Boston Red Sox with Plenty of Flexibility After Kevin Youkilis Trade

The Boston Red Sox won’t be the same without Kevin Youkilis on the field or in the clubhouse after he was traded to the Chicago White Sox on Sunday, but the move gives Boston plenty of flexibility.

The biggest advantage of trading Youkilis was to open up the door for Will Middlebrooks to play on a full-time basis. Middlebrooks needed to play on a daily basis, and keeping Youkilis on the roster was preventing that.

The logjam at third base also had repercussions on other Boston regulars like Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz. Gonzalez was forced to play right field regularly while interleague play made manager Bobby Valentine’s job even more difficult trying to get all four players into the lineup.

With Youkilis now playing in Chicago, Boston can play Middlebrooks at third base and Gonzalez at first base every day without any issues.

The deal also gives Boston a lot of flexibility with the players they acquired—utility man Brent Lillibridge and pitcher Zach Stewart.

Although Stewart didn’t have a lot of success in the majors during the short time he was there, he does have two minor league options remaining. He’ll start pitching at Triple-A Pawtucket until the Red Sox figure out whether he’ll fit better in the big league starting rotation or in the bullpen.

Stewart is only 25 years old and does have some upside to his game. He will be worth the risk in the end.

The player who will really help the Red Sox is Lillibridge.

I know that everyone immediately went to his Baseball-Reference page and saw that he’s hitting .175/.232/.190 this season with only one extra-base hit in 49 games, but let me explain.

Lillibridge is a jack of all trades who can play nearly every position. What does that mean? It means that Boston shouldn’t have to keep some of the utility players currently on the roster.

I’m talking about possibly getting rid of players like Darnell McDonald, Jason Repko and Nick Punto. Why should Boston keep all three of them when it has Lillibridge?

McDonald is hitting .213 in 36 games this season. Punto is hitting .208 in 41 games. Repko was just activated off of the disabled list and will play in Pawtucket, but he was hitting .091 in five games. McDonald and Punto are both on the active roster. Why not trade one of these guys in a package deal?

It makes perfect sense. If the Red Sox decide to make another move toward the trade deadline, these players need to be traded. They’re just taking up space when their spot could be better used.

Adding Lillibridge to the roster opens up a lot of possibilities going forward that will benefit the Red Sox in the long run.