Fox Sport's Ken Rosenthal dropped a bit of a bomb this morning.
Amidst the standard 'Youk or Middlebrooks' debate, buried deep in the article, he shared this nugget:
According to one rival executive, Valentine wanted Youkilis out as far back as spring training, viewing him as a liability.
The most casual Red Sox fan knew that Bobby wasn't a huge Youk fan. But that doesn't make this confirmation any less jarring. We also now know why Cherington was so blunt when he stated that Youk wasn't going to lose his job due to injury. He wanted to cut any potential problems off at the knees.
It didn't exactly work. And this problem isn't going to go away unless Youk is shipped out of town -- which, according to Rosenthal, isn't going to happen until Youk comes back and proves he's still a capable player. It's going to get a little bumpier before it gets better.
