Red Sox Work Out Carlos Delgado, Try to Replace Injured Kevin Youkilis

According to a report from the Boston Herald, the Red Sox recently worked out free agent first basemen Carlos Delgado. Boston is searching for a replacement for the injured Kevin Youkilis, who will miss the remainder of the season due to surgery on his thumb.

First base is not a position of great depth for the Red Sox, who have been able to rely on the incredibly consistent Youkilis (three straight season with an OPS of at least .950) to man the bag. The only other players on the roster who have experience at first are Mike Lowell and David Ortiz.

Lowell, out-casted by the team because of the great production from Youkilis and third basemen Adrian Beltre, will get the first look. He may not be the answer for long, though. Lowell in limited time is batting only .216 and slugging an apathetic .375. He is not the player he once was and cannot be counted on to play every day.

Delgado is an intriguing option if only for the chance to add some legitimate power to the lineup with Youkilis out. The man can still hit. He batted .298 for the Mets last year in 26 games before being diagnosed with a bone spur and a torn labrum in his hip, forcing him to miss the rest of the season. In 2008, his last full season of baseball, Delgado slugged .518 with 38 homers.

The likely scenario would be for Lowell and Delgado to platoon, with Lowell sitting against righties. However, with the Red Sox still 6 games out of first in the division and 5.5 games out of the wild card, this may just be Theo throwing money into the fire to try and save a sinking ship.

This would be an excellent time for the Red Sox to give some of their prospects a shot at the big stage. There are two first basemen in the organization who project as major league players—Lars Anderson and Anthony Rizzo.

Anderson, 22, is the more well known and was one of the top prospects in all of baseball before a poor 2009 season AA Portland set him back. He's in AAA Pawtucket now and has put up respectable enough numbers (7 homers and a .737 OPS). He has a first basemen's frame and actually compares favorably to Delgado.

Rizzo is a year younger than Anderson but he might be the better prospect. After being diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in May 2008, Rizzo returned to the scene with a vengeance. He hit .298 and .295 playing A ball in 2009, and is now in AA Portland having hit 18 home runs this year. Like Anderson, Rizzo is left-handed and is sometimes compared to Todd Helton.

After this weekend's series against the Yankees, it should be clear to both the Red Sox and Boston's fans whether the team has any chance of a playoff spot. If the season is indeed over, it would be a shame to watch the 38-year old Delgado taking swings when there are younger and hungrier players eager to showcase their talents. It would be in Boston's best interest to introduce their prospects, probably Anderson first, to major league pitching to see if either could contribute to the team in 2011.