Sitting in the clubhouse before Monday's game against the Dodgers, new Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew talked about his decision to invoke the unorthodox opt-out clause that allowed him to escape his contract with his former employers. Saying it was a business decision, citing job security and not wanting to be traded as his primary reasons for employing the clause, Drew said he did not begin to consider the option until the 2006 season ended. "I knew there was an option there," Drew said. "I had been asked questions about that. I said, 'Hey, I hadn't thought about it. I honestly can't comment on it.' There was some times during the season when I had been asked about it. [The] last thing on my mind was thinking about an option during the offseason when we're trying to make the playoffs. "So, yeah, I hadn't even considered it, and really I just kind of know things like that need to be handled in the offseason, not while you're trying to go out and perform every day. Last thing I need to be doing is thinking about changing teams or something like that during the middle of a run, when you're with a team and you're committed to winning. "When the offseason came around and [my agent] Scott [Boras] started informing me of where things stood, the market and what he thought I should do, I had to kind of look into that kind of stuff," said Drew, who signed a five-year, $70 million contract with the Red Sox in January. "You know, the thing with me is that we were looking for some job security, and I know where the Dodgers are heading and I didn't want to become trade bait at some point down the road. Those were the things that were very important to me, and it just didn't seem like they wanted to pursue any of those avenues, so they moved on and I kind of had to do the same thing."