A look at Michael Young's performance (or lack thereof)

Joey Matches takes a deeper look at what is going on with Michael Young this season, both offensively and defensively, in a piece over at BBTiA that I strongly encourage you to check out.

I agree with just about everything he sets forth there, and I'm glad to know there's someone besides me who thinks that saying or writing something critical about Young generates a disproportionate amount of backlash. 

I've held off on saying much (in terms of the front page posts) about Young's defense, in part because of how early it is in the season, and in part because, given the throwing problems he's exhibited lately, I was afraid it would look like a (supposed) known Michael Young hater piling on.

But as Joey points out, the problem with Young defensively isn't even with his throws...it is with his lack of range, and his inability to move laterally well enough to cut balls off that should be outs, but go as hits.  It was the problem he had at shortstop, that made his glove poor enough that he needed to move off the position, but I felt that he'd be able to handle third base well enough to be above-average there, or at least average.

So far, the available data suggests that assumption on my part was wrong.

What may be more troubling, though, is the offensive data Joey presents...Joey suggests that Young's bat speed has slowed a tick, and if that's true, that's a huge problem. 

Anyway, read the whole thing...really good stuff...