Boston Red Sox still interested in Stephen Drew

WEEI’s Rob Bradford is reporting that the Boston Red Sox are still interested in signing 29-year-old shortstop Stephen Drew to help fill the hole at the position. Drew is looking to bounce back from injuries, so he may never be the same 5-WAR player that he once was in the 2010 season with the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, he does bring high reward to the table despite the risks involved and was consistently one of the best shortstops in the Majors from 2008 to 2011.

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The Oakland Athletics are interested in re-signing Drew, and the New York Yankees are also looking to sign Drew for the 2013 season due to injuries in the infield. He will likely take a one-year deal to help vault his stock heading into the next offseason, and I’m sure teams would rather give him a low-risk contract at one year. The Yankees might be the team to beat, because they are willing to give a large amount of money for one year due to injuries of their own.

The St. Louis Cardinals still want to shore up their middle infield after Marco Scutaro re-signed with the San Francisco Giants yesterday, and the Detroit Tigers are another team with interest in him.

Drew is not expected to choose the Yankees, because he wants to receive a full-time role with a team instead of just insurance for the Yanks. They would have to give Drew quite the sum of money in order to convince him to head over to the Big Apple, and Drew is a former star who is looking to get back to that level this season by getting back into a starting role.

I don’t see why the Red Sox would be interested in a risky proposition like Drew, because they can already take “risks” of their own with some of the young talent they have at short. It’s just not a deal Boston should be making at this point, especially with memories of J.D. Drew‘s contract still painfully etched in some fans’ minds.

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