MIAMI -- This we know …

Kevin Youkilis would like a resolution as to what his immediate future holds.

"I think in everything we do you would like to know, but that's not how business works," he said. "You would like to know what they're thinking in any line of work."

So has he attempted to uncover any hints as to what may transpire?

"That's what you have agents for," Youkilis added. "You just have to come to the field and play, do what you have to do. Until they tell me, or call me, or say something … I've got no information right now."

This we also know …

Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine had some sort of conversation with Youkilis Tuesday to address the trade rumors involving the infielder, although the scope of the talk most likely wasn't extensive.

"He basically just said it stinks there are tons of rumors out there," Youkilis explained. "I don't think there was more to it then that, other than it sucks to have rumors. That was it. That's what he said to me, it sucks."

"Kevin and I basically talked about that yesterday and it's not an easy situation," Valentine said on The Big Show. "It is part of the baseball world. Every team every year basically every month of the season have some designated person where trade rumors swirl around and I feel for Kevin to have to be distracted by them. I feel for him to have to answer questions that no one is able to answer. Whether he's affected by them when he goes out on the field I really couldn't tell you, but I can tell you that his effort and his preparation and his desire is there every second of the day."

Where the particulars get hazy is when trying to identify how much these sort of rumors are truly affecting Youkilis, and, more importantly, the level of production which might determine how quickly this saga can be punctuated.

Youkilis' batting average is down to .219 for the season, which is the identical number for his average since returning from his back injury on May 22. He is also 0-for-14 in his last four starts.

His manager surmised the rumors might not be totally blame-less.

"I can't tell," said Valentine when asked if he thought Youkilis' production was suffering because of any distractions. "He's a tough guy. It seems like he's a tough guy, but he would be inhuman if it didn't affect him because it's his life. Someone on TV. Somebody writes about it. Somebody calls him at night. His wife hears about it. 'Where are we going to be living?' … He's human. it's hard to think it doesn't affect him."

Youkilis? He's not about to go down that road.

"A lot of things are distracting at times. There is always stuff," he said. "As baseball players, when you're going good and you're locked in and everything is good, you can even have distractions then. I've had distractions in my life and done really good. There have been all kind of stuff, personal life and stuff like that. My life has been good and I've played bad. I guess you could correlate them. But I don't think they are fully correlated. Baseball is baseball and when you're going good, you're going good, and when you're going bad, you're going bad.

"I just think people are saying (the rumors are affecting him) because I'm not doing well right now. I just think I'm going through a rut, and I need to get out of it."

So if the rumors aren't the problem, what is?

Youkilis did look livelier out of the gate upon returning from the disabled list, hitting .314 with a .927 OPS in his first 10 games back. But since then, there has been some trouble. In the nine games he has appeared in, there have been just three hits in 29 at-bats (.103), with only one extra-base hit (a double).

Just two times during the stretch has Youkilis elevated balls pull-side into the outfield, making 12 of his 17 outs on groundouts to the left side of the infield (usually as a result of rolling over on pitches).

Simply put, it hasn't been close to what the Red Sox had at this time last season, which was the third-best OPS of any third baseman in baseball. And it is that player whom if the Sox are going to orchestrate a deal, need to re-emerge. Otherwise, you're talking about getting very little (while paying most the salary) for a player who has shown the potential to mean a whole lot.

"I don't compare the years. I don't know what the difference is," said Youkilis when asked how his swing might be different from that of a year ago. "I'm not the type of guy who remembers all the little things. I'm not that type of player. Hopefully I start getting the swing down where balls are jumping, driving and getting off. Recently it hasn't been like that. I've been good [physically]. I just have to find it again."

To find some sort of resolution, that discovery will have to take place sooner rather than later.

"What are you going to do? You can't do much about it," he said of the rumors. "I've got [no information]."