What ever happened to the attraction of the Boston Red Sox for J.D. Drew?   Are the “cash-pockets” Red Sox getting cold feet over him?

At the end of November, we heard that a deal was close and in early December, we heard about the 5 year, $70 million offer.  But then everyone went mum.

What’s the answer to the Drew, BoSox riddle?  It sounds very much like the results of the physical are impacting on the final deal, if there is one.

 ESPN reports on the Red Sox’s thinking;

Drew is scheduled to have a second opinion Monday on a shoulder issue that came up in Drew’s first exam, a source told The Globe.

The shoulder issue could cause the Red Sox to shorten the length of the agreement, or replace some guarantees with incentives, The Globe reported.

The 31-year-old Drew has had injuries throughout his career, but he played in 146 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season and hit .283 with 20 homers and a team-high 100 RBI. He became a free agent when he opted out of the last three years of his five-year, $55 million.

The injuries have added to negative perceptions that have followed Drew since the Philadelphia Phillies selected him No. 2 overall in the 1997 amateur draft. He did not sign, went back into the draft and was picked by the St. Louis Cardinals fifth overall the next year.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe provides more background; 

The red flag went up after the Sox right-fielder underwent a physical in Boston last week and the… 5-year, $70 million deal struck at baseball’s winter meetings nearly two weeks ago has not be finalized.

Multiple Sox officials did not return calls or e-mails on the subject.

It’s not known whether the physical issue could be a deal-breaker, but it may cause some revision of the guarantees in the deal or increase clauses for games-played in place of the guaranteed money. The issue could also force the Red Sox to shorten the deal.

Reached at his Georgia home, Drew said he was busy with a personal matter and could not comment.

The Red Sox and Drew’s agent Scott Boras both have only commented that the hangup is a language issue in the contract. But apparently it’s far more than that.

Drew has had a number of injuries during his career, including a bad case of patellar tendinitis to his knee while he played for the Cardinals, which is also a concern, and injuries to his shoulder, back and wrist.

The medical issue is not expected to make the Sox back out of the deal completely, but if proper revisions can’t be made to the deal, the Red Sox might have to consider other plans. The Red Sox have always been earmarked as Drew’s sole destination after Boras, exercised an out clause on his contract with the Dodgers in November.

There didn’t appear to be any other bidders for Drew’s services. But there are still multiple teams looking for a middle-of-the-order hitter and if the Sox deal falls through there could be interest by other teams.

The question is would Drew get an annual salary of $14 million?

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 10:11 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, Off-Season Deals, Trades, Free Agency, Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.