Drew is Back

[GomesBeard]

No details yet, heard that CBS Sports is reporting this..... Wow.

[mvp 78]

Someone call an ambulance to Arcadia!!!

[mvp 78]

@Ken_Rosenthal: Source: Drew deal with #RedSox is for one year. Free agent again at end of season. Draft-pick compensation will not apply.

[mvp 78]

@PeteAbe: Per @Ken_Rosenthal, #RedSox have signed Stephen Drew to a one-year, $10 million deal. The prorated $14 M offer.

[GomesBeard]

Strange that Bora$ wouldn't have waited a few more days for the draft, after which Drew could sign anywhere w/no compensation impact. Guess the market wasn't quite what he thought.

 

So does he play short and X-man move to third?

[mvp 78]

That's what I'd do plus DFA Herrera.

[Palodios]

Despite my comments about bringing up the prospects, there is nothing that makes me happier than having a front office that has a commitment to winning. 10 million is no small number amount for a player like Drew, but I think everyone should come away happy with what they want on this one.

[Spudboy]

Yes!

[jacksonianmarch]

This is a good move for both parties. Drew gets another pillow contract yet he isn't tied to compensation and the sox buy one more yr for Xander to learn the game at the big league level without overexposing him

[BigPapiEnFuego]

What should happen to Middlebrooks when he returns?

[Station 13]

What should happen to Middlebrooks when he returns?

 

Platoon with Drew.

[jacksonianmarch]

I think the writing is on the wall. My bet is he's getting dealt, probably for a pitcher or an outfielder. Cecchini is right behind him with Betts being an out of position option at third. WMB offers high power potential, but he needs some more time. My guess is he's moved for Buchholz' replacement

[mvp 78]

What should happen to Middlebrooks when he returns?

 

I'll be seeing him at McCoy a lot.

[jacksonianmarch]

Jenny Dell chose poorly

[a700hitter]

Red Sox To Sign Stephen Drew

By Steve Adams [May 20, 2014 at 1:48pm CDT]

 

2:44pm: Drew will play short for Boston, tweets Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal, which of course means that Bogaerts will shift to third. He will go directly onto the active MLB roster but spend a week or more getting back up to speed in the minors, reports Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe (Twitter links). (As Joel Sherman of the New York Post explains on Twitter, Drew has to join the active roster because he signed a major league deal.)

 

The team “back-channeled” with Drew over the course of the season, and met with him at least once in April, tweets Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. Ultimately, the signing came together within the last two days, a source tells Alex Speier of WEEI.com (Twitter link).

 

1:48pm: The Red Sox have reached an agreement with Stephen Drew, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Drew is getting the pro-rated version of the qualifying offer ($14.1MM) on a one-year deal, meaning that Drew will be paid roughly $10.17MM. Drew is represented by Scott Boras.

 

 

Drew’s value this offseason was weighed down by a number of factors. He rejected a $14.1MM qualifying offer last November, meaning that any team (other than Boston) that wished to sign him would have to forfeit its top unprotected pick. Additionally, there were a lack of teams that were willing to spend and had a clear need for an upgrade at shortstop. The asking price of both Drew and Boras likely also weighed on interested parties.

 

Boston appeared to be a ready to move on from Drew and go with a left side of the infield that included Will Middlebrooks at third base and Xander Bogaerts at shortstop. However, Middlebrooks is hitting just .197/.305/.324 and is on the disabled list for the second time this season already. Bogaerts hasn’t excelled with the bat as they’d hoped, hitting a solid but unspectacular .269/.369/.379. The bigger issue with Bogaerts, however, has been his glove at shortstop. Though he’s made just four errors, his range has been below average, and both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved feel he’s played well below-average defense.

 

Boston likely expected to receive a compensatory draft pick to go along with their youth movement, but the fact that Drew clearly wasn’t going to sign elsewhere prior to the draft presented GM Ben Cherington with two options: sign Drew now or see him sign elsewhere while receiving nothing in return. Given the club’s deficiencies on the left side of the infield, the Sox opted for the external upgrade rather than hoping that their young infielders would heal up and pick up the pace at the plate.

 

Drew, 31, enjoyed a nice bounce-back campaign with the Sox in 2013, slashing a solid .253/.333/.443 with 13 homers in 501 plate appearances. He played solid defense at short, per Ultimate Zone Rating (+6.7 UZR/150), though Defensive Runs Saved (-2) wasn’t as big of a fan. The Red Sox loved Drew’s glove at short, however (particularly in the playoffs), and his ability with the leather was enough to keep him from being platooned despite a .196/.246/.340 batting line against southpaws.

 

While this is hardly an ideal scenario for Drew, the fact that he won’t be on Boston’s roster for the entire season means that he’ll be ineligible to receive a qualifying offer next offseason, which should improve his chances of landing a strong multi-year deal considerably. Of course, he’ll also face steeper competition on the shortstop market than he did this past offseason and will be coming off a shorter season than if he’d simply signed earlier in the year. Hanley Ramirez, J.J. Hardy, Jed Lowrie and Asdrubal Cabrera are all set to hit the open market following the 2014 campaign.

 

Drew is the first case of a player waiting to sign until after the start of a season to avoid a qualifying offer the following year. Kyle Lohse and Ervin Santana came close by signing in Spring Training in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and Kendrys Morales figures to wait until after the draft in order to avoid such an offer and shed the draft pick that is currently attached to his name after rejecting Seattle’s qualifying offer last November.

 

Boras has used the troubles of Drew and Morales to voice considerable displeasure with Major League Baseball’s qualifying offer system this offseason. While many will be quick to point out that Boras has a clearly biased take, MLBTR’s Zach Links spoke with a number of executives earlier this spring, and even they agreed that the qualifying offer system was advantageous to teams. We at MLBTR even predicted a four-year deal was possible for Drew in spite of a qualifying offer. Morales, Lohse, Santana and Nelson Cruz are examples of additional players that have seen their value likely diminished by their attachment to draft pick compensation.

 

Ultimately, Drew cost himself roughly $4MM and two months of playing time in order to shed the possibility of being saddled with a qualifying offer again next offseason. If he’s able to land a lucrative multi-year deal, it’s still possible that he could come out ahead in the long run, financially speaking.

[Spudboy]

And of course a side benefit is this will prevent the Yankees from signing him for this year.

 

Cool.

[Bellhorn04]

And of course a side benefit is this will prevent the Yankees from signing him for this year.

 

Cool.

 

You got that straight amigo!

[Spudboy]

You got that straight amigo!

 

And that has to piss Cashman off.

 

I hope that it does, anyway!

[seabeachfred]

Someone call an ambulance to Arcadia!!!

 

No ambulance needed but you can throw some kudos my way. What have I said all along mvp????? Don't gag on it, just admit it. I said all along that Drew would wind up back with the Red Sox. Yes I CALLED IT!!!!!!!! Sometimes I think I read the front office better than they read themselves. Seriously, though, just what does Drew bring to the Red Sox? Fielding? Most likely but he hasn't fielded a ball hit off a bat in anger since October 30th. Might take a little time to adjust on that side of the ball. Offense? Are you f***ing kidding me? What was he in the post season....something like four for sixty-one or something like that. What kind of offense is he going to give us now? Not much, and that still leaves Bogaerts, a very piss poor clutch hitter (barely over 100 in those situations) now anchored at third base. Is he going to start driving in runs for us, hit for a top average and start showing some power???? And what about our outfield? We still have a hitting stiff like Bradley playing in CF, Gomes, strictly a platoon guy, holding left with his partner Sizemore who has still not caught up to Major League pitching. Our best outfielder can't stay in one piece and without Victorino we go nowhere.

 

Catching is a mess. AJ makes me wish for Salty, Ross is barely adequate anymore, and we have two starting pitchers who should be out stealing hub caps. Having said all that, now that the Red Sox have done what I knew they would do all along, I can only wish this all turns out well. Just don't ask me to hold my breath.

[seabeachfred]

That's what I'd do plus DFA Herrera.

 

Now if Drew's signing means Herrera goes, I guess that's a victory of sorts. If he is kept and someone else is sent out, then we still stink.

[Navafan29]

I... ok.

[GomesBeard]

Re: Middlebrooks - more seasoning is needed, and now he can spend the rest of the season in Pawtucket getting healthy and working on hitting a freaking breaking ball. Maybe take a course in Plate Discipline as well. No reason to trade or give up on him at this point. He's a quality guy with power potential.

[Palodios]

No ambulance needed........

 

Fred, you have a habit of raising our collective blood pressures.

They added a player, and made the team better. They've also shown that they're not giving up on being a winning team this year. There will be more changes to make, but I certainly trust them.

[Spudboy]

Can anyone say with a straight face that the Sox are not a better team now with Drew at short?

 

It may take a week or two to get his timing at the plate back. When this happens, he will likely be in the starting lineup and hitting about .250 or so. I think that is better than what Middlebrooks was doing and Drews defense is much better than X's.

 

Of course this does not make the Sox instant contenders. The other problems need to be addressed as well.

 

This is a step in the right direction and shows that the Sox have not given up on the season.

[Bellhorn04]

Drew hit 284/377/498 against RH pitching last year and we have really been struggling against RH pitching this year.

 

Farrell says that Bogaerts will be playing SS when we face LH starters.

[a700hitter]

Drew hit 284/377/498 against RH pitching last year and we have really been struggling against RH pitching this year.

 

Farrell says that Bogaerts will be playing SS when we face LH starters.

 

I guess that Middlebrooks will be the other part of that platoon.

[seabeachfred]

Fred, you have a habit of raising our collective blood pressures.

They added a player, and made the team better. They've also shown that they're not giving up on being a winning team this year. There will be more changes to make, but I certainly trust them.

 

How's that so Palodios? How is telling the truth harmful to one's blood pressure? I simply said what I knew what would happen all along, that being Drew being re-signed by the Red Sox. Again, I was laughed at by most of the "experts" on this board when I said the front office had this itch about Drew and would eventually resign him. If mvp cannot bring himself to admit it I will do it for him and all those who laughed when I made that prediction. The best thing to defuse this would be for those clowns to admit I was right and move on.

 

As for making the team better, how? Defense? Remember Drew hasn't fielded a ground ball hit in anger in almost eight months. That may take a little time. Hitting? The guy was 4-what, 61 in the playoffs last fall? We still have a stiff offensively playing CF and not very much better in left field. We're weak behind the plate in both ways and two of our starting pitchers suck. If they are not giving up being a winning team this season they had better do something about the outfield real soon, and, most importantly, Farrell has to change that God damn batting order of his. Pedroia is being mis-used at leadoff and forced to work the count when his forte is hitting. Bogaerts cannot hit sixth because he cannot drive in runs, at least as the present. We need Shane at leadoff, Bogey at second where his OBA will be more effective and Pedey dropped back down to third where he hit last season.

 

If this is the first of a number of moves to "win this year" as you say, then fine. I'm all for it. Stop here though and we haven't improved very much at all. Now my blood pressure is up.

[Northern Star]

What should happen to Middlebrooks when he returns?

 

Sell programs in the concourse.

[VA Sox Fan]

So happy about this move!!! Love his glove. He should fire Borass!!!

[Spudboy]

So happy about this move!!! Love his glove. He should fire Borass!!!

 

And he can hit too!

 

More moves to come!