2005-2009 Roster: Where's JD Drew?

As I continue to evaluate the 2005-2009 roster, a commenter made an interesting point over at River Ave Blues.

Tripp says:

April 18th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

No love for J.D. Drew? 5 years 80 million for an average right fielder?

I'm not gonna lie here, I thought about putting JD Drew on the roster. His injury history and horrible 2007 season seemed to make him somewhat of a worthwhile candidate.

However, I did not go with JD Drew for various reasons.

1. His 2008 season was fantastic (.280, 19 HR, .408 OBP)

2. The Red Sox won the World Series in 2007 in large part because of Drew (he hit .333 in the World Series)

3. Even when Drew was hurt in 2007, he still came up large with a grand slam in game 6 of the ALCS. Huge home run; no way around it.

4. The contract is actually 5 years/$70 million, not $80 million. If that makes any difference at all.

So in the end, it's quite laughable that JD Drew is the Red Sox highest paid player. There is no way that should be possible. But given his performance thus far, it's impossible to say the Drew has been a disaster. One bad season, one very good season. It's likely that the value of the duration of Drew's contract will come down to whether or not Drew can stay healthy.