I had never really thought about Big Papi going anywhere else since his market was very limited and he wanted a multi-year deal. The fact that last season ended prematurely for him after he injured his Achilles meant that he was probably stuck here after all. Who else would want an old (37 in November) DH that was breaking down?
He tried to come back but only returned for one game before shutting it down completely, he finished with a .318 batting average, .415 OBP, .611 SLG, 23 homers and 60 RBIs in 90 games. He had been durable the last three seasons before 2012: he played in 150, 145 and 146 games respectively so there is hope that with extra time to heal and lengthy offseason, he should be healthy and at full speed in 2013.
Other than getting a new manager, this was the other most obvious and therefore easiest step for Boston this fall/winter in their endless rebuilding process. Now the decisions start to get harder: do they want to re-sign Cody Ross or go after somebody else like Mike Napoli or Nick Swisher? What free agent pitchers should they target?
In sports these days, you almost never see someone stay with one team for a majority of their career, especially from their prime to when they chose to retire. Not to get ahead of ourselves too much but you could make the case that Ortiz could be that rare exception: as long as he's still productive and a valuable member of the team, there is no reason to cut ties with the only guy left that was on the 2004 and 2007 World Series championship Red Sox squads. You can't teach that type of big game experience and it's something he has in abundance while most of his teammates are still very inexperienced in that regard.
Tweet
Follow @RichSlate
No comments:
Post a Comment