May 18, 2013

MLB Rumors: Could Indians land Youkilis a year later?

October 18, 2012 by 62 Comments

With Terry Francona coming aboard to manage the Cleveland Indians, it appears that the long-time Boston Red Sox manager could be reunited with his long-time third baseman in veteran Kevin Youkilis.

CBS Sports’ John Heyman reports that, while the Chicago White Sox would like to resign their mid-season acquisition 1 , some throughout the league feel that the Indians could swoop in and sign the 33-year-old. 

“Francona and Youkilis always had a very close relationship, so that could give them one edge,” writes Heyman. 

The Indians continue to need a right-handed bat as well as veteran leadership that can also produce, but former first-round pick Lonnie Chisnehall appears to be in line to be the team’s full-time third baseman.

Though turning things up once landing in Chicago (.771 OPS), Youkilis hit .235 with 19 home runs and 60 RBI, resulting in his worst season in his nine years the majors.

[Related: 15 Years Ago: The Team Of (Almost) Destiny]

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  1. Just not at the $13 million his club option would require [back]

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  • CharlotteBrownsBacker

    “former first-round pick Lonnie Chisnehall appears to be in line to be the team’s full-time third baseman.”

    Just like he was this time last year…?

  • Andrew

    There is absolutely no one else on the FA market that the Tribe can get to play 1B for them next year. He’s in a definite decline but I suspect he’d be a better pickup than Kotchman was this year. I welcome this signing if it happens.

  • mgbode

    Noone else?

    Kotchman is someone though not preferred.
    Napoli is a possibility
    LaRoche if the Nats decide to go with Moore and we’re willing to pay him big $$ coming off a career year at 32yo.
    Mark Reynolds if we just want a free-swinging bat (and O`s decline $12mil option)

    these aren’t great options, but they are options.

  • Steve

    38 year old Casey Blake coming off a 63 game season is a lot bigger injury concern than 34 year old Youkilis coming off a 122 game season.

    Maybe not “much”. But he’s definitely getting more. $2-3 million is for guys who you go “hey, maybe he’ll make the roster” – like Hafner. Average-ish starters get more like $7-8 million.

  • mgbode

    casey blake is retired. i thought you were referring to the deal he got his last year for LAD when he was a 37yo but had played between 139-152 games in 7 of 8 years (109 the other year)

    checking on that, Blake made $5mil for his 2011 season.

  • mgbode

    and just data-mining it a bit further:

    Crisp, Kubel and Furcal were the guys last offseason to sign around the ~7mil/year position player deals for multiple years (2 ea ch). Carlos Pena the only at $7mil for one year. Youk is not on their 2011 FA level IMO.

    $3-5mil range:
    Aaron Hill, Wilson Betemit, Ryan Doumit, Clint Barmes, David DeJesus, Grady Sizemore, Juan Rivera, Alex Gonzalez, Ramon Santiago, Rod Barajas, and a couple others.

    Isn’t this more in line with what Youk has been doing? and factoring in his injury history?

    in fact, check out Juan Rivera’s 2011 stat page. almost identical to what Youk did for at the same age (including getting a boost after a trade mid-season). eery really.

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/riverju01.shtml

  • Steve

    Blake got $2 million from the Rockies this year.

    Rivera put up a 92 OPS+ as a should-be-DH. Youkilis put up a 99 OPS+ (and 106 when he got out of whatever that was in Boston) while playing a solid 3B. There’s a noticeable difference there.

  • Steve

    Youkilis played 120 games as a league average hitter, and had no problems at 3B. That fits in with the first group (Crisp, Kubel, Furcal) – guys you expect to be regular starters. With Chicago, he still was a ~2 WAR/year guy. I’m not sure why we would include him in the latter group.

  • mgbode

    That’s the problem with comments. We are discussing different things here. Rivera last offseason compared to youk this offseason

  • Steve

    I’m discussing 2011 Rivera against 2012 Youkilis. They are not comparable in any way.

  • mgbode

    ’11 32yo Rivera w/ Dodgers(62games): .274/.333/.406 : 106OPS+
    ’11 33yo Youk w/ WhiteSox(80games): .236/.346/.425 : 106OPS+
    ’11 Rivera w/ Blue Jays(70games): .243/.305/.360 : 80OPS+
    ’11 Youk w/ Red Sox(42games): .233/.315/.377 : 85OPS+

  • mgbode

    I apologize for my idea on trading for A-Rod. Apparently, he has a no-trade clause in his contract. He is not accepting a trade to Cleveland (and the NYY are likely to ship him to the NL anyway if they do trade him so they can just bury the story without him returning to the Bronx, etc.)

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