Youk steps to the plate

Terry Francona admitted this morning that Coco Crisp is likely to be out several weeks with a nondisplaced fracture at the base of his left index finger. The Red Sox called up outfielder Dustin Mohr to take his roster spot. With the right-handed Mohr and Wily Mo Pena and the left-handed hitting Trot Nixon and Adam Stern the Red Sox will put together some sort of rotation that should get them through until Crisp comes back.

But as big as the hole in center is the hole at the leadoff spot is just as big. The Red Sox will fill it by installing 1B/3B Kevin Youkilis into the leadoff spot. Youkilis 27 has been with the Red Sox now for five years since being drafted out of the university of Cincinnati. After showing great promise and an uncanny ability to get on-base Youkilis has flip flopped back and fourth between the majors and the minors. Youkilis first rose to fame in the book "Moneyball" where he received the nickname "The Greek God of Walks" due to his on-base ability. Youkilis, who isn't Greek, was to be the compensation pick for the Red Sox acquiring Oakland A's GM Billy Beane to be the Sox GM. A last minute change of heart allowed the Red Sox to retain Youkilis as Beane remained in Oakland.

This past offseason the Red Sox allowed free agents Bill Mueller and Kevin Millar to leave with the understanding that Youkilis would help to fill the void. Never a scouts dream player this will be Youkilis' first chance to fill an important offensive role for the Red Sox. So far this season Youkilis is hitting .385/.471/.462. This will be very interesting as Sabrmetricians have looked at Youkilis will lust almost as much as scouts have looked at him with disdain. This will be the ultimate battle of OBP.

But ignoring all that garbage Youkilis in my opinion should do very well in the leadoff spot and may have the Red Sox rethinking their lineup when Crisp comes back. The primary duty of a leadoff hitter is to get on-base and since Youkilis does this better then anybody not named Bonds he should give the Red Sox a great deal of run scoring opportunities. It should be fun to watch no matter what.

If you don't Youkilis on your fantasy team yet you should seriously think about adding him. He's gonna score a ton of runs at the head of that lineup. He singled in his first at bat today and he's going to keep on doing it.