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Don’t let the Boston Red Sox‘ walk-off victory against the Minnesota Twins on Monday fool you; Stephen Drew has no business as the starting shortstop in Boston.
Yes, Drew’s walk-off RBI in the 11th inning was impressive, as was his 4-for-5 performance, but this game was more the exception to the rule. And that rule is that Drew is a terrible, overpaid player who is getting by on his family name.
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Let’s keep Monday’s performance in perspective. He was hitting against Vance Worley. The Twins’starter is a right-hander while Drew has the advantage of hitting from the left side of the plate. Additionally, this only raised his average to .225.
Drew’s ineptitude at the plate this year has been just as advertised, as he hit a combined 12 home runs in the past two seasons. For Drew to be taken seriously, he needs to put together consecutive games in which he picks up his teammates and produces at the plate. After his monster game Monday, he followed it up with a pedestrian 1-for-3 on Tuesday in the Red Sox’ 6-1 loss.
Pedro Ciriaco is simply out of the question. Anyone advocating that he start is overlooking his four errors and .240 batting average in limited playing time.
Meanwhile Jose Iglesias, the player who should be starting in Boston, is riding the bench in Pawtucket. The gold glove-caliber player was supposed to be the future for Boston at shortstop, but the team’s utter lack of confidence in his bat is having a serious effect on his play.
By signing Drew, the team was sending a message that he had to learn how to hit, which he did in limited time in April. Then Drew came back from an injury and Iglesias was rewarded with a demotion to the minors.
Understandably the normally quiet Iglesias has seen his confidence and attitude affected by this. While David Ortiz was in Pawtucket, Iglesias tore the cover off the ball, uncharacteristically hitting three home runs. Many believe that Ortiz, who also had to prove himself to get where he is now, was a positive influence and mentor for the young player.
However, since Ortiz has come to the majors, there has been a sharp decline in Iglesias’ attitude and performance. It culminated this week when manager Gary DiSarcina benched him for what is believed to be a lazy throw that resulted in an infield hit.
While I can’t defend Iglesias for letting his attitude affect his play, I can partially blame management for failing to allow performance and merit alone to determine who the starter will be.
Who should be the Red Sox starting shortstop? Drew or Iglesias? Feel free to leave a comment to keep the conversation going.
Aidan Kearney also writes for his own blog aidanfromworcester.com. Follow him on Twitter @aidanfromworc.
