Drew Value?

We're going to do a before and after treatment tonight, focusing on what is fast becoming one of Theo's big busts of 2007: J. D. Drew. As Kevin from New York has pointed out, no one more than Drew has benefited from the fast Sox start. He has flown, or should we say wobbled, under the radar after tailing off from his fast start.

Time to get out the magnifying glass. I'll outline my opinion before the game and closely examine his performance tonight against the Rangers to see if that changes the way I feel.

You would have thought Drew was a child molester based on the reaction he got even before he got to Boston. Sox fans, stoked by vitriolic radio talk show hosts and poison penned sportswriters, universally panned Drew once he signed his $70 million, 5 year contract. I actually puked all over Kevin when I heard, almost setting a record for bailing out on the Sox in December. I bought into the hype and reputation and said Theo had no regard for team chemistry and blowing all that money on Drew was a joke.

The Dice-K mania stuffed Drew onto the back burner a bit and I mellowed, deciding to give him a fair shot once the season started. Although criticized for his lack of durability and his permanent time share on the DL, Drew was said to be productive when he was on the field. I figured tucked behind Big Papi and Manny he would not be in the spotlight and might thrive. Besides, he had to be better than anything we had in the five hole last year and it wasn't my money so let's see what happened.

Drew came in quiet as a church mouse and started the season rip-snorting hot. Things looked look as he was hitting over .400 and contributing as Ortiz and Manny struggled. I thought this might work out after all.

Then he hit the skids and things that you didn't notice before began to become more obvious. That sweet swing looked so natural when he was ripping doubles into the gap, but began to look feeble as he flailed helplessly at off speed pitches down and away.

As his batting average plummeted faster than Brittany Spears standing in the Mother of the Year contest, other disturbing things began to pop up. First was his taking a couple of days off with "virus like symptoms" which were probably legit. At this point, we began to notice that he plays the game with the same passion as someone mowing his lawn. I think we are starting to see why he aggravated teammates in St. Louis, Atlanta and Los Angeles so much.

Now comes this past Wednesday night, when the Sox are playing the rubber game of a three game series against the hated Yankmees. A win there and the Bombers are 11 1/2 out. Drew has had success against starter Andy Pettite and the following day is an off day. Tito asks Drew if he wants in and the ever competitive, do or die Drew responds: "Nah, I think I'll take a mental health day."

A mental health day??????

Neurosurgeons take mental health days. Air traffic controllers take mental health days. Elementary school teachers take mental health days.

Major league right fielders hitting .236 making $86,420 PER GAME don't take mental health days. Not when your team is playing the freaking NEW YORK YANKEES WITH A CHANCE TO BURY THEM!

The amazing thing is that this stunt went largely unmentioned. Can you imagine of Manny had responded the same way? Talk show hosts from Maine to Connecticut would have been screaming for Manny's dreadlocked scalp at the top of their lungs. And Manny has done more and means more to this line up than Drew can even think of.

So there you have it. In case you haven't noticed, I am disenchanted with the Disengaged One. I'm going to watch him very closely tonight against the Rangers (if the rain ever stops) and get back to you after the game.

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Well thanks to the rain delay, the game didn't start until 10 pm, which means here I am at 1:25 am finishing up this post. And I have to tell you, Drew was no help keeping me up. He is truly a problem.

He walked in the second and eventually scored on Pedroia's base hit. In the third, we were treated to a classic Drew Hoo. Leading 4-0, Papi was on third and Manny on second. This is where your number five has to come up with the hit and two big RBI's. Not our man Drew. Broken bat grounder to second, and Ranger second baseman Ian Kinsler was able to dive back and beat a napping Manny for the out.

In his next two at bats, Drew came through by ending both innings. In the 5th he bounced into a 3-6 double play and in the 6th he dribbled an easy grounder to second for the final out. His exciting appearance there also included what Jerry Remy called "a very tentative swing". Yuk.

In the ninth, Drew wrapped up a tidy 0 for 4 by striking out weakly against Eric Gagne. His average plummeted to .230.

The really scary thing is that with that albatross of a contract, we are stuck with him for five years. Meanwhile, David Murphy and Brandon Moss are starting to tear it up in Pawtucket, but there will be no place for them to go. What happens to them while the Sox shell out a ridiculous $14 mil per year for what appears to be a fading fast, underachieving Drew?

Meanwhile, Tito is showing more patience than Job by continuing to stick Drew in the five spot and watching him strand runners, kill rallies and end innings. Time to move him down to seven or eight and see if he can snap out of it.

Everything is beautiful right now, but eventually, the Sox might actually consider getting some production from their fifth hitter. It's getting more apparent that is not going to happen with Drew.