There has been a lot of talk in the past 24 hours about Kevin Youkilis. The White Sox, who acquired Youkilis in a midseason trade with the Red Sox, declined their $13 million option. Youkilis is a slightly younger, slightly more productive version of Scott Rolen. Youkilis is showing a decline in durability and productivity. He’ll be 34 next season and hasn’t played more than 122 games since 2009. Youkilis has seen his batting average decline since 2010 (from .307 to .235) and his OBP decline since 2009 (from .413 to .336). If a high-on-base guy is a priority for the Reds (which it should be), Youkilis doesn’t seem to be a good fit. Did I mention that the White Sox declined their $13 million option? So he’s expensive, too.

Gold Gloves were announced last night. A ML-high six Reds were finalists (Votto, Phillips, Cozart, Stubbs, Bruce, Arroyo), but none actually won. The biggest snub in my mind was Brandon Phillips and the strangest selection was Jimmy Rollins beating out Zack Cozart. Cozart may not have deserved it, but Rollins?

Ryan Ludwick declined his $5 million option today and is now a free agent. I think the Reds will try to resign him, but I’m not sure they should. He had a great, comeback season but he’s 34 and I’m not sure he can repeat it. Combine that with more money and I don’t know that he’s the right fit.