Michael Young - Young has been scorching in May, as another double and a homer yesterday bring his monthly line to 382/456/551. At age 33, most of Young's indicators have been pointing toward the negative for a few years now, and keeper leaguers would be best served following Branch Rickey's philosophy: better to trade a player a year too early than a year too late. The crux of Young's game, the ability to make consistent contact with moderate power, has been slowly deteriorating from a 2005 peak. His LD%, contact%, swinging strike%, and outside zone swing% are all either at or very near career worsts this year. Young has maintained his typically solid AVG this season by increasing his BABIP despite a lower LD%, a situation that will not continue indefinitely. Young is still a valuable infielder in most formats, but the end of that is creeping nearer.
John Jaso - Jaso tripled, homered, and walked yesterday against the Astros, making the Rays' inevitable decision about C playing time even tougher. Jaso has been under the radar for an awfully long time, but catching prospects that control the strike zone as well as he does and offer moderate power would be gold in most systems. Until last year's partial season Jaso had hit between 10-14 homers for the past four years, and he hasn't posted an OBP under .360 since he was 19 (he's 26 now). In short, he's a very solid offensive prospect that is worth playing in all formats until Shoppach returns at the very least, and ideally he will retain at least 50% of the playing time even then.
Howie Kendrick - Kendrick turns 27 in July, so when is it time to admit that we were all just plain wrong about him? Another 0-5 against the Cards yesterday drops Kendrick to 230/244/310 for the month, so despite the fact that he's swinging less and making better contact than he ever has before, it just isn't happening for him. Is it possible that a guy that hit 360/403/569 for parts of eight seasons in the minors can just fall apart? I suppose so, but I can't help thinking that some of his adjustments the past two seasons are just taking time to bear fruit. For the time being he doesn't merit a spot in your lineup in just about any format, but there's so much positive data in his past that I wouldn't give up on him just yet.
Ben Sheets - Yes, it was against the Giants, but Sheets has now pitched well for four straight outings so perhaps he's just about back. He struck out eight for the third time in those four starts, and his control was better than it's been basically at any point this season. He still isn't the strike-throwing machine that he was pre-injury, but perhaps he left that guy on the operating table. What's left, for the past three weeks anyway, certainly looks like something capable enough to be a member of any rotation. He is no longer an ace, but I do expect mid-rotation performance going forward, albeit at more of a risk than you might find elsewhere. Risk has two sides, of course.
Rick Porcello - Porcello was mediocre again yesterday, scattering eleven baserunners over six innings to the Dodgers while allowing two runs in a 6-2 win. Porcello interests me more than just about any other player currently, as he has been universally touted as a future star from a scouting standpoint, but the statistics certainly aren't in agreement thus far. Obviously the biggest problem is the K rate, but also of concern is the drop in velocity this year, the slightly worse control, and the increased contact rate from an already high level. Out of his top ten comparable players on Baseball Prospectus, nine could easily be classified as successes, with only Joel Davis in the bust category. Five (or six, depending on how you view Yu Darvish) have been or are stars, so clearly there's some disconnect between that and what we're seeing on a start to start basis. I am much more pessimistic than most on Porcello, but it would certainly help if the Tigers unshackled his arsenal just a bit.
