The D'Backs have not spoken to the Red Sox regarding Kevin Youkilis, a source with knowledge of the situation told Jack Magruder of FOXSportsArizona.com. The source also termed Youkilis’ possible acquisition as a “long, long shot” because of financial reasons.
If the Diamondbacks do decide to pursue Youkilis, left-hander Joe Saunders seems the most likely candidate to be involved, but the source said that it's "unlikely" that the club is looking to trade Saunders. The 30-year-old has a 3.65 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 through eleven starts.
Arizona stretched their budget to $75MM when they inked free agents Jason Kubel and Joe Saunders last winter and would have to dump salary to make any deal work. Youkilis, 33, is earning $12MM this season and a $13MM option for 2013 that can be bought out for $1MM.
At the deadline, all bets will be off.
Probably true, teams who are borderline contenders do things at the deadline that they likely wouldn’t under most any other circumstances. I don’t think Youkilis really makes sense for them though, they only have an outside shot at the post-season at this point and Youkilis’ value is pretty much all tied up in the here and now. If they intend to pick up his option, and think they will be in contention next year too it could make a bit of sense, but I think Youkilis makes a lot more sense for a team who is more certain to be in contention this year.
I’m thinking that D-Backs want the Sox to eat some salary and take Saunders straight up. I don’t see him as an AL East pitcher or as an improvement to the Boston rotation, anyway.
Maybe, but the Sox wouldn’t be interested in trading Youkilis for Saunders even if Arizona took all of Youkilis’ contract.
Youk is going to brew crew
Very little chance the Dbacks trade for Youk. A trade just doesn’t make a lot of sense. Yes, the Dbacks need some consistency out of 3B, but thei real problem was in the underperforming Upton, Montero, Goldschmit and Roberts. For the most part, all of them have started to come around, more some than others. If 3B remains the only hole in their lineup, they have enough offensive potency to weather that.
Adding Youk’s salary to a team already strapped and having to pay Hudson, Kennedy, and Hernandez in arbitration just doesn’t make sense.
Phew… thank god.
All good points. Not only are there financial reasons, but the D-backs are not serious contenders if they are offering Saunders. He can’t translate to the AL East. If they wanted Youk, they’d have to give up a BA top 50 prospect, and they do not seem willing to do so.
I don’t see Boston having an easy time getting rid of Youk. He’s 33, fading FAST, injury-prone, owed $13 million next season, I just don’t see that generating a lot of interest
owed 13 million, or a 1 million buyout
Not too sure about that. He’ll probably be the best bat (or one of) available near the deadline, and he has the flexibility to play 1B or 3B. Just look at the Beltran trade last year, where the Mets netted a top pitching prospect in Zack Wheeler. Beltran is 2 years older than Youk and probably more injury prone.
Yes but Beltran is still RAKING. Youkilis isn’t even hitting Big Papi’s weight…
Youks been healthy so far after this past DL stint, and a trades gonna come down to one very important thing. Is the return gonna be enough to justify not having Youks bat here. We can always use another right handed bat. Unless its a top prospect type its not even worth trading him.
Eventually, you’ll have to pick between Youk and Papi at DH, then, because Middlebrooks and A-Gon are both too good on both sides of the ball to keep out of the lineup. The only other option I see is to start Youkilis at 3B and Middlebooks in left or right.
I don’t think Middlebrooks in the outfield for anything more than an emergency is a real possibility (I mean, it’s possible, but it’s extremely unlikely). He’s never played outfield in his life (even in little league apparently), so he would have to be sent to AAA to learn how to play it, and they have Kalish, Ross, Ellsbury, and Crawford all due back within the next month(ish).
MIddlebrooks has been great thus far, but he will have bumps sooner or later. He could likely handle an outfield spot (RF?) next season, but its unlikely they waste his defense potential out there. My guess is that despite this being an imperfect situation position wise that they keep both unless they are offered a top prospect. Worst case scenario we ride the hot hand and keep them in some kind of platoon. Give Youk the bulk at first and maybe try Middlebrooks in the OF a couple times to create some additional starts. Then whoever is hitting better will get a slight playing time edge. There is no point to trading Youk for anything less than a quality piece. If nothing is offered we benefit more from keeping him around. Nobody in the playoff hunt is gonna get Youk for free, its not happening. He is gonna cost less than 6M by that time and when healthy is every bit as valuable as Beltran. Probably a lot more actually. If hes healthy and he goes to some place that needs 1B they are getting the bat and great glove. If he injures himself so be it 6M, but the potential for him to help us or acquire something nice is too great to just pass up.
The sox won’t trade youk!
Maybe they’d rather trade one of their pitching prospects for Middlebrooks…