J D Drew

Outfielder J.D. Drew opted out of the final three years of his contract with the Dodgers on Thursday, forfeiting $33 million in a bet he can make more money by signing with another team. The decision blasted a gaping hole into a lineup already in need of reinforcement and scrambled the Dodgers' winter strategy three days before the start of the free-agent signing period.

He slipped into the visitors' clubhouse two hours before the first pitch Wednesday, as blank as a stare, as quiet as a sigh. J.D. Ghost. He was late because his knee was being examined, but few noticed. He would be sidelined for the next two games, but the Dodgers won both. He glided into the crowded room in the bowels of San Diego's Petco Park at 4:57 p.m., I wrote it down exactly, because it was the first time I had seen him in any clubhouse since Vero Beach. Three months earlier.

Ned Colletti is expected to meet with J.D. Drew this week at Dodger Stadium, and somebody should remind the new general manager to take extreme caution when shaking hands with the outfielder. A pat on the shoulder is not advised, either. Drew traveled from his rural Georgia home Tuesday to make an appointment today with Dodger physicians Frank Jobe and Norman Zemel. He missed the second half of last season because of a broken left wrist, and had surgery in September on his right wrist.

J.D. Drew took the Dodgers by surprise after the 2006 season when he opted out of the final three seasons of his five-year, $55-million contract and signed with the Red Sox. It turns out leaving L.A. was a good career move for the 11-year veteran -- he's making $3 million more per year with Boston, he won a World Series ring last season and he picked up the All-Star game most valuable player award on Tuesday.

It has been nearly four months since J.D. Drew elected to opt out of the final three years and $33 million of his contract with the Dodgers. But the soap opera that decision inspired continued Monday, with Drew saying he left because he didn't want to be traded and General Manager Ned Colletti saying Drew never asked for a no-trade clause. "We were looking for some job security," said Drew, who wound up signing a five-year, $70-million contract with the Boston Red Sox.

At the Red Sox team store across from Fenway Park, the Daisuke Matsuzaka T-shirts are flying off the shelves. Same thing at the shop next door, and at the store around the corner on Lansdowne Street, where the David Ortiz and Jason Varitek models also are selling well. The J.D. Drew T-shirts? Well, not so much. "Haven't sold too many of those," George Walters, who manages a small souvenir stand behind the third base line, said with a shake of his head.

BOSTON -- I did my part. I said hello to J.D. Drew, and although he didn't immediately fall to the ground and curl up into the fetal position, he didn't do anything to hurt the Angels in Game 1. Before Game 2, I sought him out again, figuring it'd be fun if together we made fun of the Dodgers, forgetting for a moment that Drew lacks a pulse. "That's me," he said, while mocking himself, the same old easy-going, lifeless talent that frustrated so many in L.A.

J.D. Drew will take a different tack to finding his swing this year. Instead of chasing it until he is ground to a nub, he'll let it come to him. The outfielder walked and singled in his first spring at-bats Friday, contributing to a 17-hit barrage in an 8-7 loss to the Atlanta Braves at Disney's Wide World of Sports. "Last year I hit way too much in the cages when I was struggling and it just made it worse," he said, referring to an 0-for-25 slump to start the season.

J.D. Drew has always had ample time to think. There's all that standing around in the outfield. There's all that laying around in the trainer's room. Maybe it's an unanticipated upside to the bewildering litany of injuries that have dotted his halting eight-year career. For the longest time, Drew filled the yawning gaps by contemplating his swing, a marvel of perfect mechanics and precise timing that once invited comparisons to Mickey Mantle.

The Dodgers will sell their 3 million tickets this season, to some of the most loyal customers in baseball. Fans raised on Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale do not ask their home team for slugfests, only victories. So two runs sounded mighty fine to the faithful Tuesday. The Dodger offense continued its disappearing act for most of the evening, but no one much cared when J.D. Drew singled home Kenny Lofton with the winning run in the ninth inning of a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.