Have you ever seen a guy care less about what people say about him than J.D. Drew? What were the knocks on him when he signed with Boston? Let's count them down:
1. He's injury prone. He has never played more than 146 games, and since 1999 averages 118 games played per year. That means he misses more than one of every four.
2. He doesn't drive in runs. J.D. Drew's career high in RBI is 100, and from 1999 to 2006 averaged 62 RBI per season. 62. Six. Two.
3. He doesn't hit for that high an average. As we all know, batting average doesn't tell the whole story. We care about on base percentage, and god dammit we want our #5 hitter drawing walks with runners in scoring position.
The next time this guy hustles for a double and does not pull a muscle will be the first. It's unbelievable. I've never seen a guy care less about his image. One of the worst things someone can say about a professional athlete is that you don't care about your job. That was the main criticism of Drew coming into Boston. He doesn't care.
3 months in, and all I see now is a guy who couldn't get it done in the #5 spot in the batting order, and is now a $14 million a year leadoff hitter (when he plays). Great. He draws walks. Terrific. Pay the guy $14 million a year to see pitches.
This was a bad signing in the off season, and it's even worse now. We're stuck with him.
Here are the stats courtesy of Baseball Reference. I'm not sure what the ad wizards in Theo's war room were analyzing.
-sc
http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/drewj.01.shtml
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