Not that I don't hate me some J.D. Drew(fellow Dodgers fans would know this feeling.) But its not as if J.D. Drew made the Red Sox trade Manny.

And now that I actually read the article, he's arguing that Drew's overpaid. Okay, I can agree with that.

I'm not sure I can comment here as I don't have a place of employment.

last season, in only 456 PA, Drew was 27 runs above average on offense and 9 runs above average on defense. by my quick calculations that makes him... about 4.5 wins above replacement in RF. (+3.5 wins above average, dock .5 wins for playing in corner outfield, +1.5 from WAA to WAR, taking into account his limited PAs). that's worth... $20 million. his salary last season? $14 million. don't forget, this is in only 456 PA. if he gets like 600 PA next season, he could easily become a 6 or 7 WAR player.

[3] What did the Red Sox RF do in Drew's absence?

I see Massarotti's fresh and creative "posting from your mother's basement" quip, and I raise him an "unlike you, I only came here to announce that I'm far too busy and successful to waste my time on internet message boards."

Your move, Tony. Your move.

Somewhere along the line, someone needs to devise a system in which people who post comments on the internet are required to provide their real names and, perhaps, places of employment. This would help eliminate the legions of nitwits and cowards who shred anything and everything in their path while hiding in their mothers’ basements.

i have really liked everything he's written for the globe until i read this. how about some context?

What did the Red Sox RF do in Drew's absence?

Presumably, they used a replacement player, which is of course accounted for in a stat called Wins Above Replacement.

someone needs to devise a system in which people who post comments on the internet are required to provide their real names

Phil Coorey
I live in Toowoomab Qld and love JD Drew - feel free to email me on pcoorey@ozemail.com.au to discuss anything further - I love JD Drew and think that his home run vs. K Rod in Game 2 was pretty ####### sweet

I get the sense newspaper writers only like popularity and success when it means they don't have to listen to any feedback or constructive criticism. Oh well. The genie is out of the bottle on that one, Tony, sorry. No putting it back.

...Somewhere along the line, someone needs to devise a system in which people who post comments on the internet are required to provide their real names and, perhaps, places of employment

yeah, you know what also sucks? Secret ballots. Those cowards, they're afraid to tell people who they voted for!

I listened to WEEI when they first started simulcasting it inthe Hartford-Springfield area. I was surprised when I found out that Massarotti was only in his 40s. On the radio, he sounds like an older version of Mort Goldman from the Family Guy.

Drew since 8/1/2007: .290/.409/.518

He played 140 games last year, missed a lot of time down the stretch this year, was baseball's best player when Ortiz went out in 2008 and has hit two of the biggest home runs in Red Sox post-season history.

I dunno, the injuries can frustrate but I would say the return has been pretty decent.

A few posts ago, Mazz wrote something stupid and incorrect, and he had to issue a retraction. I think he's a little... sensitive these days about criticism.

And, of course, Tony Massarotti only goes on line with his name and address displayed for everyone, right?

Tony has a thing about the internet. When Schilling was posting on Sons of Sam Horn and then started posting on his own blog, Massarotti happened to be on weei in Boston and said, in this jealous little girl tone, well, if he's not gonna talk to us, maybe we won't publicize his next charity event. No joke.

Tony got to the party late and now finds that the job of sportswriter isn't all it was cracked up to be. Information doesn't have to go through him. Everyone doesn't have to listen to him.

Well, too bad. He should adjust to it. And if some criticism has no merit, then he can just ignore it, right? If other criticism has a point, then what does it matter if it's attributed to a clever user name?

Technically, the annex is not part of my mom's basement, it is completely separate.

Information doesn't have to go through him. Everyone doesn't have to listen to him.

I don't think that's it. I think it's more a sensitivity issue.

I know someone who, when he is criticized, always lashes out at the critic, desperately finding some way to take the critic down a peg. If you casually mention that the Dolphins (his favorite team) didn't play well, he'll instantly respond with, "Well what's your team?" Once he expressed his opinion poorly, and I agreed with what I thought he was saying. I repeated it as I understood it, and asked him if I understood it correctly; he lambasted me for being intolerant, closed-minded, and, in his words, "not allowing me to have my own opinion." Everyone in the room knew I was agreeing with him, except him - he thought, because I was questioning what he said, that I was disagreeing with him.

When I hear Mazz on the radio and read him in print, he strikes me as one of these guys. He seems like he cannot live in a world where he can be criticized without having the chance to do the same to the critic, either from an eye-for-an-eye perspective and/or in a feeble attempt to delegitimize the criticism by delegitimizing the critic.

He had a rough start in 2007. I know these guys are professionals, and I believe that they can put most of their personal problems aside while playing, but I have to think, worrying about your kid's health is something that can have a huge effect on performance. Possibly to the point that one wouldn't even care about their profession. Actually, screw JD Drew. He is a prick:

Boston.com:

The surgery lasted six hours, with another 45 minutes to put on a cast that extends from Jack's chest to his ankles.

We didn't see him open his eyes until about 1:30 [a.m.], so we just didn't get much sleep," Drew said. "My wife slept for about 15 minutes, and I actually went home, and he had a bunch of spasms throughout the night, just trying to fight off the anesthesia and the cast that he has."

Even more proof that Drew is a dick:

"It was hard walking out that door this afternoon," Drew said. "You hate to leave a little guy like that crying for his dad when you're walking out."

Anyways, I liked the Drew signing and never really cared one way or the other about his personality. He is a baseball player. But, after finding out about his kid I began to like him (at the time I had a 1 year old with a really bad cough which would keep her up at night....this was off and on for several months, and was very scary So, I was quite sympathetic. I am not comparing a cough to what his son had, but little kids with allergies/asthma/coughing can become dangerous real quick). I honestly don't know how he even went to the field at all. Other than Manny's walk-off in game 2 of ALDS, Drew's 'redemption' grand-slam against CLE was my favorite moment of that post-season (actually, it is probably a toss up, but my reasons for liking each are so different).

Maybe my kid's cough was so bad due to my wife, her, and me living in my mom's and dad's basement. Which is pretty damp and dark due to the basement actually being below the basement my dad lives in of his mother's house.

I'm tired of this bull-####. I grew up in California and never had access to a basement, my mother's or anyone else's. Gentlemen, I have been cheated!

when I was a kid, we WALKED to our basement. Barefoot. In the snow. Uphill, both ways.

JDd Drew's contract was Red Sox' big problem last year? I thought catching, middle relief, and Beckett's off year was the big difference in the 2007/2008 team.

Other than Manny's walk-off in game 2 of ALDS, Drew's 'redemption' grand-slam against CLE was my favorite moment of that post-season (actually, it is probably a toss up, but my reasons for liking each are so different).

In the bleachers when Drew came up with the bases loaded, I said I would forgive Drew for his entire 2007 regular-season performance if he hit a grand slam right there. And so I have. Thus, I think it was a great signing.

What a complete moron. He obviously has no comprehension of the salary structure in Major League baseball. The fact that a team can have a consistent 95 win talent level without any player making over 14 million right now borders on the insane. 3 million a year more than Gary freakin Matthews. Drew is a damn good player, and provides more value in 120 games than higher paid players (like many recent free agent OF's) do in 150.

I abhor morons like this who are incedibily fortunate to watch their home team sign a great player to a reasonable deal and then actually complain about it.