Youuuuuk locked up!
And the good news keeps on coming! We officially have signed Kevin Youkilis to a 4-year contact today – with an option for 2013.
What are your thoughts?? Do you like the team’s strategy so far this offseason? What would you grade it thus far 1-10?
All the best from a very busy Front Office,
“The Voice”
RED SOX AGREE TO TERMS WITH FIRST BASEMAN KEVIN YOUKILIS
ON FOUR-YEAR CONTRACT WITH OPTION FOR 2013
BOSTON, MA–The Boston Red Sox have agreed to terms on a four-year contract with first baseman Kevin Youkilis. The deal includes a club option for a fifth year. Terms were not disclosed.
The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Theo Epstein.
Youkilis batted .312 in 2008 and led the Red Sox with 29 home runs and 115 RBI over 145 games, including 125 appearances at first base, 36 at third base, and two in right field. He received 201 points in the American League Most Valuable Player voting to finish third behind teammate Dustin Pedroia (317) and Minnesota’s Justin Morneau (257). He also collected the 2008 Hank Aaron Award for the A.L. and was the league’s starting first baseman in the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium.
The 29-year-old ranked first among A.L. qualifiers with an RBI every 4.7 at-bats and finished among league leaders in slugging percentage (3rd, .569), extra-base hits (4th, 76), RBI (4th), batting average (6th), doubles (T7th, 43), multi-hit games (T8th, 52) and total bases (8th, 306), all career highs. He also placed sixth in the league with a .390 on-base percentage.
In 2008, Youkilis became just the third modern major leaguer (since 1901) ever to bat over .300 with more than 100 RBI during a season in which he spent at least 30 games at both first and third base. St. Louis’ Albert Pujols (2001) and Cleveland’s Al Rosen (1954) are the only other players to accomplish the feat.
The five-year major league veteran is a career .289 hitter with 66 homers and 314 RBI in 553 games with Boston. He was a member of both the 2004 and 2007 World Series Champions and has a .333 batting average with six round trippers and 17 RBI in 26 playoff contests. In 11 post-season games in 2008, Youkilis hit .292 with two home runs and seven RBI.
Last season, Youkilis finished fifth among A.L. qualifiers with a .996 fielding percentage at first base. His error on June 7, 2008 was his first at that position since July 4, 2006, a major league record span of 238 games and 2,002 total chances without a miscue. Boston’s eighth-round pick in the 2001 draft was selected as the first baseman on the 2007 A.L. Rawlings Gold Glove Team, becoming just the second Red Sox first baseman to take home the award joining three-time recipient George Scott (1967-68, 1971). His .997 career fielding percentage at first base is tops in club history (minimum 350 games).
Red Sox Insider Blog 
I would grade it a 9! Would give it a 10 when we resign Varitek!
Julia
http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/
Very glad that Youk is going to be with us for a while! (Hopefully, longer than even through 2012, but this is a great start!)
As for a grade, I’m with Julia: You guys get a 9 so far…Need to re-sign Varitek to get to the 10. I’m really liking the strategy of locking up high quality non-free-agents like Dustin and Kevin and getting as much pitching as we can without making long-term commitments there.
As for Varitek, I’m guessing this (from a story about John Henry meeting one-on-one with ‘Tek) is at least part of the issue:
‘Henry’s interview with CSN — which WEEI stated would also touch on the Red Sox’s “contentious relationship with Varitek’s agent, Scott Boras” — will also re-air at 10 p.m. ET. According to The Globe, Boras will not be present during the meeting.’
Does anyone like to deal with Scott Boras? Would sure like to see ‘Tek drop him…
Anyway, I’m very, very glad to hear about this meeting…I’m sure it will bear fruit. And to Boras: Get out of the way and let ‘Tek and the Sox make the deal they want!
🙂
Yeah !!! Very happy to see Youkilis tied to us for a while. A bit of good news goes a long way. The green grass of Ft.Myers is fast approaching, then back to Fenway Pahk !
(see, I did not even mention TEK) Stay warm.
THAT is a fabulous photo.
Rebecca
http://supergoddessgirl.blogspot.com
While I appreciate the move to resign Varitek,I would hope that the club would get just as aggresive with getting a deal done with Texas . Teagarden would be a welcome addition to the team. That way if Jason signs we get the added benifit of having him tutor a young catcher . I hope Jason realizes that his association with Boras has hurt him not only in his wallet but also in the eyes of many fans . Fair or not it is the unfortunate truth.