Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington was a guest of the Mut & Merloni show on Wednesday. Cherington was asked about the recent trade rumors surrounding Kevin Youkilis. Several reports have the Pirates and Dodgers among teams interested in Youkilis, who is batting .219 this season for the Sox. Cherington acknowledged the emergence of Will Middlebrooks and the contractual status of Youkilis makes for a "perfect storm" of trade talk but denied that the club is intent on moving the veteran infielder.
"The reality is that there's nothing going on," Cherington said. "We've talked to several teams about several things, and teams have called to check in on Youk. That was a while back, probably right before he went on his rehab assignment. Right now we're focused on getting Kevin going, he's an important part of the team and we know that when he's clicking and feeling good he makes our lineup very tough to pitch to."
To hear the interview, including Cherington's thoughts on Daniel Bard, Adrian Gonzalez and the recent comments from Theo Epstein, visit the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page [1]. For more Red Sox news visit weei.com/redsox [2].
Links:
[1] http://audio.weei.com/mut-and-merloni.htm
[2] http://weei.com/redsox
[3] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/red-sox