Kevin Youkilis given Fenway curtain call, traded to White Sox
UPDATE (5:35 p.m. ET) – Youkilis had officially been traded to the Chicago White Sox, per tweets from the Boston Globe‘s Nick Cafardo and CBS Sports‘ Jon Heyman. Heyman and others also report that the deal includes pitching prospect Zach Stewart, utility player Brent Lillibridge and about $5.5 million in cash in exchange for Youkilis.
Heard stewart and lillibridge go to red sox in youk deal—
Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) June 24, 2012
#redsox send a bit over $5.5M to chicago to complete youkilis deal. #chisox—
Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) June 24, 2012
Earlier reports from today’s Boston Red Sox game against the Atlanta Braves made it clearer than ever that third baseman Kevin Youkilis would be traded away from Beantown. After hitting a triple in the bottom of the seventh inning, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine called pinch runner Nick Punto on to replace Youkilis. The result was a Fenway Park curtain call for the man that has spent his entire eight-year career with the Red Sox, chronicled in a series of tweets from the Boston Globe‘s Pete Abraham.
Youkilis leaves the game for a runner (his friend Nick Punto) after a triple. Big opvation from the crowd.—
Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) June 24, 2012
Bobby V pointed Youkilis out of the dugout for a curtain call.—
Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) June 24, 2012
Sure seems like Youkilis just got traded. Scoreboard now showing highlights of his career.—
Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) June 24, 2012
Youk saluted the crowd, blew a kiss, hugged everybody. If he's not traded now it'll sure be strange—
Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) June 24, 2012
The signs of an impending Youkilis trade continued after the game ended with a 9-4 Red Sox victory.
Nameplate gone from Youk's locker.—
Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) June 24, 2012
Signed lineup card was put in Youk's stuff that is being shipped to him.—
Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) June 24, 2012
Youkilis started this afternoon’s game after being benched for the Red Sox’s last several outings in favor of rookie Will Middlebrooks. Youkilis hit 2-4 and had one RBI in what would end up being his last at-bat in a Red Sox uniform.
