…surprisingly apathetic.
The J.D. Drew deal has been resolved, Gordon Edes reports. Um, yeah.
Does anyone still think this is a good idea? Six weeks have gone by since we were first told by Scott Boras that we should expect an announcement. Then we hear that — surprise of all surprises! — there’s some snag. Drew changes his phone number. We hear that things are being ironed out, then we hear that no one’s talking. Then we hear they’re talking again. Now there’s the word that the announcement is coming tomorrow (by this post-midnight post, later today) and that Drew, who we must assume has been found hiding in a dark corner somewhere, has been located.
But it gets better!
Sox doctors say that there’s indication that there could be future shoulder problems three to five years from now.
Blah blah blah. Here’s what this means, Red Sox fans.
J.D. Drew could have shoulder problems in three to five years, which means that, in theory, J.D. Drew should be perfectly find for the first three of his five contracted seasons with the Sox (there’s an opt-out part of the deal — if you want details, read up on the Word of Edes).
He should be perfectly fine, which for J.D. Drew means regular appearances on the DL. Add to that the fact that Scott Boras has been sweating this one and I get nervous. After all, this is the guy who basically said, “Hey, you want him? You come to ME” with Dice-K.
(Note: I prefer D-Mat to Dice-K for a nickname because Dice-K lacks creativity and D-Mat does allow for the “just in case” transition to Haz-Mat.)
As all this has been going on in Boston, supposed Red Sox injury risk Trot Nixon moved quietly over to Cleveland. Few snags that we heard of in terms of Trot signing the one-year deal.
If you look at the average stats over the last six years of Trot and Drew, you see eerily similar statistics. And both have in fact had problems with the injuries. So I ask this: why is there a crisis need to sign Drew for five years to replace someone who’s supposedly finishing up his career? Why are you signing someone for five years when you include a stipulation on years four and five? Why are you signing someone for five years to replace someone who only has one extra year of experience? Why replace the “walking wounded” with a guy who played 72 games in 2005?
Why am I supposed to be excited about this as a Sox fan?
Here’s my haphazard prediction: Drew is announced later today. He goes into the season and makes it to, say, June. Then gets hurt for a few weeks. Maybe has to go to Pawtucket for a couple of games to get his swing back at the end of his time on the DL.
Wily Mo Pena goes into right to fill the gap and discovers that all that work in the off-season paid off and he can read the Fenway corners a bit better. The only problem is that he still doesn’t have it down. Balls bounce.
Pena decides to make up for his lack of right field fielding by hitting a homer at every at-bat. New problem: he doesn’t hit those homers and we now have a big gap in right field without even some form of payoff in offense (because we know that the brass is back into the whole “let’s have a whole bunch of sluggers” mentality.
While Drew recovers, he listens to Boston fans on the radio, television and what have you talking about how this was never a good idea, signing him in the first place, so then he gets cranky. Annoyance ensues.
How is this a good idea?
In better news: tickets go on sale Saturday and I’m looking forward to facing down the Virtual Waiting Rooms of Doom.
