Earlier in the day we talked about the Kevin Youkilis trade, but mostly from a historical perspective. Now we want to look at this trade in terms of what the Boston Red Sox actually got for Youkilis.

Zach Stewart: Stewart was drafted in the third round of the 2008 June Draft by the Cincinnati Reds and was quickly traded to the Toronto Blue Jays the following year in the Scott Rolen trade. Stewart was then traded to the Chicago White Sox in the deal that sent Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen to the Blue Jays.

Stewart has been up and down between the minors and majors over the past two seasons, but hasn’t established himself at all in that time frame. In 97.1 career Major League innings, Stewart has a 5.92 ERA, 5.6 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, and a 50.3 percent Ground Ball Percentage. He has appeared in 31 games with 12 of those coming as a starter.

Stewart is still only 25-years-old, so there is still time for him to figure things out. Where he figures in with the Red Sox remains to be seen, but with all the injuries to the Red Sox rotation, I would imagine Stewart will be making spot starts here and there for Boston until some of their regulars come back. However, Stewart’s long-term role with Boston will most likely be pitching out of the bullpen as part of the underbelly of that group.

Stewart will start his Red Sox career in Triple-A.

Brent Lillibridge: In Lillibridge, the Red Sox get the ultimate utility player. Lillibridge has played eight positions for the White Sox in 2012. The only thing he hasn’t done for them is pitched.

After having a career year with the White Sox in 2011, Lillibridge has really fallen off with the bat in 2012. He went into Sunday’s game with a .175/.232/.190 slash line with no HR’s in 70 PA’s.

He’ll serve in the same utility role with the Red Sox that he did with the White Sox.

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The Boston Red Sox finally traded 3B Kevin Youkilis on Sunday and I have to admit, it was a bittersweet day for me and I would imagine the rest of Red Sox Nation.

"Youk's" career in Boston has come to an end

The Red Sox traded Youkilis to the Chicago White Sox for RHP Zach Stewart and UTIL Brent Lillibridge. Going into Sunday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers, White Sox third basemen were hitting a pedestrian .167 with one HR and a .466 OPS in 281 PA’s, so as mediocre as Youkilis has been in 2012, he is a definite upgrade for Chicago.

The Red Sox had to trade Youkilis at this point. The rumors of a possible trade swirled for weeks and it made for an uncomfortable situation for everyone involved in the Boston organization. The only thing holding back a trade was Boston finding a suitable partner. On Sunday, they found that partner in the White Sox.

And while Boston had to trade Youkilis, this is a very bittersweet day. From 2006 – 2011, Youkilis was part of the core of the Red Sox and he represented a lot of what made up the Red Sox persona in that time period. He was a gritty, hard-nosed, win-at-all-costs, dirtdog.

What Paul O’Neil was to the New York Yankees in the mid-to-late-90′s, Youkilis was to the Red Sox. If he was on your team, you loved him. If he wasn’t on your team, you wanted to punch him in his face. Those type of players are extremely hard to find and Boston had two of them at the same time in Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia.

The Youkilis era might have ended poorly in Boston, but Youkilis will go down as one of the best players to ever put on a Boston uniform. He will be missed.

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The Atlanta Braves are plugging away in the National League East just 4.5 games behind the first-place Washington Nationals. They are also right in the thick of the Wild Card race just 0.5 games behind the surprising New York Mets. But if they are going to catch both the Nationals and Mets they might have to do it without Brandon Beachy for the rest of the year.

Beachy's season may be over

According to Mark Bowman on Twitter, the 25-year-old righty has a partially torn UCL in his right elbow. He will visit Dr. James Andrews today to get a second opinion and see whether or not he needs Tommy John surgery.

Despite having just a .500 record (5-5), Beachy was having one heck of a year for the Braves and if he is indeed toast for the year, this is a big loss for them. Beachy had a 2.00 ERA, 7.6 K/9 and a 1.9 WAR in 13 starts. In terms of production, you could make the argument Beachy was the Braves best pitcher so far this season.

In terms of replacing Beachy, the Braves will look to Jair Jurrjens and pray to the baseball Gods that he can remember how to pitch like a Major League starting pitcher. Jurrjens was terrible in his first four starts of the year, compiling a 9.37 ERA and gave up five HR’s in 16.1 IP. He really wasn’t that much better in nine Triple-A starts. He gave up 68 hits in just 56.1 IP and had a 5.27 ERA.

I think this injury puts the Braves in the market for a starting pitcher. Outside of Tim Hudson and Tommy Hanson, they don’t have another pitcher who they can trust on a day in and day out basis. And the reality is, Hudson hasn’t been that consistent since his return from the DL.

The Issue the Braves and other teams for that matter are going to have at the trade deadline is that with so many teams still alive, finding a starting pitcher worth acquiring might be hard to find. That being said, if they are healthy come July, I could see the Braves making a run at a No.3 type starting pitcher like Kevin Millwood or Bartolo Colon.

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Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but things have been quite hectic recently. However, I am back on the saddle and let’s get the day off to a good start with a little Temper Trap and their Sweet Disposition…

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It looks like the career of Vladimir Guerrero might be coming to an end.

According to Mike Wilner of the Toronto Blue Jay radio network, Guerrero has decided to opt out of his contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. Guerrero put up just a .214/.233/.286 slash line in 30 PA’s for Triple-A Las Vegas before calling it quits.

At 37 and incapable of playing the field, this looks like it will be the end of the line for Vlad. If it is, this will end one of the great careers of the past twenty years and mark the end of one of the most unique players of our generation.

Guerrero has a career .318/.379/.553 slash line with 449 HR’s in 16 seasons. I think he will be a second or third ballot Hall of Famer.

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