Drew’s Clue

It's an interesting decision that Stephen Drew has. Sign with the Mets and start, or sign with the Red Sox and start … sometimes. 

It's an interesting decision for the Mets as well. The one whose choices contain: Sign Drew for two seasons and improve this season, or stick with Ruben Tejada for a season … hope he bounces back to his 2012 self … and then either keep him or go for a 2015 free agent if Tejada goes bust. The free agents for next season include Asdrubal Cabrera, and Hanley Ramirez. If the Mets make an offer for even two years, then any chance of signing Cabrera or Hanley ends.

The counter argument to this is two fold. First, why take a chance that the best options at shortstop get signed long term during the season? I say that more in relation to Ramirez than with Cabrera, especially with two of the top Indians prospects being shortstops. But it's tough to bank on that … especially with the fact that every year you wait gives teams who didn't have a need at shortstop this season a shot to grab him next season with a need arising. (Yankees … anyone?)

Second, and more importantly, how can you keep telling your fan base year after year that it's going to be next year that will bring spoils? We've heard for years that 2014 was going to be the year to spend. And it's been … okay. But not spectacular. (And if the PECOTA projections for '14 are to be taken seriously, then this off season has really been unspectacular.) To pass up a perfectly good stick at shortstop which would make Ruben Tejada your backup instead of Omar Quintanilla because next season's available shortstops might be better would certainly rub a few people the wrong way.

All that said, the reason we're all talking about Stephen Drew again makes me laugh:

The Mets have made an offer to free-agent shortstop Stephen Drew, WFAN host Mike Francesa said on the air on Tuesday. According to Francesa, the shortstop and the club are negotiating the length of the deal. "It's number of years, they've already made him an offer," Francesa said. "It's the number of years. They're fighting over the number of years. I know they have made him an offer … It's not the money. It doesn't matter if they did a refinance or not. They already offered him the money. It's a questions of years. They already made him an offer. They're fighting over years. I think they’re gonna sign Drew, I think they’re gonna sign him. I really do."

I know the off-season has been slow lately, but some of the things that send all of us into "BREAKING NEWS" mode is hilarious. Mike Francesa reports that the Mets have made an offer to Stephen Drew? Wait a second, I thought Mike Francesa wasn't a reporter. I forget who it was that told me that …

Oh yeah, it was Mike Francesa!

O’Keeffe: You’re obviously not a reporter.

Francesa: I’m not a reporter. I’m a sports-talk host.  

From the subject himself. The one time Francesa did report something he was spoon fed. So I wouldn't be so quick to order my Stephen Drew jersey quite yet. But then again, the Mets quick denial of this "report" may be a sign that something is actually happening. It's like a reverse juju. Weather report says 30 inches of snow, I break out the shorts. Weather report says mild day ahead, I get out my snow boots. And yet, the story was also refuted by independent sources. The moral of the story: Trust no one.