J.D. Drew: Selective, or Passive?

J.D. Drew was brought to the Boston Red Sox by dint of his solid career on-base percentage: over eight and half seasons, Drew has posted a .389 career OBP, all the while slugging .498. He's also been hurt a lot, but let's not go there for now.

Instead, what has the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo all worked up this morning is Drew's seeming passivity at the plate. Instead of being his typical selective self, Drew seems to be actively passing (actively passing; not oxymoronic, nope) on pitches that might be productive hits, or so argues Cafardo:

Another criticism of Drew is that he's been too selective at the plate. One of the reasons general manager Theo Epstein and his staff were so enamored with Drew was his .393 on-base percentage entering the season. Drew seems to take that patience a little too far, often seeming passive and letting good pitches go by without offering, especially when the team needs a big hit.

"At points, you can be [too selective] but sometimes your at-bat isn't what you want it to be and you go back and watch it and you have a pitch that gets called a strike that's a ball and you see it again and you're right, it's a ball," Drew said. "That happens to everybody, but you have to be aggressive on the pitch you're looking for. [Joba Chamberlain] throws me a fastball at 98 miles per hour Tuesday night on the black. Well, I'm looking for a pitch I can do something with. I swing at that and I'm going to have a broken bat and pop up somewhere. But that's the kind of hitter I am: I know exactly what I'm looking for."

Drew hasn't been very good this season, and in the story he admits that he's looking forward to his second year in Boston already, which, while understandable, is no solace to Red Sox fans looking for production this year from the $13 million investment. Can you blame them?