Kevin Youkilis Dealt To White Sox For Brent Lillibridge And Zach Stewart

This is one of those stupid articles where the title comes first. Typed it in real confident-like. Now all I have to do is write 600 or 700 words that roughly translate to “Hell, I don’t know.”

The Royals? They could some ulnar collateral ligaments made from adamantium. They could also use a new rotation. Like, entirely new. Just muck the current one like it’s a deuce-nine off-suit and start fresh.

Try saying all those names fast!

Youkilis, once one of the better hitters in the American League, has spent time on the DL this year and hasn’t hit much either -- .225/.311/.359 with just four home runs in 161 plate appearances before Sunday, by far his worst major league season.Further, this trade doesn’t provide Boston much salary relief:

Yup, according to a report, the Red Sox have agreed to trade Kevin Youkalis to the White Sox.

Here’s a look at Youkilis’s last moment on the field at Fenway Park in a Red Sox uniform. The fans call “Yoooooooouk” to get him out of the dugout for a curtain call. As one fan says at the end, “I’m gonna cry.”

In a bizarre and touching moment, Youkilis ended his Red Sox career with an RBI triple in the seventh inning. When he stood up, he was pulled for a pinch runner and walked off to applauding fans, who had to know what was going on. The Providence Journal’s Brian MacPherson has great detail in this on-the-scene report:

Youkilis ripped off his helmet and pointed his fingers into the air, even blowing a kiss. It was a tribute to the fans who have showered him with cheers -- and “Yoooooooooouks” -- since he made his major-league debut in in 2004. He embraced Punto in the middle of the infield and then embraced a Dustin Pedroia-led horde of teammates at the top step of the dugout. After he’d disappeared into the dugout, Valentine was among those who motioned Youkilis back out onto the field. Home-plate umpire Al Porter obliged by calling for time, and Youkilis popped back out onto the field to a massive roar from the 37,000-plus in attendance. The Red Sox then played a short Youkilis highlight reel on the video board in center field after the inning ended.For more fan perspective, head to our Red Sox Blog, Over the Monster and SB Nation Boston.

Youkilis is hitting just .225 this season with a .311 on-base percentage with four home runs and 13 RBI in 142 at-bats.

If a team was interested in a slightly dinged and slumping Youkilis, they probably aren’t going to be scared away from a slightly dinged, slumping, and rusty Youkilis. And it’s looking more and more inevitable that he’s going to leave Boston soon.

Chad Finn explains the rationale:

Will Middlebrooks is hot. Well, actually, he’s ice cold right now, but he’s hot in the sense that he’s the new flavor in your ear. Everyone’s talking about Will Middlebrooks. The expectations are high -- probably too high, at least for the short term -- and there’s an argument to be made that Middlebrooks in the lineup will make the Red Sox better in the present as well as the future. I don’t buy that argument, but it seems to be a popular one.

Kevin Youkilis is 33 years old, he’s slumping, he’s recently been injured, and he’s effectively been replaced in Boston by rookie Will Middlebrooks. Recently, the Red Sox denied that they were looking to move Youkilis in a trade. Then, Monday night, Fox Sports passed along rumors that Youkilis was being shopped aggressively to anyone and everyone. The most sensible thing would be for the Sox to be shopping Youkilis, so it stands to reason that they would be doing that.

So that kind of answers the question of “is Kevin Youkilis available?” That doesn’t answer the question of “how much is Kevin Youkilis worth?” We turn to FanGraphs and Chris Cwik:

Until now! From the Ken Rosenthal/Jon Morosi tandem:

Trade dialogue surrounding the beleaguered Boston third baseman has intensified in the last 24 to 48 hours, major-league sources told FOXSports.com. The Red Sox have made clear that (a) Youkilis is available and (b) they are willing to include cash to facilitate a better player return. In response, a number of clubs have indicated that they have interest in acquiring the three-time All-Star.

“That’s inaccurate,” Cherington e-mailed WEEI.com Friday afternoon. “Some teams have checked in on him. We haven’t told any teams we plan to trade him. It’s our job to listen if teams have interest. He’s swinging the bat well since coming off the DL and [is] a big part of our team and lineup.“But as Craig Calcaterra points out, it wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense for Cherington to come out and publicly proclaim the Youkilis auction was open. So the dream of a Red Sox-fueled rumor orgy is still alive! Never lose faith. The Red Sox don’t have to trade Youkilis. They’ve said they aren’t trading him. But we can still pretend they are.

1. The Red Sox think they’ll be better with Middlebrooks playing every day

This can’t be it. It’s one thing for a team’s fans to get overly excited about a player’s first 100 at-bats. But teams should know better. Youkilis has over 3,000 at-bats in which he’s performed like the best-case scenario for Middlebrooks. If Middlebrooks has a season as good as Youkilis’s 2011 -- a down year -- that would still be considered a developmental success story.

Which is fine. That’s what prospects have to do, and Middlebrooks is still an excellent prospect. But the odds are still much, much greater that Youkilis helps the Red Sox more than Middlebrooks in 2012. The rest-of-season projections from ZiPS: