Boston Red Sox: 5 Reasons They Should Not Trade Kevin Youkilis

The Boston Red Sox are, clearly, shopping Kevin Youkilis to all 29 other MLB teams. The emergence of Will Middlebrooks has seemingly made the experienced corner infielder an expendable spare part.

Or has it?

With the team continuing to struggle, the Red Sox should be thinking twice about trading Youkilis at this point in the season. After briefly popping above .500, they have once again fallen back to the AL East basement and currently sit at a deeply troubling 29-32.

While pitching has been the team’s main problem thus far, the lack of offensive consistency has also hurt the Sox. In their last four games (all losses), the Sox have averaged just 2.5 runs per game.

Granted, these recent troubles have come against four excellent starting pitchers, but the larger problem is that this Sox team has been unable to find a way to grind out runs against top competition. It is one thing to beat up on the many mediocre pitchers currently floating around the American League, but an entirely different entity when facing the true elite.

Apart from an early April trouncing of David Price and the stirring late-May win against Justin Verlander, can you name one good pitcher the Sox have roughed up this year?

Now is not the time for them to be sending one of their better bats out of town. Youkilis is someone who has been a steady performer when healthy, and the team needs his productivity now more than ever.

Here are five key reasons why it would be foolish for the Red Sox to trade Youkilis:

No Fair Value

For a team as value-obsessed as the Sox have become, they should be painfully aware that Youkilis’ worth to other teams has never been lower. Although he can still hit, he has not been able to stay healthy for the past three seasons (and counting).

His defense, too, has slipped to the point that he should probably only be playing first base at this stage of his career.

Youkilis has also been slumping lately; since June 3, he is hitting just .115 (3 for 26) with one RBI and eight strikeouts.

With all of these factors considered, why would the Sox rush to trade him now? There’s little chance they would get any MLB-ready talent for him, and any prospects received would be marginal at best.

Offensive Inconsistency

Despite being near the top of MLB in runs scored, the Red Sox have been quite inconsistent this season. As a team, they have been held to three or fewer runs in 25 of their 61 games but have also scored double-digit runs nine times.

The offense has sputtered in June especially, as the Sox are averaging just 3.8 runs per game this month.

Given their struggles, it would be silly for the Sox to unload a player who can help them turn things around and find a groove at the plate. With Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford still unready to return, the Sox need all the bats they can find to try to climb back into contention.

Value of Free Agency

With Youkilis in the last year of his contract, the Sox are likely enjoying the last year of his services.

Keeping him around would not only give this highly injury-prone team exceptional depth, but would also allow Youkilis to showcase what he can do to potential free agent suitors.

The compensation the Sox would likely get from any team signing Youkilis might actually have greater value than what they can obtain in a trade. As a likely “Type A” free agent, Youkilis would yield the Sox a first and compensation round selection in the 2013 MLB Draft.

Potential Middlebrooks Slump

After his brilliant start to his Sox career, Middlebrooks has begun to regress a bit. His power has fallen off, in particular; he has just one home run and two doubles in his last 15 games, and has yet to record an extra base hit this month.

This is certainly not to say that Middlebrooks should not be playing every day. His .859 OPS is good for third on the team behind only David Ortiz and Cody Ross.

However, Youkilis provides insurance in case Middlebrooks experiences the type of late-season slump common amongst rookies. Middlebrooks has never been through the grind of a 162 game season before, and it is too soon to determine the physical toll playing through the summer will have on the young third baseman.

Best Chance to Win Now

Quite simply, the Red Sox are a team built to win now. Because of their many long-term commitments to veteran players, it is going to be virtually impossible for them to escape that model for several years.

Rather than trade off some of their players and wallow in the dreaded “.500 zone” for the next several years, the Sox should do their best to win now.

They have paid for these high-priced players and sold their fans on the team’s viability as a long-term power. To stray from that philosophy mid-season would be to concede that they are liars, incompetent, or both.

Given that Youkilis is likely leaving after this season anyway, they should try to get everything they can out of him before he leaves town. If he (and the rest of the veterans) perform to their ability, this team can still contend in the AL East.