Without looking, who was the only Red Sox player not to have a hit in last night’s 15-10 slugfest in Baltimore? Nope, not Josh Reddick pictured above.
Nope it would be JD Drew.
I know I’ve been tough on him this season but he’s been awful this year. He’s batting a whopping .222 this season. He was replaced by Darnell McDonald in the top of the eighth and McDonald walked and scored before hitting a two out, three RBI double later in the inning. Now McDonald is even worse than Drew with his .160 average so clearly he’s not the answer.
I’m going with making the case for Josh Reddick. Before you jump on me, I know that he’s a career .250 hitter prior to this year. But let’s be clear he’s a guy that Theo has not traded because he saw the upside. So even though he was a .250 hitter thus far, he’s only 26. Don’t most players start coming into their prime around this age?
Last night we had both him and Drew in the starting lineup even with the return of Carl Crawford in left as Ellsbury DH’d with Ortiz serving the first of his reduced, three game suspension. Also we saw Reddick batting fifth (the Ortiz spot). He had the winning run Sunday night in Tampa and homered last night, his fourth of the season.
I’m just saying that Drew is past his prime. He’ll likely retire at the end of this season and be remembered for one hit, his grand slam in 2007.
We all know Drew won’t be back next season. So why not start the transition and get Reddick in there on a regular basis. That way next year he’ll have experience to take the starting job from day one. Drew can be your 4th outfielder or the team can release him and cut their losses.
With the non-waiver trading deadline up on July 31st, I’m wondering if Drew will make it that far. Of course Theo could invent an injury (the Sox are known for it) and have Drew on the DL until September 1st when rosters expand to 40 players.
We’ll have to wait and see. But for now, I’m going with Reddick who is making a very strong case for himself.
