Youkilis Rumors: White Sox, Braves Leading Contenders?

The Chicago White Sox are in the best position to complete a trade for Kevin Youkilis, an official has informed Buster Olney of ESPN, but a "handful" of other teams are still in the mix. One of the handful of other interested teams is the Atlanta Braves, whom David O’Brien of the AJ Constitution reports scouted the Greek God of Walks several times last week.

With the tag team of Brent Morel, Orlando Hudson, Brent Lillibridge and Eduardo Escobar, the second place White Sox are hitting an abysmal .167/.244/.221 at third base this season with just one home run in 240 at-bats.

The 33-year-old Youkilis, who sat out for the second consecutive night on Friday, is by no means setting the world ablaze but his .225/.311/.359 line would be an exponential improvement at third for the White Sox.

The move would seem to make less sense for the Braves, who have Chipper Jones, Martin Prado and Juan Francisco splitting time at third and hitting a combined .276/.326/.436 at the position. O'Brien believes that the Red Sox's agreement to cover much of Youk's salary is a big reason for the Braves' interest; that there is no reason not to at least look.