No Youkilis, No Problem

Youkilis to the Tribe? Thank goodness
it didn't happen.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

There are a bunch of Indians fans out there that really wanted Kevin Youkilis.

I was not one of them.

If you look at Youkilis' stats, injury history, and the position(s) he plays, trading for him just didn't make any kind of sense. And I know that the Indians were reportedly "in" on him, but as I tweeted the other night, thank goodness he's not going to be in a Tribe uniform.

Yes, there is a huge need for a right handed bat, but unlike the nearly 70% of people that have voted in this 92.3 The Fan online poll, the Indians don't just need any right handed bat.

Kevin Youkilis—since he's so topical right now—is right handed, but he absolutely was not the answer. I think any educated Indians fan knows this, but all the people starving for any right handed bat off the street do not.

First of all, where could Youk play on this team? First base? I know Casey Kotchman has not been great with a bat, but you're not going to take away his defense. And if you want a right handed first baseman hitting in the mid-.200s, we've already got Jose Lopez. 

You can make a similar argument for third base, where Jack Hannahan and Lonnie Chisenhall are splitting time. And even if you thought Youkilis would be an upgrade there, why would you get Youk to limit Chisenhall's playing time—especially cause the Chiz kid is so young and is making progress in his development. There's no space at DH either, since Travis Hafner is reportedly about to start a rehab stint and should be back with the team soon.

I mean, are you seeing a fit here? Because I'm definitely not.

And if you want to get some numbers, how about these—in the second half of last season, Youkilis hit .199 in 37 games with just four HR and 17 RBI. Even more alarming, in 57 games away from Fenway, Youkilis hit just .191 in 2011. This year, he was on the DL with back problems—a red flag for any athlete in any pro sport—and has hit .233 with four HR and 14 RBI. Again, he's hitting just .191 away from Fenway, and only hitting .256 against lefties. Nothing to write home about there. 

So again, how in the world would this guy have fit on this current Indians team?

Of course, now that I write this, Youkilis is probably going to light up the world with the White Sox. Everybody knows the situation in Boston was toxic, and when a guy is so discontent in the clubhouse a change of scenery can definitely affect performance—just ask Brandon Phillips.

But I'm going to stand firm in my belief that the Indians using their limited trade resources to bring Kevin Youkilis to Cleveland would have created more problems than it would've solved. 

~MAS