OT How Flipping Good was JD Drew?

Gary82

Gary82

Called Up to the Major Leagues
for us?

He may have had the best year in overall production of any Brave since 1990.

He only played in 145 games (the most in a season for his career) but his fWAR was 8.6. His OBP was .436 His wRC+ was 162. Plus, he was no slouch defensively either.

I couldn't find any other Brave matching or besting his single season WAR totals. Now, that's not the end all be all, but I felt it was an interesting topic for discussion.

If there's anyone on the team now that could match his numbers, it would be Heyward. He's just as five toolsy as JD.
 
It was a great year. Just a shame it cost us Wainwright and we didn't resign him. Drew was a heck of a talent. His year with us was one of the few where he was fairly healthy and played up to his talent level. I will say his UZR (defensive metrics) that year were a little inflated and thus his overall fWar. As I've noted before anyone that played to the left or right of Andruw in Atlanta saw their UZR take a huge up swing. For whatever reason Andruw made everyone look really good in that area.
 
thewupk said:
It was a great year. Just a shame it cost us Wainwright and we didn't resign him. Drew was a heck of a talent. His year with us was one of the few where he was fairly healthy and played up to his talent level. I will say his UZR (defensive metrics) that year were a little inflated and thus his overall fWar. As I've noted before anyone that played to the left or right of Andruw in Atlanta saw their UZR take a huge up swing. For whatever reason Andruw made everyone look really good in that area.
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Interesting point about Andruw. Taking a look at Sheffields numbers, he was not so bad (though not good) defensively the two years he was in Atlanta.
 
Gary82 said:
Interesting point about Andruw. Taking a look at Sheffields numbers, he was not so bad (though not good) defensively the two years he was in Atlanta.
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Yeah they were slightly below average but the years before and after were atrocious. There may have been a few outlier but I did a study on it a couple of years ago and nearly everyone with a decent enough sample of before and after play showed they had their best years in Atlanta.

On that note I would argue that Andruw's 2000 year was better. I'm a huge Andruw homer so it's not it's that much of a surprise. He was .5 WAR behind Drew in fWar and .1 behind him in bWar. Played in 162 games and was a 20-20 guy. JD had a monster offensive year and did it in less games but I just like Andruws overall body of work that year.
 
thewupk said:
Yeah they were slightly below average but the years before and after were atrocious. There may have been a few outlier but I did a study on it a couple of years ago and nearly everyone with a decent enough sample of before and after play showed they had their best years in Atlanta.

On that note I would argue that Andruw's 2000 year was better. I'm a huge Andruw homer so it's not it's that much of a surprise. He was .5 WAR behind Drew in fWar and .1 behind him in bWar. Played in 162 games and was a 20-20 guy. JD had a monster offensive year and did it in less games but I just like Andruws overall body of work that year.
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I prefer Andruw 2005. He should have won the MVP that year.
 
I know I forgot easily just how great Andruw was in the first 1/3 of his career, and I think most of us do as well. He was fantastic and showed so much potential, I think we take for granted how good he was. I just wish he would have been a little more willing in the middle part of his career to not try to jack everything out of the ballpark, as he had enough power that if we would have just taken nice easy swings he could have been a perenial .300 hitter, 30+ hr, 20 sb with all-time great defense.
 
Millwood1Hitter said:
I know I forgot easily just how great Andruw was in the first 1/3 of his career, and I think most of us do as well. He was fantastic and showed so much potential, I think we take for granted how good he was. I just wish he would have been a little more willing in the middle part of his career to not try to jack everything out of the ballpark, as he had enough power that if we would have just taken nice easy swings he could have been a perenial .300 hitter, 30+ hr, 20 sb with all-time great defense.
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Andruw is playing in Japan again this year and he's still trying to jack everything out of the park.
 
thewupk said:
It was a great year. Just a shame it cost us Wainwright and we didn't resign him. Drew was a heck of a talent. His year with us was one of the few where he was fairly healthy and played up to his talent level. I will say his UZR (defensive metrics) that year were a little inflated and thus his overall fWar. As I've noted before anyone that played to the left or right of Andruw in Atlanta saw their UZR take a huge up swing. For whatever reason Andruw made everyone look really good in that area.
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Seems that the Braves had hopes of locking him up for a long term deal since he was a Georgia boy, but he had drunk too deeply of the Scott Boras Kool-Ade and went strictly for the bigger deal. But that is a trait all of the Drews (except Tim, I suppose) seem to have. Mama and Daddy Drew apparently brought them up to be capitalists first and foremost.
He made $4.2 mil. for the Braves that year, but took a two-year, $20.8 Mil. deal from the hated Dodgers. Then he went to the Red Sox, spent most of the time on the DL counting his money while he cashed a five-year deal at $14 mil. per year.
 
Drew's 2004 season was probably the best all-around, five-tool years I can remember seeing for us. He was really a breathtaking player that year, and it was not hard to see why he garnered Mantle comparisons coming out of college. As beautiful a swing as you'll ever hope to see, remarkable speed on the bases and in the field without ever seeming to exert any effort, a rocket for an arm, a patient, sophisticated approach at the plate and power to spare. Chipper in 1999 is the only player who brought such a well-rounded skill set to the table (Chip stole 25 bases and was caught only three times), but even Chip couldn't compare to JD defensively.
 
Dalyn said:
Such a strong and accurate arm, too.
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Yeah. I remember that relay in San Diego with him and Giles I believe it was to gun down the tying runner at the plate with 2 outs in the 9th to win the game. That was an awesome game.
 
MadduxFanII said:
Drew's 2004 season was probably the best all-around, five-tool years I can remember seeing for us. He was really a breathtaking player that year, and it was not hard to see why he garnered Mantle comparisons coming out of college. As beautiful a swing as you'll ever hope to see, remarkable speed on the bases and in the field without ever seeming to exert any effort, a rocket for an arm, a patient, sophisticated approach at the plate and power to spare. Chipper in 1999 is the only player who brought such a well-rounded skill set to the table (Chip stole 25 bases and was caught only three times), but even Chip couldn't compare to JD defensively.
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You said it. There was a grace to JD. He never seemed riled or over exert himself. That year he did live up to the hype, but it's a shame he left and even bigger shame that he couldn't stay healthy.
 
rico43 said:
Seems that the Braves had hopes of locking him up for a long term deal since he was a Georgia boy, but he had drunk too deeply of the Scott Boras Kool-Ade and went strictly for the bigger deal. But that is a trait all of the Drews (except Tim, I suppose) seem to have. Mama and Daddy Drew apparently brought them up to be capitalists first and foremost.
He made $4.2 mil. for the Braves that year, but took a two-year, $20.8 Mil. deal from the hated Dodgers. Then he went to the Red Sox, spent most of the time on the DL counting his money while he cashed a five-year deal at $14 mil. per year.
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I can't fault any player for taking the money. If I were in that situation, I may have done the same. Your family is set for life and you get to live in LA.

Though, as a Braves fan, it sucks.
 
Drew was one of my favorite players that year until he ****ing stayed there on the bench in the playoffs when Furcal hit his big HR. Only player on the bench, if I remember correctly.
 
Dalyn said:
Drew was one of my favorite players that year until he ****ing stayed there on the bench in the playoffs when Furcal hit his big HR. Only player on the bench, if I remember correctly.
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Drew was an android. He could feel no pleasure.

Seriously, I forgot about that.
 
Drew liked hunting and fishing. That was about the extent of his passions. Baseball was a thing he did for a few months of the year. It clearly never gave him much pleasure.

He also struck me as unique even among baseball players for his lack of thoughtfulness and intelligence (off the field; on the field he was an incredibly smart player). And I actually think that helped him when he went to Boston. There were all these questions about how he'd handle the vicious Boston media, and the answer turned out to be that he didn't handle it because he didn't care. You have to listen to the radio to hear people screaming about you. You have to watch TV to see talking heads insult you. You actually have to read to know that Shaugnessey is mocking you in the newspaper.

JD just went to the park, played, then went home, polished his hunting rifles and forgot about everything else.
 
BorASS ruined Drews career. Drew should have been his own man but lets face it he wasn't. Drew should have stayed in ATL.
 
MadduxFanII said:
Drew liked hunting and fishing. That was about the extent of his passions. Baseball was a thing he did for a few months of the year. It clearly never gave him much pleasure.

He also struck me as unique even among baseball players for his lack of thoughtfulness and intelligence (off the field; on the field he was an incredibly smart player). And I actually think that helped him when he went to Boston. There were all these questions about how he'd handle the vicious Boston media, and the answer turned out to be that he didn't handle it because he didn't care. You have to listen to the radio to hear people screaming about you. You have to watch TV to see talking heads insult you. You actually have to read to know that Shaugnessey is mocking you in the newspaper.

JD just went to the park, played, then went home, polished his hunting rifles and forgot about everything else.
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That's great insight on JD. A strange cat but he really did make baseball look like a more beautiful game.

Having said that, I also feel like there's probably a dungeon in his house. Or that he has at least once murdered a hobo. Or both.
 
speaking of Furcal he just got hurt again. Marlins signed him in the offseason and he's hardly played. He been hurt the better part of the last four years. Kinda like JD Drew.
 
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