I have family in Tucson and saw Drew play SS in the minors for a while..I do beleive we are really going to like him here in Boston

Sorry..believe...

Another well done insightful article. Good job Dan! There is more to life than meets the eye.

Boston needs more of this kind of writing! Goog luck to Stephen Drew and his family and good luck to the Red Sox in 2013.

By my calculation, JD only averaged 121 games a year when he played here, not 135 as Dan said. Big difference. I think most people didn't care about the lack of 'emotion'. It was the lack of production for $14mil. Both the average numbers and the lack of staying on the field. He was a $5mil talent getting paid $14mil, that is what was enraging. The Sox "leadership" this year signed a bunch of average talent at big bucks this year. Stephen Drew is one of a few on that list. I think he will try harder than his brother to stay on the field, but will fans be happy with a .220-240 hitter with no power, decent fielder, for $9.5mil??

"There's more to life than just baseball... " What? Are you kidding me? No there's not. Who says that. These guys are killing me. Oozing with talent in ever ounce of their bodies... except, like the tin-man ... they play with no heart. I don't want to spend my free time and money to watch someone else go through the motions and punch the clock (save that for the office). Give me someone who cares and who has a little fire in the belly. Give me a gamer who wants to be there... like Brian Daubach, J. Damon or Paul O'Neil.

Hey, almost 10 mil is not considered that much, but if a teacher, firefighter or cop makes 100K they are overpaid...and they generally make much less.  The cops that break that barrier work a lot of OT.

So Drew is this year's stopgap, while the Sox try to figure out if Julio is the future, or a piece in a trade..

There are people in St. Louis that are convinced to this day that J-D Drew was really not into baseball, and some in the Cardinals organization are convinced he really didn't care if he was successful in MLB or not..Tony LaRussa couldn't wait to be rid of him, this after a summer that started with Drew looking like an MVP candidate, before he was shipped to Atlanta..

Tim was a middling starter who was fine in Double or Triple A, but got shelled in the Show..

Enjoyed the column, Dan.  JD got ripped for "not caring enough" but the word is that he was generally a positive influence in the Sox clubhouse.  Certainly JD was overpaid (A LOT) and was Ellsbury-esque in his coming back from injuries, but he was an excellent defensive player, and was okay as a hitter.  Never great, never the guy you wanted up in a big spot, but okay.  Dan, one thing -- JD was the hero of Game 6 of the 2008 ALCS.  Were it not for JD, there would not have been a Game 7.  So cut him a little bit of slack.  

Why are you beating that dead horse. I for one liked J D Drew and don't understand why you're making negative comments about his brother before he even plays a game. Give the guy a chance.

Welcome to Boston Steven.  Just remember Shaughnessy is the overpaid underachiever around here.