Tuesday, March 3

Nancy Drew...


I'm a what have you done for me lately kind of guy, so naturally JD Drew drives me insane.

Yesterday Drew went back to Boston to get an injection in his back. Apparently the injection was "precautionary" according to Francona. Drew came into camp complaining about his back saying it was still stiff, same old song and dance. No word on what the injection was. If this is the start of something bigger I'm a little worried.

I know a lot of people come to his defense because of his playoff performances in 2007 and 2008 and last June when Ortiz was on the DL. That I'll grant you, however overall I've never felt good when Drew steps up the plate. If I bet you $1 every game that he'd ground out to second base at least twice I'd be sitting on a mountain of $1 bills.

If Drew misses significant time this year I don't feel nearly as good about our back up options as I did last year. Theo signed Rocco Baldelli to be the 4th outfielder, and Mark Kotsay is a 5th option, maybe the 4th depending on Rocco. Last year when Drew was out Crisp was in center and Ellsbury played right.

Let's say Drew does go on the DL in '09 (which I guarantee will happen) and misses a month, similar to last year. Kotsay is coming off back surgery and with Rocco we still don't know how he'll respond to his mitrochrondrial disorder. I don't have a lot of faith in Baldelli's ability to play back to back games, especially once the season gets in full swing.

We'll see how everything plays out; hopefully Drew and the Sox are just being overly cautious because they realize their back up options aren't as solid as they were last year.

ITM News and Notes:

-Brad Penny's start on Thursday will be pushed back so he can build up more strength in his shoulder. The problem has nothing to do with the injury from last year according to the Sox. Penny is still projected to be the 5th starter and be ready for the season.

-Julio Lugo was scratched from the lineup today with apparent food poisoning. I would just like to say I was at home last night and no where near the Fort Myers area.

-That said ITM will travel to Fort Myers on Friday to cover the Red Sox down in spring training. We'll have updates from Spring Training and hopefully get to talk to some players or members of the organization. We'll see how it all plays out.

3 comments:

Tim Murphy said...

I should add Drew is scheduled to take BP on Thursday and play Friday vs the Marlins.

DVicino said...

I've been trying to be optimistic about JD...I really have...his long term health for the season means a lot for this team....so I hope this is more of a proactive measure by the Sox to ensure they get that.

Anonymous said...

Nobody grounds out to second base like JD Drew!

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