How many guaranteed years would you be comfortable with?
You're Sandy Alderson. You've decided that playing Ruben Tejada as your starter this year is too risky, and you're ready to pay Stephen Drew to join the Mets. But what's your limit?
For the purposes of this poll, let's say Drew would earn the average of a few comparable shortstops—Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, J.J. Hardy, Elvis Andrus, and Jhonny Peralta—per season. That's roughly $13 million per year. Drew isn't in Ramirez's league at the position and might not compare to Andrus, depending on how you value shortstop defense, but you're dealing with Scott Boras, and he's convinced you that Drew is worth $12 million annually.
Shortstops don't grow on trees, but last season was Drew's best since 2010. Perhaps 2011 and 2012 were only down years because of his freak injury (video, not for the easily nauseated), and the 31-year-old has a few more top-notch seasons in store. So what's your absolute maximum guaranteed years for Drew?