Kuzul

Every team has to deal with injuries.

During 2010, no team has had to deal with a greater number of injuries and illnesses than the Boston Red Sox, culminating Wednesday when it was announced that Gold Glove first baseman Kevin Youkilis, arguably the team’s most important player, was to have season-ending surgery on his right thumb.

Considering the injuries this season, it is incredible that the Sox have been able to remain in touching distance of the league leading Yankees and Rays.

With several players returning to health recently, Boston fans were hoping that the team would now be able to mount an assault on the AL East and punch their ticket to the playoffs.

Then came the news on Youk. Just in time for a four game series in The Bronx.

If the Red Sox do fail to make the playoffs, they may look at the following 10 injuries as some of the biggest reasons why.

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When Dustin Pedroia went down with a broken foot in San Francisco and a diagnosis of six weeks off, all of Red Sox nation quickly plucked the calendar off the wall and thumbed through to the beginning of August.

The math brought you right to this weekend’s series with the Yankees, providing a glimmer of hope that the spark-plug second baseman could return in time to help save the season.

Unfortunately, Kevin Youkilis’ thumb had other ideas.

Youkilis tore a muscle in his thumb this week, and will require season-ending surgery.

Never before has such a phrase been more fitting. Youkilis’ surgery will almost certainly end this season.

For the Red Sox.

Boston has survived a remarkable rash of injuries with impressive performances up and down the roster and downright uplifting debuts from the likes of Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava and, most recently, Ryan Kalish (who appears to be carving himself a spot on the roster for the next several seasons).

But the team remains more than five games out of a playoff spot, despite treading water at a rate sure to make any lifeguard gush. Victor Martinez returned to provide some punch, but with both Youkilis and Pedroia out of the lineup right now and the prospect of Youk being gone until next March, things are looking remarkably bleak.

The Sox were having a hard time making up ground with Youk in the lineup. With him on the shelf, it becomes a near impossible task. Thankfully the Red Sox botched the Mike Lowell situation so badly they still had him lying around, and he’ll be an acceptable replacement at the dish. But nobody can bring the combination of offensive and defensive prowess Youkilis possesses, and his infectious fire will be even harder to replace.

Youkilis has quietly turned himself into one of the best players in the league. He can play two positions at a Gold Glove level, can hit just about anywhere in the lineup—including the cleanup spot, which he has manned well all year—and will generally finish in the .300-30-100 range.

And he’s also proven to be remarkably durable. He rarely misses time, and the first prolonged stretch without him in the starting lineup is going to be a painful test for the Sox.

It’s been a bizarre season for the Sox, one that has drawn repeated comparisons to the 2006 campaign that saw a rash of injuries, few reinforcements at the trading deadline and a pair of devastating injuries to Jason Varitek and Jonathan Papelbon that ruined things down the stretch.

Those comparisons continue this weekend. It was in August of 2006 that the Yankees strode into Fenway Park and streamrolled their way to a devastating and now infamous five-game sweep that put the lights out.

The Yankees have a chance to do the same this weekend.

And even if the series doesn’t result in a sweep, the Sox are going to have to come up with something of a miracle to avoid fading to black again.

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Every year in every major sport, there are several teams that will chalk up a season that did not go as planned to injuries. Usually it is done to save face when there were other problems, but at times, the team really was decimated beyond belief. The 2010 Red Sox are one of those teams.

It has now been reported that the Red Sox will be without Kevin Youkilis for the rest of the season, as he will have surgery on a torn muscle in his right thumb. This injury is particularly devastating as Youkilis has been a leader and one of the most reliable bats in the Sox lineup.

When you lose Jason Varitek, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron, and many others to the disabled list (thankfully not all at the same time), it is enough to destroy any team. Despite all these setbacks, the Red Sox are only six and a half games back in the AL East. 

With the injury to Youkilis, that’s as close as they’re going to get. He is one of three players to play 100 games for the Sox this season and one of five to play 90. Losing one of those pieces is going to hurt a team, especially one trying to play catchup against the Rays and Yankees, who are making strong pushes for the postseason.

It is rather strange to think that a team with 61 wins is pretty much done for the year now. After all, if they were in the AL Central they would be one game behind, as well as only two games behind in the AL West.

Mike Lowell is scheduled to get the majority of playing time in place of Youkilis. Lowell just recently returned from his own stint on the DL, having only played in one game since mid-June, and at 36, he does not seem like he has much left in the tank, certainly not enough to make up a six-game difference by himself.

Perhaps I’m being harsh in my judgment of the Red Sox here, but when you’re behind a team that’s known for playing strong in the second half (Yankees) as well as a team you’re only 4-8 against this season (Rays), that’s a very hard mountain to climb.

In the next couple weeks, the Red Sox play at Yankee Stadium and at Texas, and they are going to have to at least split those series to stay in the running. After all, those two teams got much better since July, and the Red Sox are only getting worse as more players fall.

General manager Theo Epstein said it best about Youkilis: “That’s not the type of guy you can replace.” That is certainly true. You can’t just find a guy with a 4.2 WAR and a .411 on-base percentage walking around. The Red Sox have given a great effort to still be in the hunt for a playoff spot this season, but with Youkilis’s injury, it seems like fate has already decided who gets a playoff spot.

The Red Sox will not be one of those teams.

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There was a flurry of noteworthy stories yesterday, so let’s take a look at what fantasy owners need to know:

Ryan Howard was placed on the DL with a sprained left ankle.  Cody Ransom and Ross Gload each saw time at first base in yesterday’s game, but neither hold fantasy appeal.  You will have to look elsewhere for a replacement, if you don’t already have one, and hope that he is only going to miss 15 days.

Kevin Youkilis was also placed on the DL with a “torn adductor muscle and that the head of one of the muscles ruptured” according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe (click here for the post).  At this point it is not known if Youkilis will need surgery, though it doesn’t sound good.  It all depends on it is partially or fully torn, so hopefully we get an answer to that question soon. 

Mike Lowell replaced Youkilis at first base and appears primed to get the majority of the starts.  No longer the player that he once was, he certainly still has potential value in deeper formats, especially with third base eligibility.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe is also reporting happier news, as Jacoby Ellsbury is reportedly ready to be activated from the DL today.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Red Sox ease him back into action, so those in daily leagues should monitor the pregame lineups for a few days.  Come Monday, he should be active in all formats.

The news on Carlos Santana is promising.  While he could still need surgery,  Paul Hoynes is reporting that he suffered a “high grade strain of LCL and hyperextension of left knee.”  For those who saw it, you know it could have been a lot worse.  Stash him for now.

The Pirates got their first save opportunity since trading Octavio Dotel and it was Joel Hanrahan wo got the opportunity, and sealed the deal.  As I mentioned on Rotoprofessor Radio (make sure to check it out on Blog Talk Radio), it makes sense for the team to build up Hanrahan, even if they view Evan Meeks as the long-term solution.  Closers have more trade value, so maximizing the value of their players means a greater return in the future.

Torii Hunter moved to left field, allowing Peter Bourjos to lead off and play center field.  Bourjos has a ton of speed, as we’ve discussed before (check out our most recent prospect tracker report on him by clicking here ).  If this is going to be a permanent change in the lineup, Bourjos is worth owning in all formats immediately.  He could be a great source of stolen bases for the final two months of the season.

What are your thoughts on these stories?

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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You would have thought that maybe all the injuries from the Red Sox would finally stop—well, they didn’t.

The new victim to the injury bug is Kevin Youkilis. Youkilis came out of the ball game when he shook his right hand in pain after his first at-bat. Youkilis’ MRI showed that he had torn his adductor muscle in his right thumb.

The Red Sox will decide on Tuesday whether he needs surgery. It was not told how long Youkilis will be out, but if he does have surgery his season might be in doubt.

This season Youkilis was one of the best players on his depleted Red Sox team. He was hitting .307 with 19 home runs and 62 RBIs. He is second on his team in average, (behind Adrian Beltre) and was almost an all star this season coming in second during the all star game vote for the final player.

With Youkilis gone, Mike Lowell was activated. Lowell will most likely play first base for the Red Sox. Before Tuesdays game, Lowell said “with Youkilis out of your lineup, you’re not a better team.”

Hopefully Youkilis will not require surgery and he will heal in a few days if not this will be a very hard blow for the Red Sox and their hopes to make it to the playoffs.

With Jacoby Ellsberry coming back soon there still might be hope for the Red Sox but not much because Youkilis was a great clean up hitter for the Red Sox and he will be missed a lot.

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The All-Star Break is here!

Time to sit back, relax, and watch Omar Infante battle John Buck for the rights for home field advantage in the World Series. Or just tie, at least this time we’ll be numb to it from the World Cup group stage.

Let’s talk about the hands-down, worst All-Star snub this year: Kevin Youkilis . He lost to the Yankees’ Nick Swisher in the final fan vote, falling short where his campaign partner Joey Votto succeeded. Let’s compare stat lines shall we?

The Youk: 67/18/57/.293/.406/.575

Swisher: 55/15/49/.298/.377/.524

That is borderline embarrassing.

The “Greek God of Walks” has been basically carrying his injury-decimated ball club while Swisher is simply enjoying a good ballpark and a good line up. I don’t even understand the problem here. Even with Yankee fans clicking away for Swisher, fan voting usually goes to guys with the most recognizable names that result from consistently big career numbers. Youkilis has both of.

Ask yourself this: In the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a chance to win, who do you want at the plate? Swisher or the Youkilis?

For anyone who picked Swisher, please invite me to your fantasy league next year, and let’s bump up the buy in about $300.

Thank you, Yankee fans. Instead of watching one of most consistent and humble players in the game, we get to see Nick Swisher’s little smirk of undeserved accomplishment step up to the plate. Real cool, guys.

There won’t be a Week in Review next week, so read up!

Big news: Cliff Lee got traded to the Rangers for Justin Smoak and prospects. Details here .

This is huge for the Rangers as they get a big time ace to anchor an interesting rotation highlighted by Tommy Hunter , C.J. Wilson , Colby Lewis , and the currently injured Rich Harden . I’ve had a lot of love for the Rangers this season. That offense is absolutely filthy from a fantasy and real-life perspective. This is huge for their chances at a playoff run.

From a fantasy perspective, this isn’t good, but also not horrible for Lee’s value. He goes from a major pitcher’s park to a major hitters park, which will hurt him some. However, he will also benefit from a better offense and bullpen (3.26 ERA compared to 4.80).

Obviously, anyone would want a piece of this guy.

With five complete games in his last six starts, it will be tremendously difficult to acquire him. Talking up the ballpark situation will be important, along with his record at Arlington, mostly compiled before he became a Cy Young winner (7.62 ERA and 1.55 WHIP). Maybe offer to take a struggling closer off his hands in exchange for one of your good ones, like Chad Qualls for Heath Bell or something. Lee will not come cheap, but it never hurts to try.

As it many times goes, who this trade helps the most isn’t actually involved. Chris Davis got called up as a result of Smoak being moved. You know the deal here, lots of power, lots of strikeouts. But he’s been raking in the minors (.354 batting average, .403 OBP) so he’s worth a look.

On to the ridiculous trend of perfect game bids by pitchers who have no business throwing perfect games.

Travis Wood made it to the ninth before letting up a double to Carlos Ruiz to end the perfecto threat, but still made it through the complete nine before leaving the game with the most unfair no decision ever as Roy Halladay was being Roy Halladay.

Wood has only made three starts in his career, allowed five earned runs striking out 17 over 20.2 innings of work. Not bad. His minor league numbers are good too (13-5, 1.77 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 7.2 K/9), but I’m not making any major pick ups yet. Despite the performance, he may get sent back to the minors when Aaron Harang and Edison Volquez come back from the DL soon. Temper love affairs with him.

But wait! There’s more .

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It is without argument Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis should be on the American League All-Star team when the game takes place on Tuesday night in Anaheim.

But Youk was snubbed for the third time earlier today and will find himself watching the game at home on his couch instead of lacing ‘em up with his fellow American Leaguers.

First came his omission by the fans, coaches, and MLB officials when they selected the original team.

Then came Red Sox Nation’s inability to get him into the game during MLB’s Final Vote, as the hated new York Yankees and Nick Swisher begged, borrowed, and tweeted to get him elected at Youkilis’ expense in the closest Final Vote in the history of the promotion.

And now today, we learn that Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau will miss the game as a result of a concussion he suffered late last week, and that New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi pulled a bone-headed move by replacing Morneau with Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko instead of Youkilis.

Girardi swears he wasn’t motivated by the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, but I don’t buy his story. And if the AL loses the game because of Girardi’s ill-considered decision, he should be hanged in effigy from the grandstands of all of home ballparks of the American League contenders—including Yankee Stadium.

Giardi told reporters, “It’s a hard choice to make. I could have taken (Konerko) or Youkilis. Konerko’s hitting slightly higher, has a couple more home runs and couple more RBI. I went with Konerko. They both deserve to be there; that’s the problem with this.”

No, IMO Joe, the problem with this is that you were gutless and didn’t want to face potentially irate Yankees fans after putting a member of the Red Sox on the team. In the process, you have lessened the American League’s chances of winning.

Casual analysis of the player’s stats shows that the pick can be considered a toss up, and therefore provides marginal support for Girardi’s explanation, or should I say, his rationalization.

Konerko is hitting .299, with a .380 OBP, .559 slugging percentage, 20 home runs, 62 RBI and zero SB. Youkilis is hitting .293, with a .408 OBP, .579 slugging percentage, 18 home runs, 57 RBI and three SB.

However, that is not where the analysis ends, although Girardi would have you believe that is where it did end.

Maybe we’ll find out the Red Sox or Youkilis actually begged off on heading to the game in consideration of his tender ankle, but I tend to doubt that. The likely truth is Girardi didn’t pick Youkilis because he wears a Red Sox uniform.

Sorry, Yankees fans, I don’t give a hoot whether you like my opinion or not—this decision stinks of pettiness and rivalry. And, it potentially harms the AL champion, which may be either your team or my team. 

Pee-you!!

Look, Konerko does not belong on the team at Youkilis’ expense. Period.

I will grant you he got off to a red-hot start this season—he hit .297, with 11 HR and 21 RBI in April (leading the league in homers at the time)—but, he has hit just nine homers since then, and hasn’t hit a home run in the month of July.

The All-Star Game is played in July!

Youkilis, on the other hand, started the season slowly, hitting only .270, with three home runs and 12 RBI in April. He has hit .302 since then, with 15 home runs and 45 RBI and has three home runs in July.

If those are the stats Girardi wants to use, then Youkilis has been better than Konerko in each and every one of them since April. And when the other major stats are three apiece, then the guys who has performed over the longer period deserved the All-Star designation.

And if you are a devotee of advanced stats, Konerko has a so-so 2.0 WAR, while Youkilis has a 3.4 WAR.

Girardi said, “I’m looking at the numbers, the numbers are close and one guy’s numbers are a little bit better. I took the guy whose numbers are a little bit better.”

Umm, Joe, no you didn’t!

Typical New York BS. I hate the bloody Yankees!!

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The tweet world is up in arms. The fan-selected All-Star starting first baseman, Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins, has withdrawn from the All-Star Game with concussion-like symptoms.

AL Manager Joe Girardi moved up Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera to the starting role and has selected Chicago White Sox slugger Paul Konerko as an injury replacement to the team.

Girardi has been accused of “hating the Red Sox” with this “biased” selection and that “Youkilis was clearly snubbed.”

Except for the fact that this implies Konerko was undeserving, Paul Konerko deserved to go over Kevin Youkilis. Compare the statistics.

Konerko is also better when there are runners in scoring position. With runners in scoring position, Konerko’s stats are .298, 6 HR, 41 RBI, and .945 OPS. Compare that to Youkilis’s .259, 4 HR, 35 RBI, and .915 OPS. Youkilis also gets lots of help and protection with Boston boasting the best offense in baseball, Chicago is near the bottom third.

Red Sox fans are going to say that Youkilis is a better defender. This is true and obvious. But not one All-Star has been sent to Anaheim based on their defense. If they want to be angry, they should be angry with the system, not with Joe Girardi or Paul Konerko.

Youkilis or Paul Konerko could have both easily been selected to represent the American League as a designated hitter reserve. But unfortunately, David Ortiz, whose selection is less deserving than Youkilis or Konerko, was selected as the backup because of his position as designated hitter.

This is asinine given that Ortiz was selected as a first baseman for the American League in 2006 and 2007 when he primarily played designated hitter. He played a total of 17 games at first base during those two years!

So while Konerko and Youkilis should both be going to Anaheim, there’s only room for one, and it was Konerko. Both could have gone with one of them in the DH position, like the NL choosing random players for the DH, but the system is broken.

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Before voting for this year’s MLB All-Star Game, the Boston Red Sox were batting 1.000 in the Final Vote. Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek, and Hideki Okajima have all appeared on the ballot and all three made the team.

This year, the run came to an end. Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis lost out to Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher in his bid for a third straight All-Star appearance and will not fly to Anaheim for the Midsummer Classic. But he should be making that trip.

It was the closest result in the nine-year history of the Final Vote, but that will be of little consolation to Youk. Regardless of the method by which one quantifies baseball, he should have won.

For the sake of this argument, let’s take out Michael and Delmon Young and Paul Konerko.

We’ll start by taking a look at the basic, old-fashioned baseball statistics. Thankfully, both have appeared in almost the same number of games (Youk 81, Swisher 79), making the comparison easier.

Swisher has a slight edge in batting average. His .298 is six points higher than Youkilis’. He also leads in hits and singles, trails by one in doubles and by two in triples. That’s where it starts to go downhill for the Yankee.

Youkilis has slugged 17 home runs, three more than Swisher. He has 14 more runs, seven more RBIs, 16 more walks, and 16 fewer strikeouts. His OBP is 33 points higher and his slugging percentage is 56 points higher.

How do they compare if you’re a fan of sabermetrics? Youkilis is better in:

Isolated power, runs created, runs above average, weighted on base average, home run to fly ball ratio, win percent added, RE24, every contact stat, runs above replacement, wins above replacement, and UZR.

Swisher leads in line drive percentage.

How important is overall value to the team? Youk wins there, too, since he’s one of only four Red Sox starters still healthy (although perhaps not for much longer; he left the game two days ago with ankle spasms). Take Swisher out of the Yankees lineup, and they’re still winning the AL East.

It doesn’t matter how you compare them. The fact is that Kevin Youkilis is having the better season. And it isn’t even that close. Swisher is having an above-average year by his standards, but that shouldn’t be enough. In this annual popularity contest, the most-followed baseball player on Twitter won. The public got it wrong.

On the National League side of things, however, the public got it right.

It was a cake walk for Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who eased into the All-Star Game with almost 14 million votes. That’s five million more than Swisher.

That righted what could have been the biggest wrong in ASG history. Votto is having an MVP-caliber season. Not to have him in Anaheim would have been a travesty.

The voters gave Votto the recognition he deserved at the second time of asking. There was no such reward for Youkilis.

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I’m disgusted at some of the names I see on this year’s All-Star Game roster.

I’m frustrated that, year after year, there is a long list of snubs that deserve to play, especially considering the game determines which league gets home field advantage in the World Series.

I was going to make a snubs list, given that I already wrote a list of who should be on the team, but I thought instead I’d do something a little more valuable.

The MLB allows the fans to take a final vote to determine the last roster spot on each team. There are five players to choose from.

I wish we could pick more than one.

Still, this is a good opportunity to get one more player on the team that really, really deserves to be on it.

I begin with a list of each candidate, and after sharing each player’s stats, I pick the candidate.

I decided to only look at regular stats (I didn’t use WAR or other sabermetrics. All stats are through July 4, 2010).

I simply looked at who is having a better statistical year to make my decision.

So without further ado, here’s who everyone MUST vote for, and why. It would be an injustice to pick anyone else for each league’s final roster spot.

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