Kevin Youkilis: Breaking Down the Youk Dilemma for the Boston Red Sox

The Will Middlebrooks experience has been fun, but it's about to come to an end.

A temporary end, that is...maybe...

Boston Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington has said (via The Boston Globe) that veteran third baseman Kevin Youkilis will return to the hot corner once he comes off the disabled list. As Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com reported earlier on Friday, that time is nearly upon us:

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Youkilis will play third base for Pawtucket through Monday, then rejoin #RedSox and be re-evaluated in Baltimore on Tuesday.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 18, 2012"

Assuming Youkilis doesn't suffer any setbacks in the next couple of days, he'll be back up with the big club in no time, and Middlebrooks will take his four home runs and 14 RBI back to the minors.

A bittersweet turn of events? Not really. More like a just plain bitter turn of events as far as most Red Sox fans are concerned. Everyone loves Youk, but this Middlebrooks kid is pretty darn good.

The Red Sox know this, too. Middlebrooks is the organization's future third baseman. In the weeks (and possibly months) to come, what the Red Sox have to figure out is whether the future is going to begin sooner rather than later.

The only way to have it begin sooner is to get rid of Youkilis, and by now you've no doubt already caught wind of the various rumors that have been swirling over Youk's head recently (MLBTradeRumors.com has a nice collection, as they always do).

Until further notice, he's trade bait.

And therein lies a dilemma that is going to be one of baseball's more interesting subplots in the immediate future: Is Youkilis actually tradeable?

That depends entirely on his performance on the field after he comes back. He was hitting .219/.292/.344 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with two home runs when he was put on the DL, and it was hard to watch. Seeing as how Youk had a down year last year, it's pretty clear that he's on the decline as a hitter.

If Youk comes back and continues to struggle, the Red Sox are going to have a very hard time finding a buyer for him. He's a player with a big name, but the Sox aren't going to get anything significant in return for him unless he puts up big numbers. 

This is a potentially disastrous situation.

The Red Sox will either have to deal him for peanuts while picking up a good chunk of his salary, release him (unlikely) or keep him and demote him to a pinch-hitting/utility role.

This wouldn't be fun for anyone—Youk least of all.

Ideally, Youk will come off the DL and start hitting like he did from 2008 to 2010, when he was one of the best and most consistent hitters in all of baseball. If he starts hitting like that again while staying healthy (can't stress that enough), his trade value is going to climb significantly higher than it is right now.

The problem, naturally, is that trading a hot-hitting Youkilis would be tricky.

After a brutal start to the season, the Red Sox are creeping back into the American League playoff chase. If they trade a hot-hitting Youk, they'll be running the risk of falling back out of the race.

Either way, a hot-hitting Youk is what Cherington is hoping for when he goes to sleep every night (don't ask me how I know). In a perfect world, he'll have an extremely hard choice to make a few weeks down the line.

So how's this situation going to pan out when all is said and done? 

For what they're worth, here are a couple of predictions.

Bold Prediction: Youk Starts Hitting Again and Gets Dealt

Give credit where credit is due—Youk did have a three-game span in which he went 6-for-12, shortly before he ended up on the DL. He showed that he can still hit.

If he does start hitting again, my best guess is that the Red Sox will make the hard choice and trade him away. If they can get major league pitching help and an intriguing prospect or two, they'll make a deal.

Then they'd hope that Middlebrooks could come up and start hitting like he did in the first couple days of his major league career.

Slightly Less Bold Prediction: Middlebrooks Is Boston's Starting 3B at the End of the Season No Matter What

All signs point towards Middlebrooks manning the hot corner for the Red Sox when the team gets down to the nitty-gritty in August and September. He's going to be starting whether Youk is in or out of Boston.

The plan for the Red Sox over the next few weeks is to showcase Youkilis.

They can cross their fingers all they want, but basically what they're hoping for is a miracle. Youk was declining and injury-prone in 2011, and he's staying true to form this season. It sucks, but he's not the player he once was.

It's Middlebrooks' time right now, and it will be his time later too.