Rich, Talented, and Unemployed

As we approach the New Year and continue to take stock of a very eventful off-season, a couple of realities sink in: (1) The Sox still have no closer; (2) Mark Loretta and Trot Nixon are still unemployed; and (3) Technically, so is J.D. Drew.
Actually, the list of former Red Sox second basemen who are unemployed is pretty long, and includes Mark Bellhorn, Pokey Reese, Rey Sanchez, Damian Jackson, and Jose Offerman. I can't believe nobody can find a job for Jose. For pete's sake, the Angels just threw $6.5 million at Shea Hillenbrand. No love for the Offerman?

It's become a weird market for secondary players. After a couple of weeks of speculating that Loretta might end up at first base for the Yankees, it's been quiet. Quality players like Trot and Aubrey Huff continue to wait for the phone to ring. Other guys like Sammy Sosa, Juan Gonzalez, Bernie Williams, B.J. Surhoff, Shannon Stewart, Raul Mondesi, Cliff Floyd, Carl Everett, and Steve Finley are hoping for one more shot at a regular gig.

And how concerned should we be about J.D. Drew? I can't imagine that his health issues are as serious as all that- he was pretty productive last year, and we didn't see a major dropoff in August or September. The Sox were confident enough to offer a big contract. This has got to be an issue of them getting exactly the right out-clause in the contract should he totally fall apart in 2007 or 2008, and also perhaps to let the rapid-fire news cycle forget about him for a little while. The deal will be finalized early on in the new year, hopefully to slightly diminished expectations. I think that Drew still has a decent shot to pleasantly surprise the Fenway Faithful.