David Ortiz and his 2011 Contract

By Blaidd Drwg

I have never been a big fan of David Ortiz – yes, he was a very good hitter for a few years, but I never really bought into the entire “Big Papi” craze. Ortiz is the kind of one dimensional player that drives me nuts – even at his best, he couldn’t run, had no arm and was a defensive butcher, but he could hit, so you give him a spot in the lineup.

Over the last few years, Ortiz has been horrific in April and May and has generally struggled against left handed pitching, leading to people questioning whether or not it is time to hang it up for the slugger. I can forgive the slow start, there are tons of players who start slowly (Mark Texieria comes to mind), but the struggling against lefties is a concern. If you are an opposing manager and it is late in the game and close, you bring in a lefty to face Ortiz without the fear that he is going to take one deep on you. Here is a quick and dirty summary of Ortiz vs. lefties over the last few years:

At one time, Ortiz could hit lefties pretty well, but over the last few years, it has become painfully obvious that is no longer the case. The power numbers are dropping and the platoon splits widening and it looks like he is falling below replacement level against lefties. I am not suggesting that Ortiz is completely useless, he still does crush right handed pitching as well as anyone in the league. I am just suggesting that he is now really just a platoon player.

Why bring this up? The Red Sox have to decide in the next few days if they want to exercise the 12.5 million dollar option that they have on Ortiz for 2011. To me, that is a ton of money to be spending on a guy who will only be able to effectively hit in 75% of the games your team plays in 2011, but this is the Red Sox and they can afford 12 million for a platoon player. Ortiz is not happy about this. He wants a multi-year deal, which I don’t see the Sox giving him. Why does he want this, here is Ortiz explaining it

“I just want to cut out all the crap and go back to the guy I was before, a happy guy who doesn’t have to be answering questions that have nothing to do with anything but controversy. I just want to be able to play baseball and have fun, like I used to,” Ortiz told WEEI.com. “That’s where I came back to not wanting just one year, because I know it’s going to be just the same thing.

“As soon as you struggle for a week, it’s going to be the same thing. People saying you are old, saying you have no bat speed anymore. People talking all kind of crap. It’s hard to avoid that because it’s all over the place. You’re a regular human being just like everyone else. It’s not like you’re in a cage, locked up and you come to the field and that’s it. It’s not like we don’t watch TV, listen to the radio, read the newspaper. We are all connected to that stuff, especially here.”

My translation of this: I want a multi-year deal so that when I don’t rebound and the media is all over me, I won’t care because I know I am going to get paid even if the team releases me.

I can’t blame Ortiz – his is (supposedly) 35, has the body type of a typical Sluggardly Slugger which generally means that he won’t age well, and I think he realizes he is slowing down. Why not try to cash in on one more big payday before your career is over.

Here is how I see it playing out – the Sox exercise their option on him and make him a platoon player at DH (They should be able to find someone to platoon with him easily). The Sox then let him walk at the end of 2011 and go out and sign someone younger for roughly the same money they would to resign Ortiz.

Personally, I would love to see Adam Dunn in a Red Sox uni.