December 22, 200421 yr ESPN.com news services The Los Angeles Dodgers quickly moved on in the hours after they withdrew from the proposed three-team Randy Johnson trade, agreeing in principle with free-agent outfielder J.D. Drew on a five-year, $55 million contract. J.D. Drew Right Field Atlanta Braves Profile 2004 SEASON STATISTICS GM HR RBI R SB AVG 145 31 93 118 12 .305 The Bergen Record (N.J.), citing an industry source, reported the deal in Wednesday's editions. Drew must pass a physical before the deal can be consummated. Because of the holiday looming, an announcement might not come for several days. The Dodgers have been pursuing Drew, who reportedly turned down a three-year, $25 million offer to re-sign with the Atlanta Braves, ever since they lost third baseman Adrian Beltre. Drew hit .305 with 31 homers, 93 RBI and 12 stolen bases last season, the first time he played a full season without going on the disabled list. Beltre, who hit 48 home runs last season, signed a $64 million, five-year contract with the Seattle Mariners on Friday. The Dodgers' negotiations with Drew heated up after a proposed 10-player trade, with Randy Johnson as its centerpiece, fell apart Tuesday. The New York Yankees would have received Johnson, and Los Angeles would have obtained right-hander Javier Vazquez from New York along with two top prospects, catcher Dioner Navarro and third baseman Eric Duncan. The Dodgers also would've gotten pitcher Mike Koplove from Arizona. Late Tuesday, the Yankees criticized Los Angeles for "reneging" on the deal. "As we sit here right now, the deal is no more," Dodgers general manager Paul DePodesta said during a conference call. "I've been saying all along that we weren't going to do the deal unless it made sense for this club in 2005, and that was not the case."
December 22, 200421 yr They didn't overpay at all. :rollseyes I don't see how this was a financial possibility for them considering they didn't move Green.
December 22, 200421 yr Dodgers, Drew reportedly agree to $55 mil deal The Los Angeles Dodgers quickly moved on in the hours after they withdrew from the proposed three-team Randy Johnson trade, agreeing in principle with free-agent outfielder J.D. Drew on a five-year, $55 million contract. The Bergen Record (N.J.), citing an industry source, reported the deal in Wednesday's editions. Drew must pass a physical before the deal can be consummated. Because of the holiday looming, an announcement might not come for several days. [More in URL] Talk about overpaying for someone that has had ONE healthy year. Granted it was good but wow.. Sounds like the Dodgers are desperate IMO.
December 22, 200421 yr They didn't overpay at all. :rollseyes I don't see how this was a financial possibility for them considering they didn't move Green. 640505[/snapback] They obviously have more money then they lead on to.
December 22, 200421 yr did depodesta just try to make cashman and arizona waste their time with him so that beane and his other boyfriends could make moves?
December 22, 200421 yr They didn't overpay at all. :rollseyes If Drew can stay healthy, they didn't overpay. That's the problem, though. Drew gets hurt bad every other year. I don't see how this was a financial possibility for them considering they didn't move Green. Because they're the Dodgers, they just dropped $14 million of payroll by not bringing back Beltre, Perez, and trading LoDuca, and only the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, and Braves pull in more loot than they do.
December 22, 200421 yr My guess as to what happened... 1: LA had a deal worked out with Borass yesterday (maybe it was this exact offer, or less) and Borass wanted to shop Drew around to Baltimore or Detroit to see if they could top off that offer, which pissed off Depodesta 2: Depodesta, sensing he will lose Drew because Detroit would outbid their offer, calls off the mega 3 way deal because without signing Drew that deal doesn't make sense for LA. 3: After he calls off the deal, Borass comes back to him and says either a: we accept the earlier deal we had or b: Detroit offered X amount of dollars and years, to get Drew to LA a 5/55 package is needed. Depodesta then realises he needs to do something PR wise to make it look like he's trying to win and signs the 5/55 deal.
December 22, 200421 yr This could turn out to be a huge blessing for the Detroit Tigers, as could the other deals that have fallen through. Although, yes, it's the climate to give big money contracts to anybody who had a semi-good year last year, a lot these players getting these 10+ million dollar contracts have been one hit wonders, or are aging. Detroit is in a rebuilding process. They do not need to get bogged down with these long term contracts and have them totally backfire. If you look at Drew's stats up to this point, they're comparable to Bobby Higginson pre-2000, when the Tigers gave him a huge contract for 5 years. What happened? The Tigers ended up scratching their heads around 2002 asking themselves why they signed this guy for so much. Now they are counting the days until they are free from his contract. It's a guessing game, Drew could end up being a monster, or he could end up only playing 100 games a year and batting .260. Not to wish failure on someone, but hey, for my sake it will make me feel a lot better if he doesn't pan out.
December 22, 200421 yr They overpayed for him. He never played over 145 games in a season! You don't pay someone over 10 million for 5 years when they never play a full season!
December 23, 200421 yr Look I'm a Cards fan so I would know what J.D. Drew is.. He showed what he was capable of last year. That's what I was afraid of.. But.. just because he was healthy for the most part one year does not mean he should earn 11 million a year. If he's healthy for 5 years and puts up numbers like he did last year certainly he can get that much. Good pickup for the Dodgers but dont be surprised if he misses a bunch of games. Can Drew have back to back non serious injury years? Remains to be seen.
December 23, 200421 yr good going Dodgers :thumbup Kent and Drew could be a good 3-4 punch in their lineup
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