Trot Nixon is departing the Red Sox after spending his entire baseball career (13 seasons) with the Boston Red Sox. Nixon, sporting a career .278/.366/.478 line, is off to the Cleveland Indians, signing a one-year, $3 million deal. A right-fielder who primarily platoons because he cannot hit left-handed pitching, Nixon should fit in well with a team that also boasts David Dellucci and Jason Michaels, also platooners while also getting away from Boston’s right field, known as a “second center field” with horrible sun glare. Only entering his age 33 season, Nixon has been plagued by injuries for the past four seasons, but will always be remembered in Boston as a gritty, hardworking, down to earth, dirt dog that defined the Red Sox for the past decade.
Nixon slipped to .268/.373/.394 last year with his power completely abandoning him. The Red Sox plan on replacing him with J.D. Drew, and while Drew is a near certainty to out-perform Nixon on the field, Drew has nothing on Nixon’s sheer will and determination. He will be missed, and I will remember him for his clutch play both in the field and at the plate. His Labor Day shot against the Philadelphia Phillies, his 2003 ALDS game-winner, his World Series two-run double that ended the scoring of the 2004 World Series … we will always remember Christopher Trotman Nixon, and best of luck in Cleveland.
Side note: Read this and thank me later. It’s such an excellent column.
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