Another one of the mystical elite 2004 Red Sox squadron has left the fold. Christopher Trotman Nixon will be a Cleveland Indian next year to make way for J.D. Drew (if that deal ever happens and it doesn’t look closer than it did yesterday). So, no longer will we see a dirty, scruffy, hustle machine patrol the area closest to the Pesky Pole. Losing him was inevitable and even with Drew in limbo (how LOW will his contract GO), Trot is too hurt, is too inconsistent and is just a little too easy to replace. Everyone knew this was going to happen.Trot was one of the most underrated and overrated Sox players of this era. When you think about his play, his gung-ho, gutsy determination is always the first thing comes to mind. This is because it was the best thing he had going for him. Trot was a VERY average player. He never hit 30 homeruns, never got 100 RBI and his career average is below .280. This is a guy who HAD to give his all, because anything less would have been awful.
That being said… who else does that now? Who else puts it all out on the field and leaves nothing in the tank? It’s hard to find many millionaires who are willing to push that hard. Can you imagine if Manny tried as hard as Trot did every single day? He would be batting .400 with 70 homeruns a season. Now I’m not saying other guys don’t work hard… It’s just that Trot was going at 110% all the time.
This leads to another problem. When you burn the candle at both ends like that, it is going to get you hurt and Trot was a walking pile of injuries. He has missed some big chunks of time in almost every season. For a guy who so tough and wants it so bad, it must have killed him to be out with his bad back, hurt knees, busted leg and arm troubles. He defined the wounded warrior, but over all, it probably ended up hurting his numbers.
So is it even a loss statistically to see Trot move on? No. Nope. Not even a little. Drew can put up those numbers no problem. Is it a nostalgic and emotional loss? Yes sir. A HUGE one. Every major league game Trot has played in, he was going full blast, going non stop and wearing a Red Sox uniform. Every single game. That I will miss.
Good luck Mr. Trotski. See you May 28th when you are going to get the biggest round of applause of your life. You earned it.
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