Leaving the Dodgers is Drew’s prerogative

I MIGHT’VE suggested a heart transplant was in order for J.D. Drew, or at least a nod to the crowd on occasion to let everyone know he was still alive.

We certainly had our differences. We talked for two years about him disappearing before games and hiding from the media glare that comes with being paid like a big star. I told him I thought he lacked passion and he said it was a long season and it was more important to pace his emotions.

I challenged him repeatedly, prodding him to show more life, contending the team’s most talented player -- if fired up -- could raise his game another notch.

He told me in August he was going to remain with the Dodgers for the next three years so I could continue to tease him, an out-of-character gesture on his part to keep things light and loose.

He told the Orange County Register in September he would be staying with the Dodgers for the next three years.

When the Dodgers got swept in the playoffs, the fans made it clear they weren’t enamored of Drew’s lack of production. He received more boos than cheers as the season came to a close.

Dodgers executives and Manager Grady Little had let it be known they weren’t pleased by Drew’s measured approach to the game, Little at one point instructing him “to strike out” to maybe make him more aggressive at the plate.

In November, the Dodgers got word Drew was exercising a clause in his contract allowing him to leave the team and become a free agent.

When he did so, General Manager Ned Colletti sounded wounded, while Times columnist Bill Plaschke and most Dodgers fans seemed pleased.

Colletti went on a conference call with the media and said, “I know J.D. is a spiritual guy and a man of his word. I guess he changed his word.”

As a rule, no one will say it with their name attached. But there is a feeling in the sports world that a player who talks openly about being a Christian will be too soft to compete all out, and it’s well known Drew is a devout Christian.

And when you have the laid-back personality that Drew has and you’re a Christian, it’s the explanation -- along with his penchant for getting hurt -- that you hear most often around baseball when it comes to explaining Drew’s inability to live up to expectations.

Colletti’s comment about Drew being a “spiritual guy” implied the Christian was a hypocrite, leaving no room for the possibility that Drew just changed his mind. Obviously, Colletti doesn’t subscribe to the notion of turning one’s cheek.

It was Drew’s prerogative to change his mind, the Dodgers giving him that power when they signed him to a contract two years ago with an escape clause. And yet Colletti chose to attack his character with it. Some people get married and promise to be with their partner all their life, and statistics suggest a number of people change their minds.

AS FOR Plaschke, the award-winning No. 1 columnist in the country on most days, it’s nice to know that, like a ballplayer, he can strike out on occasion.

Plaschke wrote that Drew “quit” on the Dodgers, which I’m guessing is how most fans feel now because Drew won’t be wearing Dodger blue again. It’s the classic “good riddance” line, the same one Plaschke used several years ago when Gary Sheffield wanted out of L.A.

When Sheffield said “trade me” because he wanted more money, Plaschke scribbled, “And the Dodger fans are mad? Me? I’m celebrating.”

Two years later Plaschke wrote he was watching TV and, “I pushed the mute button while considering my endorsement of the Dodgers’ trade of Sheffield to the Braves for [Brian] Jordan and [Odalis] Perez, then reached a carefully considered conclusion. You fool.”

As you can see, sometimes when he writes, there is no arguing with him.

WHEN PLASCHKE got the news Drew was leaving L.A., he wrote, “I’ll confess, I’m having a hard time writing this while doing a butter-churn dance, high-fiving strangers and digging up Christmas music.”

Plaschke doing the butter-churn dance sounds like something we’ll see sooner or later on Around the Screaming Horn.

As for Sheffield, he’s done just fine since he made the business decision to leave town. He just got another contract extension when he was traded to Detroit.

It’s just business. It’s why the Dodgers exercised the option in their contract with Eric Gagne not to pay him $12 million next season, thereby setting him free. Remember when it was inconceivable to think the Dodgers would ever set Gagne free. I guess they changed their mind.

Colletti might be steamed at Drew -- with Plaschke and the fans piling on -- but Drew did nothing wrong, except maybe not smile enough while in a Dodgers uniform.

Like anyone who has options, Drew was entitled to change his mind, and apparently did. Whether Drew made the right decision is another issue open to debate. Who is going to give him $33 million for the next three years?

I have a suspicion Drew’s agent, Scott Boras, already knows the answer to that question, and with so few quality free agents available, Drew becomes one of the most attractive. The Dodgers would consider themselves lucky to sign a player with the skills that Drew possesses.

Say what you want about his history for getting hurt, but Drew played in 146 games -- second most on the team last season -- led the Dodgers in RBIs and tied for most home runs.

Despite his numbers, I thought Drew could do more, and poked him. But anyone who suggests the Dodgers are better off now because they won’t have Drew is forgetting how difficult it is to find power in a game no longer dominated by steroids. Drew’s loss to the Dodgers is huge.

And yet, it was just business.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.