a park that *might* be closest to CY's limits. But to say that his pitching skill will INEVITABLY regress to a career mean (where in many stretches he was injured and in pain) - without doubt - is, as Matt says, the thoughts of a fool.