The Red Sox did not step out of their game plan of signing bridge free agents after adding veteran shortstop Stephen Drew Monday with a one-year, $9.5 million deal.
Drew, the 29-year-old brother of former Sox outfielder J.D. Drew, spent last season with the Diamondbacks and Athletics, appearing in 79 games and batting .223 with a .657 OPS and 7 home runs.
Comments
Plan B must be to hire "B" players. And please don't hire Nick Swisher.
$9.5 million for a .223 hitting shortstop. Insanity!
I don't understand their thinking with Iglesias. Yes, he's a light hitting shortstop but so was Alex Gonzalez who was also a wizard with the glove. If I'm a Sox pitcher I want that guy playing behind me. Baseball Ops is so into stats you'd think that they'd give weight to the ability of Iglesias to save runs, which should be just as important as driving them in. Plus, with Bogearts coming up, playing Iglesias in 2013 would showcase him for a trade by showing what he can do in the field. He's not going to have much value if a team sees that they won't even bring the guy up.
It really makes me wonder where all this money is coming from. If a team can afford to pay a mediocre player almost 10 million a year...it's mind-boggling! I do like that the Sox are focusing on character. It's much easier to root for "good guys" than those of suspect character, especially when they're hovering around .500 which this team seems destined to do for a few years without the addition of two top of the rotation guys and some defense. I'd tell Napoli to forget it and pick up LaRoche AND Swisher. We need some attitude and fun on this team, which Swish will bring, big time. A couple left-handed bats and some depth in the OF and flexibility to trade for pitching. DO IT!