Did the Red Sox Tamper With JD Drew?

Earlier today, we told you about Red Sox OF JD Drew being persuaded by his agent Scott Boras to opt out of his Dodgers contract in favor of seeking a new one with the Red Sox. Drew now says he's disappointed by some of the disparaging remarks made by Dodgers GM Ned Colletti. Of course DL Drew has the right to be disappointed here. After all, how could you possibly blame Colletti for being upset that a player suddenly opted out of what was an already inflated contract? Certainly that wouldn't be fair at all, oh no, not in the least bit.

Anywho, there were talks around the league during the Winter Meetings in December that Scott Boras had tampered with the Red Sox and that's why he persuaded Drew to opt out of his deal. As I said, who suddenly opts out of a deal that has $33 million guaranteed? The Dodgers were considering pursuing the case but decided against it.

I still can't figure out why they wouldn't pursue the case. Isn't it suspcious that Boras was in negotiations with the Red Sox regarding Dice K right around the same time? I mean seriously, how did that conversation go?

Red Sox: If we get Dice K, we'd sure like some defense behind him in the outfield, and a good bat too.

Boras: Why, what's wrong with Wily Mo in right?

Red Sox: Wily Mo's nice, but he's no JD Drew.

Boras: You're right, he's no JD Drew.

Red Sox: But what if we were talking JD Drew?

Boras: Well, JD would need more than 33 million reasons to consider Boston.

Red Sox: What if we gave him 70 million reasons...in five years.

Boras: Then we'll have to take a look. I know JD has an opt-out clause, let me talk to him and see what he says. After I get him to say yes, we'll conveniently wait until the middle of the Winter Meetings to announce the deal, so we don't raise any suspicions. OK?

Red Sox: Deal. Now back to Dice K....

You get my drift? I'm disappointed the Dodgers didn't pursue the case, but I figure they knew they'd have to deal with Boras in the future, and bringing him up on tampering charges probably wouldn't be too helpful in future negotations. That is, unless Boras gets hit by a bus or something. (now who would wish for something like that?)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

3-06-2007 @ 8:55PM

Andrew said...

I think the Dodgers didn't pursue this case because they didn't have one -- tampering is awfully difficult to prove even if it did occur. The decision to opt out must have been a pretty simple one for Drew. He shouldn't be bitter, but neither should Ned Colletti. The opt-out clause was in his contract, it was perfectly in his right to go and get more money, and with the way contracts went this winter, it looks like he made a great choice.

As for the Red Sox, they've been interested in Drew for awhile, so I think the connection to Matsuzaka is somewhat specious.

3-07-2007 @ 11:33AM

Joe said...

You may not like Scott Boras, but give him a little credit for knowing something about where the market was going to be this winter for players with Drew's ability. Just maybe that's why he negotiated the opt-out clause in the first place, to have his client in position to take advantage if the market changed. If anything, the Dodgers were idiots for agreeing to the player option and now they want to blame someone else for their mistake.

And there's one small problem with your timeline; Drew was already a free agent before anyone knew who would be given the rights to negotiate with Matsuzaka. Drew opted out of his contract withe the Dodgers on November 9th. The announcement that the Red Sox had won the bidding rights to Matsuzaka came on November 14th, and they didn't get into serious negotiations with Boras for nearly a month after that. But hey, don't let the facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory!

3-07-2007 @ 12:47PM

Shea said...

This is complete and utter absurdity. You are an imbecile. This offseason was shaping up to lay down some ridiculous paydays, and Drew (certainly Boras did) had to know he was due some of that. Only a complete and utter idiot wouldn't see that he could do better than $11M AAV.

On top of that, he's a down-home guy and religious person, and living in the absolute hell-hole that is LA for most of the year cannot have been fun. I bet he'd have taken a pay cut to get away from those people.