What the Minnesota Twins Need Is In Japan. It’s Kevin Youkilis.

Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

What the Minnesota Twins need is in Japan. This statement can probably be copied and pasted twice; the player I’m not referring to here specifically is Masahiro Tanaka. The person I am referring to is Kevin Youkilis.

On Friday, it was reported that Kevin Youkilis will depart for Japan instead of signing with someone in the MLB. Word was that Youkilis wanted to play on the West Coast in order to be closer to his family, but ended up going with something even a little bit more west. The report from MLB Trade Rumors states that Youkilis thinks playing in Japan was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

He’s gone now, but Youkilis is just what the Twins need.

The Twins know what they have in Trevor Plouffe and he isn’t the third baseman of the future. That’s Miguel Sano and he more than likely will not arrive until partway through the 2014 season. Youkilis could have come in on a one-year contract, taken over third base, handed over the reins and mentored the young Miguel Sano.

It would have been nice, sweet and an upgrade over the current third baseman. Youkilis was hurt last year, but in my eyes would have been worth the one year stopgap between the failed Plouffe era at third and the grand opening of the Sano era.

Youkilis fits the mold of those veteran players the Twins always seem to get to fill some holes, except he was actually a fairly good player in his prime. It doesn’t really matter anymore, I suppose. The Youkilis boat has sailed, but maybe he can find the real Nishioka over there.