As the MLB First-Year player draft draws closer, the story line of how the compensation draft pick attached to Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales affected their free agency is brought up again.
For those that don’t remember, players at the end of last year that declined the $14.1 million qualifying offer tendered by their previous clubs could go into free agency with a cost. That cost was a compensatory draft pick. Whichever team decided to sign a player who had a draft pick attached would forfeit their first-round draft pick. The players’ previous team would then get a sandwich pick in between the first and second rounds. Because of this, and because of contract demands thought to be a bit too steep, many teams shied away from Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales, viewed as decent, winning pieces, but not seen as impact players.
Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says that sources indicate that there are four teams who would be interested in signing shortstop Stephen Drew in approximately two weeks. In two weeks, after the First-Year player draft is over, Morales and Drew will no longer be tied to draft pick compensation and teams may sign them as they wish. No more knowledge is known about what teams are interested in the 31-year old, but just from observations, it looks like the Mets, Yankees, Tigers, and Red Sox could all be involved when the time comes.
Last year with Boston, Drew played in 124 games with Boston, all at shortstop, hitting .253/.333/.443 with 13 homers and 67 RBI. He was practically a non-factor in the Red Sox’ postseason run, hitting only .111, but his final hit was a home run that provided some insurance in the clinching game. He was mostly valued for his defense, especially in the World Series against St. Louis.