It was a love-hate relationship at best, that of J.D. Drew’s tenuous two seasons as the Dodgers right fielder.

If you recall, the Dodgers signed the (then) 29-year-old Tallahassee, FL native to a five-year / $55 million contract on Dec. 23, 2004. But in the fine print of that Scott Boras-crafted deal was an opt-out clause after two season, which the oft-injured right fielder chose to exercise, thus catching Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti completely off guard – and let me tell you, Colletti was not happy.

“He wants out, he can have out,” said Colletti at the time. “He’s moving on, we’re moving on. We’ll find players who like playing here. If he doesn’t want to be here, he has the right to leave, and he’s exercising that right.”

There isn’t a Dodger fan alive who will ever forget this cluster during Game-1 of the 2006 NLDS when Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca tagged out Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew at home plate – on the same play. (Photo credit – Suzy Allman)

J.D.’s contentious departure from L.A. caused the Dodgers to do two things that they really didn’t want to do: it caused (then) Dodgers owner Frank McCourt to slam the door on any future dealings with Scott Boras (for a couple years anyway), and it forced Colletti into the premature panicked signing of weak-throwing center fielder Juan Pierre to an insane five-year / $44 million contract. It wasn’t until new ownership stepped in before the hard feelings between Colletti and Boras finally subsided, which eventually led to the signings of Hyun-jin Ryu and Alex Guerrero, and minor leaguers Corey Seager, Julio Urias and Chris Reed (among others).

And then there’s J.D.’s younger brother Stephen Drew.

Stephen was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round (15th overall pick) of the 2004 MLB First Year Player Draft out of Florida State University. He was immediately put on the fast-track and made his MLB debut with the Dbacks in July of 2006 where he immediately found success as their everyday shortstop. Drew not only hit .271 with 65 home runs and 276 RBIs in his first five seasons with the Snakes, but he had excellent range, an above average fielding percentage and extremely quick hands on defense.

And then disaster struck. On July 20, 2011, Drew was involved in a violent home plate collision with Milwaukee Brewers catcher Carlos Gomez that took Drew out for the season with a severely broken right ankle that required surgery and took Gomez out for three months with a broken left collarbone. It was a collision that, along with the Buster Posey collision, eventually led MLB to adopting rule 7.13 – the home plate collision rule.

Drew attempted a comeback in 2012 with the Dbacks but he was clearly not yet 100% healed causing Dbacks general manager Kevin Towers to trade him to the Oakland A’s on August 3, 2014. Unfortunately, Drew didn’t fair much better with the A’s and became a free agent at the end of the season.

Believing that Drew might return to his early career form, the Red Sox signed him to a one-year / $9.5 million contract, but he managed to hit only .253 on the season. Under the advice of his agent (yes, Scott Boras), Drew rejected the Red Sox $14.1 million qualifying offer thinking that he would be a much sought-after free agent shortstop. Boy was he wrong. The now 31-year-old Drew went unsigned until May 20, 2014, when he finally agreed to a prorated one-year / $10 million contract back with the Red Sox. Drew allegedly later told teammates that he regretted not accepting the Red Sox qualifying offer (ya think?). Drew hit a pathetic .176 in the 39 games in which he appeared with the defending World Series champions. He was subsequently traded to the rival New York Yankees at the July 31 trade deadline but his downward spiral continued in the Bronx where he hit .150 in his 46 games with the Evil Empire.

Although Stephen Drew is known more for his glove than his bat, he hit .289 with four home runs in the 43 games that he played at Dodger Stadium. (Photo credit – Matt Stone)

And here we are heading into Day-2 of the 2014 Winter Meetings in San Diego and Stephen Drew remains an unsigned free agent. There was no $14.1 million qualifying offer, there was no prorated $10 million offer, and in all likelihood the soon-to-be 32-year-old right-handed throwing / left-handed hitting younger brother of J.D. Drew will be lucky to receive a one-year / $7 million(ish) contract, which is something that the Dodgers might want to think about.

Simply put, signing Stephen Drew to a one-year deal could prove to be a relatively low-cost / potentially high-reward solution to the Dodgers temporary shortstop dilemma. Should Drew continue to struggle during the first two or three months of the season, the Dodgers could then consider bringing up Corey Seager (who turns 21 on April 27) – and that is something that every Dodger fan is looking forward to.