JD Drew deal finally done
After reaching an initial agreement with JD Drew for 5 years $70 million, the Red Sox did a physical on Drew and that has held up negotiations for 7 weeks now. The good news is that finally the deal is done and everything is agreed to. The big change that came about by the delay is that if Drew has problems with his shoulder in the next three years then the Red Sox can opt out of the last two years of his contract, making the contract only three years $42 million.
My biggest fear with Drew was that he would be hurt a lot and signing a five year contract with someone like that is risky. However Drew now has a great reason to not miss games and if he does then the Red Sox haven’t lost so much.
I think that he will do well in Boston because he is hitting behind Manny and Ortiz and he doesn’t need to replace either of them. As long as Drew is healthy I think he will do a fine job replacing Nixon in right field and Varitek in the fifth spot in the rotation. If he gets hurt we have a good fourth outfielder in Willy Mo. Win win.