Trade Kevin Youkilis for David Wright

Meet Kevin Youkilis, your 32 year old third baseman for the Boston Red Sox. A perennial American League MVP candidate, Youk is entering into the final year of his team friendly contract.

Youk is slated to earn $12million in 2012 with a team option for 2013 of $13million, or, there is a $1million buyout.

In his 7 years of service time, Youkilis has been an All-Star 3 times, won a Gold Glove award and placed 3rd in MVP voting in 2008, 6th in 2009.

In other words, Kevin Youkilis has been pretty damn good for the Boston Red Sox.

Meet David Wright, the 28 year old third baseman for the New York Mets. A perennial National League MVP candidate, Wright is also entering into the final year of his contract.

Wright is slated to earn $15million in 2012 for the Mets, with a team option for 2013 at $16million, or a there is also a $1million buyout.

In his 7 years of service time, Wright has been selected to the All-Star team five times, finished 4th in MVP voting in 2007, 7th in 2008. He has 2 Gold Glove awards to match his 2 Silver Slugger awards.

In other words, David Wright has been pretty damn good for the New York Mets.

Baseball nerds, prepare yourself for a bunch of statistics here: According to Baseball Reference, Kevin Youkilis' 162 game stat line would look something like this: 101 runs, 165 hits, 41 doubles, 3 triples, 23 home runs, 85 base on balls, 98 RBI's, 5 stolen bases (getting caught twice), a .289 batting average, .391 OBP, .492 slugging, .883 OPS and a .967 fielding percentage (at third - .993 overall.)

David Wrights 162 game stat line would look like this: 102 runs, 183 hits, 41 doubles, 2 triples, 27 home runs, 78 base on balls, 106 RBI's, 22 stolen bases (getting caught 6 times), a .300 batting average, .380 OBP, .508 slugging, .887 OPS and a .951 fielding percentage.

What do all those numbers translate in to? Basically, Youkilis has the advantage in triples, walks, less times being caught stealing, OBP and Fielding Percentage. Wright has the advantage in runs, home runs, RBI's, stolen bases, batting average, slugging and OPS. Either side of the scale you look at, the advantages are minimal at best - they are fairly identical players.

The question is, why would the Red Sox want to trade Youkilis for David Wright? The answer is simple, Kevin Youkilis is not capable of playing third base at this stage in his career. The Mets are in need of a first baseman. They also need to shed payroll in any way possible. Though the difference in salary is only roughly $3million for 2012/$3million in 2013, beyond that the Mets would likely be unable to sign Wright back.

Wright is the perfect age to come to Boston and take over for Youkilis at third and bat in the three or five spot on this Red Sox lineup. He is a classy player that does not ever seem to have his name in the papers for negative purposes. It would be a wise move for the Red Sox if they are indeed looking to move on from some of the old familiar faces in town.