As a Red Sox fan I have heard nothing but the complaints of JD Drew's contract and how much he earns. Complaints about low homer totals, batting averages under .280 and the injuries. When we look at Fangraphs though Drew has not been as bad an investment as most would think.In 2007 J.D. Drew had his worst season since 2002 as he accrued a wOBA of .342 and with a poor defensive year he was worth only 1.3 WAR. This converted to dollar value was only $5.5 million while he earned $14 million. He played in 140 games although he dealt with the usual Drew injuries. This start put him off on the wrong foot with Red Sox fans.
In 2008 though Drew was quite a force although he only played in 109 games. His wOBA was .400 and that added 25 batting runs above replacement. His defense was also back up adding 6.3 runs above replacement. Adding it all together he added 4.1 WAR in only 109 games and was worth $18.6 million while earning $14 million.
So far this season Drew has played in 59 games and again showing his skills at getting on base and helping the team. He has an wOBA of .377 and has earned 8.3 runs above replacement while batting and his defense has earned 1.8 runs so far. This gives him a WAR of 1.5 in those 59 games. As of June 21 he has earned $6.8 million and with more than half the season to go he should top the $14 million he will earn without any major injuries.
So let's assume he gets 120 GP and reaches a earned value of $14+ million his 3 year value to the Red Sox would be $38.1 million while he has earned $42 million. If you add in the amount of value he added in the 2007 playoffs he has easily topped his value earned to the Red Sox. Drew is one of those players that fans not appreciating sabermetrics will think is not adding to the team, but he has been behind only Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis in value for 2008 and 2009.
He may have had a decent enough 2008 but he's still played worse than he's paid. You can't really say 'add in the 07 postseason and he's made up for the 3+ mil disparity' because all the players get postseason bonuses anyway. Add all that cash in with his salary and he's still under-performing.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, and he had a bonus clause in his contract for making the All-Star team in 08.
ReplyDeleteNot true. He did not have a "decent" 2008, he was worth $4.6 million more than he was paid, which was very good.
ReplyDeleteYour correct about playoff salaries, but Julio Lujo also got the same pay as Drew so I can say Drew was worth more than some others who got the same pay.
As of today Drew was paid 32 million dollars(2009 included so far) and has earned 30.9 million.
That bonus clause is for $50,000 per all star game. So I wouldn't worry about that.
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