May 10, 2008
Slugging Like a First Baseman
Kevin Youkilis hit his eighth home run tonight, lifting his slugging percentage over .600. That's the way a first baseman is supposed to hit. Youkilis owns a .447 career slugging percentage, okay for a third baseman but not what you really want at the other corner. Nick Cafardo uses tonight's home run to wonder about Kevin's contract status:
In my national baseball notes column tomorrow I'll tackle the issue of why the Red Sox haven't extended Youkilis with a multi-year deal while so many teams have tied up their young players. Youkilis should benefit by not signing long-term as some of the following players have elected to do.
Kevin isn't exactly young. He's 29, meaning his decline phase is close at hand. I could see extending him three years, buying out his first year of free agency. The Red Sox still control him for two more seasons, however, so they may just let him play out his time with Boston then let someone else pay through the nose for Kevin's decline.
Posted by David Pinto at
08:12 PM
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