Beating a dead horse named JD Drew

WEEI: Is Drew worth the contract? THEO: "What he’s done the first three years of that contract, just looking at straight free agent dollars — obviously you can’t compare him to an arbitration market, or a pre-arb player — what he’s done qualitatively and when you even factor in the amount he’s played over these three years, yeah, he’s come out to a tick more than $14 million per year."

The masses seem divided on Drew's true value. Red Sox fans that have been drinking the OBP kool-aid over the past few years love Drew and his .914 OPS... but others feel that the Sox should be getting more production for their right fielder, claiming that 68 RBI just ain't cutting it.

So, at the risk of beating a dead horse, a took a look at some comparable right fielders, bot statistically and financially. Here's what I found:

Drew made $14M in 2009 and will make $14M again in 2010 and 2011. That's $4M above the average based on the players listed above, so is Drew getting over paid?

The short answer is yes, when you consider that Drew was above average in just three categories: home runs, slugging and OPS. Drew is not Ichiro, but you would expect a better average for your $14M... and the 24 home runs are nice, but like David Ortiz, most were "non-impact" ding dongs... hence the 68 RBI.

Bottom Line: Nick Markakis might be the best right fielder in baseball right now and Baltimore gave him $66M over 6 years. Drew will be 34 next month, so maybe Jermaine Dye (36 in Jan.) isa better comparable. Dye also made $11M this season and posted very similar numbers to Drew. Drew had a much better average and OPS... but is that worth and extra $3M?

I say no, but Theo says yes.

Drew is gonna make $14M in 2010 and there's nothing we can do about it... but the Red Sox need to make some changes if they want another ring in the near future and you have to wonder if those extra few million could be the difference between keeping Alex Gonzalez at short in 2010 or extending Josh Beckett next offseason - just to name a few examples.