J.D. Drew is what’s wrong with people

The Boston Globe is reporting that the buzz at the winter meetings is that J.D. Drew may land a contract in the neighborhood of four years, $56 million.

For those of you adverse to mathematics, that’s $14 million a year.

We’re talking about a player who has been plagued by a variety of injuries and who has only showed glimpses of ability. He’s had a couple of good years to be sure. But a couple of good years over the course of an eight year career isn’t exactly inspiring. Drew is 31. And teams are still talking about his potential.

Drew has potential, all right. He’s got the potential to be a lot more trouble than he’s worth.

In 2001, in 109 games, Drew hit .323 with 27 HR and 73 RBI. In 2004, in 145 games, he hit .305, with 31 HR and 93 RBI. In 2006, in 146 games, he hit .283, with 20 HR and 100 RBI.

In his other seasons, he averaged closer to 300 at bats, a .270 average, 15 HRs and 50 RBI.

If you’re a GM, you’ve got to ask yourself which is more likely, that Drew will stay healthy and have a big offensive year, or that he will miss 1/3 of the season with nagging injuries, hit .260 with 70 RBIs, and that he and Scott Boras will be a clubhouse distraction?

You know what pisses me off about Drew? It’s that he seems to feel that he’s entitled to big money. He refused to sign with the Phillies, the team that drafted him, for anything less than $10 million a year and when the Phils offered him $8 million, he balked, sat out the season and signed with the Cardinals the next year.

Now he’s asking for huge money, even though his career has been largely dissapointing thus far.

I know I shouldn’t be mad at Drew. I should be mad at the idiot GMs who agree to pay Drew what he and Boras ask. But I can’t help it, I’m mad at Drew.