Stephen Drew's status with Mets a mystery

Stephen Drew's free agency saga continues to drag on, with last week's reports of an approaching deal with the Mets having been met with denials and contradictions. Marc Craig of Newsday says the weekend hasn't done anything to clear up the situation:at all:

One person with knowledge of the Mets' thinking said the sides haven't been doing much talking lately and that "there has not been much dialogue at all" about Drew. But another source challenged that notion, saying the sides have engaged in "continuous discussion."

So far, we haven't seen the qualifying offer keep a player off a major league roster into the regular season. The Red Sox would very much hope that Drew does not break the trend, as they stand to gain a draft pick so long as Drew signs somewhere before the draft itself in June.

Chances are that someone will give in, but it may be another month until that happens, particularly with Scott Boras trying to insist on an opt-out for Drew after the first year of his next contract. It will certainly have to wait that long if Drew is going to end up making a return to Boston, as Ben Cherington himself has acknowledged nothing is likely to happen between the two sides before the beginning of spring training:

Cherington on Drew: Out of respect to Stephen Drew we've kept the dialogue going but don't expect anything to happen between now&start of ST

— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) February 9, 2014

It's difficult to imagine Drew's price getting so low that the Red Sox and no other team bite, but with nothing much else going on, there's little reason for Cherington and co. not to stay engaged.

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