Big Papi wants to play 3-4 more years

David Ortiz believes he has three or four more years in him, and wants those years to be with Boston.

“I want to finish my career here,” [Ortiz] said. “I think I still have another three or four good years in me. It’s not like I’m going to play until I’m 50, but I know I can still swing the bat. All I know is last year I had the worst two months of my career and still almost ended up at 30 and 100.”

“Everybody is used to seeing me hitting 40 homers with 140 RBI,” Ortiz said. “But I tell you, anybody will take 30 and 100.” (Boston Herald)

I certainly will. The last 10-15 years have been weaned on 40/120 being the mark of a true power hitter, but with the increased emphasis on speed, defense, pitching and no steroids, 30/100 has become the new benchmark.

Ortiz needs to come out with a strong season, hitting in the .280 range while flashing 30/100 power for the club to pick up his 2011 option, valued at $12.5 million. While I see that option being picked up, it remains highly likely that Big Papi will finish his career elsewhere.

BoSox AFL Update

With the conclusion of every major league season comes the beginning of the second season of “minor” leagues in baseball – the Winter Leagues. This 2009 off-season, the Sox have placed 17 promising prospects across four leagues, including some of the most exciting names in the organization, such as Casey Kelly, Ryan Kalish, Jose Iglesias, and Yamiaco Navarro.

The Winter Leagues are one of the more interesting annual rituals of the MLB, aside from maybe the Rule 5 Draft, as every team in baseball pours their most highly touted prospects into one pool where they duke it out for organizational supremacy.