LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Yes, on Monday, the Red Sox were in a mood for celebrating the acquisition of a superstar whom they expect to impact their club for years to come. But they were also mindful that the deal to land Adrian Gonzalez would have been impossible without a player who is already a centerpiece of the club.
The Sox would not have been able to make the deal for Gonzalez but for their versatile superstar, Kevin Youkilis. Not only has the 31-year-old become a dominant cleanup hitter in the American League East, but he also gives the team tremendous flexibility thanks to his ability to play both first and third base.
If he were unable to be an everyday third baseman, the Gonzalez deal doesn’t happen. The Sox would have a stud first baseman in Youkilis and, rather than pursuing a first baseman, they would have been in an Adrian Beltre-or-bust boat, with exactly one viable free agent third baseman on the market.
But Youkilis – who won a Gold Glove at first base in 2007 – was more than happy to move across the diamond to accommodate his new teammate. And that, in turn, gives the Sox arguably the most formidable corner infield tandem in the majors, two players who have performed in recent years at a consistent All-Star to MVP level.
“It’s very valuable for us from a strategic standpoint,” said Sox GM Theo Epstein. “It’s something we’ve always kind of banked on as far as opening possibilities for us, but this was the first time we really capitalized on it. It’s huge.
“He’s an underrated player to begin with, if you look at his offensive performance the last few years, it’s as good and consistent as just about anyone, maybe after Albert Pujols,” added Epstein. “If you factor in the fact that he can play two positions and play them pretty well, two important positions like that – I can say this because he’s under a long-term contract – but he’s remarkably valuable to us.”
The baseball industry fails to give a value to versatility. Players do not earn more because of their ability to move around the field. Yet there is little question that such a skill, as Epstein pointed out, can have an enormous impact on the construction of a roster.
Even so, for contractual purposes, Youkilis’ worth is measured by his offensive numbers. From that standpoint, he clearly rates as one of the top players in the game.
How consistent has Youkilis been? In the last three years, he has hit .312, .305 and .307, with OPS marks of .958, .961 and .975. He ranks fifth in the majors in OBP (.404) and third in both slugging (.560) and OPS (.964) during that time.
Given that outstanding track record, it is somewhat intriguing to wonder what Youkilis might earn on the open market right now. After all, had he not agreed to a long-term contract extension following the 2008 season, he would be a free agent right now. And there is little question that Youkilis – who signed a four-year, $41.125 million deal that runs through the 2012 season and includes a $13 million option for the 2013 campaign – would be cashing in.
Youkilis likely would have been the top first or third baseman on the market, ranking ahead of Adrian Beltre (who cannot match Youkilis’ year-to-year production) at third and Paul Konerko (see Beltre), the top guy at first. At a time when the top first basemen are receiving more than $20 million a year, and when Jayson Werth scored a whopping seven-year, $126 million deal ($18 million per year), Youkilis would be in line for a huge payday. Estimates from industry sources at the winter meetings uniformly suggested he would receive a deal in excess of $100 million, and likely around five or six years.
Youkilis was aware of the possibility that his long-term deal might give him less than full market value when he inked it. Before signing, he examined the lay of the land to see which first basemen and third basemen would be on the market.

Now, that is not to say that Youkilis is in any way disappointed with his deal. Indeed, as he told WEEI.com this season, he wanted security rather than top dollar for a deal. While missing the last two months of the season due to a torn adductor muscle on his right hand, he did not need to worry about what was happening to his free agent contract. Instead, his deal had bought him peace of mind.
“Could I have made more? Of course,” he said. “But I always said the greatest thing you can do in baseball is be underpaid. That's the greatest thing ever. Outperforming your contract is a great thing.
“I make a ton right now. I guess I don't really care to think about it too much. I'm making more money than I ever thought I was going to make."
He is not without flaws. Foremost, teams might look at his games played totals since he became a full-time regular in 2006 – 147 in ’06, 145 in ’07, 145 in ’08, 136 in ’09, 102 in ’10 – and wonder if he was at risk of significantly diminished playing time for reasons of healthy and injury.
So he might not get as many years as the tremendously athletic Werth did on the open market. Even so, his production makes it hard to believe that he wouldn’t be able to get a higher average annual value than Werth.
But right now, none of that is important to the Sox. What matters is that they have a unique animal with an ability to move to either side of the diamond while performing at a high defensive and offensive level.
And that, in turn, positioned the Sox the flexibility to construct their roster in a manner of their choosing. In this case, Youkilis gave the Sox the freedom to acquire Adrian Gonzalez, and to give the team a distinctly powerful heart of the order.