Results tagged ‘ Kevin Youkilis ’
Will Middlebrooks Live Up to the Hype?
Yesterday the Red Sox recalled Aaron Cook, Jose Iglesias, and Will Middlebrooks from AAA. They also optioned Junichi Tazawa and Lars Anderson to AAA and placed Kevin Youkilis on the DL. Will Middlebrooks is expected to play third base in the absence of Youk. If you don’t already know, Middlebrooks is the top prospect in the Sox’s farm system. He was tearing up AAA pitching is April and many fans have been hoping to see him called up. Although he’s only expected to stay until Youk is reinstated from the DL, but there’s reason to believe he might over stay his welcome.
Will Middlebrooks is a near complete hitter. He can hit to all fields, but has a lot more power to his pull field. He also tends to expand the strike zone and chase pitches, especially fastballs up. Yesterday, in his debut, he was able to show patience by drawing a walk so he might be more patient at the big league level when he knows he’s not going to be able to handle all of those pitches.
If Middlebrooks can consistently play like he did last night (2 for 3 with a walk) he could find himself staying on the big league roster for a long time. He could end up being very valuable in keeping Youk healthy by having a trusted bat slid into the lineup when Youk is taking an off day which will be frequent. Although Middlebrooks is over hyped, he does has the skill to develop into the player that many project he will be one day. He’s a reason now to get excited even if his first stay isn’t for long.
How Crawford’s Injury Can Help
Tonight the Sox wrapped up their fourth straight win with a 9-3 win over the White Sox. Sadly it wasn’t all good news today as we found out Carl Crawford will be out for up to three more months.Now this sounds terrible, but there is some bright side to it.So far this the two of the teams hottest hitters are Cody Ross and Ryan Sweeney. With Crawford returning one of them would’ve had to been benched despite their hot starts which is more than you can say about Crawford in his Boston start.
Sweeney to many was a pleasant surprise, but not to me. If you have read here before you’d know that I had faith in him since we got him.He’s currently on an eight game hitting streak and has been hitting great all this year. Ross on the other hand has been a pure power hitter. He’s come up with some critical homers so far.I love the way they’ve both been hitting and they both have been an upgrade from Crawford thus far.
To look at it from a numbers stand point, Sweeney has a disappointing .286/.344/.386 career line, but this year he’s off to a great start with a .383/.406/.583 line. He’s also fourth in the entire MLB. You can’t put up numbers like that playing with against the pitching that the Sox’s have faced and call it a fluke. He can pound nighties even with his limited power. He’s learning to hit lefties and becoming a more complete hitter. Batting him second could be wasting his talent as a pure doubles hitter, robbing him of several RBI chances, but he does set up those chances for Pedroia, Gonzalez, and Youk.
Looking at Ross, he’s just a great pure power hitter. You give him a fastball belt high and you don’t see it again. Actually any fastball he gets wood on has a good chance of going for extra bases. This year he’s got a nice .267/.328/.567 line which tops his .261/.323/.458 career line. His five homers have him tied for eighth in the majors. He can hit and I expect him to continue to go deep. Overall I prefer Sweeney to Ross, but either way they both add value to the Sox’s lineup.
Mets Willing to Deal Wright
The New York Mets said today that they’d listen to offers on third baseman David Wright. The Red Sox are also considering moving their third baseman, Kevin Youkilis. If they do end up trading away Youk the Sox would definitely entertain the possibility of trading for Wright. The question is would it be the right move for the Sox to add Wright? As with everything there’s pros and cons. You could look at his impressive résumé at a fairly young age (30) or his recent drop off in productivity the past two years and his concussion history. The problem with his productivity has a lot to do with the spacious Citi Field which has given all of they Mets power hitters problems (i.e. Jason Bay). But that’s not the only reason. He has performed poorly on the road too. Last year he batted over .300 in only two ballparks [min. 30 ABs] Nationals Park (.324) and Citizen Bank Park (.395). It’d be quite the gamble, but it could pay huge dividends.
Off Season Ideas: Youk to A’s?
The Red Sox trade Kevin Youkilis and Andrew Miller to the A’s for Gio Gonzalez and a prospect.
Why it Would Work: It’s no secret the Sox need pitching and Youk can be used as trade bait. Gonzalez is a great , young lefty who could turn out to be a superstar. He was an All-Star this year and looks like he will be for years to come. The Sox only have one lefty starter in the rotation so adding another wouldn’t hurt. Another reason would be that an unhealthy Youk can be more harm than help so trading him now while he still has a high value might be the best idea for the Sox. Billy Beane loves Youk, so the second his name is mentioned he’ll listen to anything. Also dumping Andrew Miller wouldn’t be a bad thing, plus he helps fill the spot left be Gonzalez so the A’s still have a serviceable lefty to start aside from Brett Anderson. Also the prospect would just be a throw in hit or miss guy.
Why it Wouldn’t Work: The A’s are struggling to get a winning team in Oakland. Their pitching is what has been carrying them. Would the A’s be willing to give up their best pitcher for some offence? They’ve been hurting at the corner infield spots by a series of failed prospects and bad trades. Youk could fill that spot, but are the A’s willing to sacrifice that much for an injury prone, early thirty’s corner infielder?
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