Comments on: J.D. Drew “very likely” to retire

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:49:41 +0000

Yeah, I’m going to stop responding to bozos. Hope you guys join me.

By: WhenMattStairsIsKing

WhenMattStairsIsKing — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:31:29 +0000

Out? What will he be out from doing?

By: PanchoHerreraFanClub

PanchoHerreraFanClub — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:24:05 +0000

I predict that JD will pull a hammie on first day of retirement. He is be out 6 to 12 weeks.

By: megary

megary — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:11:58 +0000

Injuries took there toll, but checking out Baseball Reference gives these players as the most similar through age 35:
1.Larry Doby (945) *
2.Reggie Sanders (940)
3.Ray Lankford (935)
4.Cliff Floyd (922)
5.Bill Nicholson (919)
6.Bob Allison (912)
7.David Justice (909)
8.Ryan Klesko (907)
9.Vic Wertz (905)
10.Bob Johnson (904)

Maybe the consensus has it right after all…

By: cur68

cur68 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:30:45 +0000

His bust will be made out of recycled vinegar bottles.

By: 1943mrmojorisin1971

1943mrmojorisin1971 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:28:47 +0000

You taking the time to respond to us like the grade 5 kid you probably are makes me believe you do care. Sorry guys, I won’t feed the troll anymore.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:21:55 +0000

Eric Davis didn’t piss off a thin skinned fan base.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:20:45 +0000

He was a turd…which made him a perfect fit in Boston.

By: jwbiii

jwbiii — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:20:06 +0000

It’s a funny thing, Ari Collins, when a team doesn’t pick up a team option, it’s ok. When a player doesn’t pick up a player option, he’s a greedy f’ing bastard.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:17:08 +0000

Hardly “dead wrong”…given that Boston is supposed to be such a bastion of wealth…yet they couldn’t win a single World Series title from 1920 to 2003. The only part I might be “wrong” about was upgrading your team to “mediocre” from “sucked” for most of the last century.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:14:03 +0000

cur (and the rest of his band of gay men)…if you try really hard, maybe you can pretend that I give a shit what you all think. Keep the lame material coming…I’ll keep on enjoying the laughs.

By: dcfan4life

dcfan4life — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:06:35 +0000

Underrated player. He solidified right field in Boston, help them win 2 World Series with some clutch postseason play, and managed to outperform some serious setbacks with unjuries. The hatred for him probably stems from his refusal to play for the Phillies (shocking considering what a wonderful city and super nice people Philladelphia has…) and his overall demeanor. But hats off to a strong career. Now go open a bunch of laundry mats or car washes like other long time solid Boston players lol.

By: WhenMattStairsIsKing

WhenMattStairsIsKing — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:04:32 +0000

I think opting out of his own contract to make even more in Boston also made him look greedy, and I never really feel that way about contracts.

He didn’t care, or seem to care, that he took such strong positions on salary. And when he never spoke up, fans had no other side of him to get to know.

Whether he deserves a bad wrap or not, that left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans.

By: Detroit Michael

Detroit Michael — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:04:11 +0000

Others have touched on this already, but besides the three reasons listed in the blog post, Drew was underrated because he never played full seasons, so his seasonal counting statistics never looked very impressive. Only twice did he play more than 140 games and those were both in his walk years with Atlanta and the Dodgers, which gave the impression (perhaps unfairly) that perhaps he could have played more in the other seasons.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:02:50 +0000

When Drew was slumping in 2007 after signing that big contract with Boston, a guy – not a baseball insider, just some idiot fan – in an Internet forum that I frequented back then complained that Drew didn’t care and wasn’t even trying to hit better. So it wasn’t just media-created bullshit. A lot of it was idiot fan-created bullshit.

By: WhenMattStairsIsKing

WhenMattStairsIsKing — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:56:16 +0000

Let the shenanigans ensue!

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:42:19 +0000

Quite right. 10 years of not making the postseason isn’t the same as 10 years of being mediocre.

But even if he had the timeframe a bit wrong, Marshmallow’s point that every team has mediocre years is quite right. And bozo is still dead wrong.

By: 1943mrmojorisin1971

1943mrmojorisin1971 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:41:39 +0000

He’ll probably get a wing in the HoD named after him one day.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:38:03 +0000

marshmallows – if you will allow me to clarify something.

In 1980 the Yankees lost the ALCS – But finished the season with 103 wins
In 1981 the Yankees lost the World Series
In 1982 through 1993 – I will refer to the “dark” period in Yankee baseball. Not because they played poorly in all those years but because they missed the post season in all of them. But, having said that in those 12 seasons the Yankees finished no worse then 2nd in the AL East and won at least 90 games 3 times. So while it was a “dark” period, in my opinion it was far from mediocre. In fact if you look at the Yankees record for each of those years you could say the Yankees only played mediocre baseball in the years 1982 and then 1988 through 1992 (6 years total). All the other years the Yankees finished at least 10 games over .500 ball during that span.

In 1994 the MLB season was cut short by the strike. But it’s important to note the Yankees had the best record in the American League 70-43.

I need not describe the Yankees cumulative record starting from 1995 to the present time. We’re all pretty much familiar with that. I just like people to be accurate when they talk about the Yankees performance.

By: crispybasil

crispybasil — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:35:27 +0000

I could have looked it up, but why pass on the opportunity for a little interaction with the HBT commenters?

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:35:16 +0000

This. Sure, Boras has a high asking price, and Drew could be criticized for using Boras to get more money. But the Phillies knew that, drafted him anyway, and then lost out on six years of Drew because they didn’t want to spend an extra couple million.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:31:40 +0000

The hatred for Drew, explained!

1. He was very good, when everyone thought he’d be great.

2. He was injured a lot, when everyone thought he should “play through it” more.

3. Boras was his agent, resulting in the Phillies drafting him and not meeting his asking price. It also resulted in his using the opt-out in his contract wjth the Dodgers to (surprise!) opt out.

4. He didn’t exhibit strong emotions on the field, which led to him being described as passive and without “fire”.

Most of that’s off-the-field media-created bullshit, far as I’m concerned. The injuries were real and didn’t help. But he was an excellent player even with them, and it’s a shame he won’t be remembered that way.

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:29:58 +0000

He took a tremendous risk throwing himself back into the draft. I think he’s been vindicated.

If he had signed with the Phillies, you would have hated him even more (See: Abreu, Bobby).

By: thefalcon123

thefalcon123 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:28:59 +0000

I have some good friends who are big Phillies fans. They are smart, rational people. I’m beginning to think they are the only Phillies fans who are…

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:28:52 +0000

Stay classy.

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:27:52 +0000

No, it was the Phillies who look stupid. Instead of signing JD Drew, they put Ron Gant in the outfield in 1999 and 2000 for roughly $12 million.

The Phillies made a mistake.

By: kopy

kopy — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:24:13 +0000

I’m pretty sure the Pirates have never been mediocre.

By: sasquash20

sasquash20 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:18:07 +0000

I’m a phillies fan and he was a punk. I’ll continue to hate him for being a spoiled douche bag thank you very much.

By: sasquash20

sasquash20 — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:16:15 +0000

I’m sure his rep suffered when he wouldn’t sign with the Phillies. Total douche bag

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:12:02 +0000

Extra thumbs up for using “guff”.