Conor Says... Trade Kevin Youkilis

27 Years Old. That's how old the youngest member of the Red Sox 2011 pitching rotation was. We don't have a prodigy pitcher that's anywhere near the majors right now, and our rotation is hurting big time. What the Red Sox have a lot of, however, are good players who keep getting injured. One of those players, Kevin Youkilis, suffered his worst major league season this year at .258/17/80. Those stats are still pretty good, though, and especially for a team aching for a third baseman like the Cincinnati Reds. Youk is a Cincinnati boy, and has said that the Reds are the only team other than the Sox that he'd even want to play for.
      The Reds have a few of those pitchers at AAA/MLB level who can come up and start for the big club. One of those players is Sam LeCure (right), who has had some major league experience and has been decent in that time. In 2011, LeCure went 2-1/3.71/73 in 43 games (4 starts). In the minors, he has been even better, and he shows great potential to be an Alfredo Aceves or Felix Doubront type pitcher. However, I would not want to trade Youk for LeCure straight up, so I would toss in another thing the Sox need- a shortstop. Zack Cozart is a name I would like to see as part of this deal. Cozart briefly came up to the majors this year and performed nicely, going .324/2/3 in 11 games. In AAA Louisville, Cozart had a great year in 2011, going .310/7/32. He shows potential to be a shortstop who plays average defense, can hit for a high average, and can hit probably 10-20 home runs. I think that trading Kevin Youkilis for two pretty good prospects would be a fair move for both the Reds and the Red Sox. Comment what you think about the first Conor Says!

Sorry, Too Soxy! :p