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.
Sorry, Papi, we all love you, but this is your last year as a Red Sox.
noooooooooo
Retire Papi, let us remember you as a hero, not as a shattered-wrist facsimile.
He says 3-4 more years. He is contracted for 2 of them, with the club option. That 2011 option will depend entirely on how he does in 2010. IMO, Bill James isn't wrong seeing a good year for Papi. If healthy it could easily be a 35-40HR year with 100++RBI. Theo would happily pick up the option for the happy man. If he continues to produce in 2011, Theo would be dumb not to give him another year (that's 3 years) or even a year with a club option (that's 4 years) and Papi retires a hero before he melts, and we retire his #, and he remains a Red Sox ambassador. Having him, Tek and Wake in the system following their retirements will be good for the Sox and the next generations of fans who will wonder why 2004 is such a big deal. Even if he bcomes a .270/30/100/.850 hitter in 2011, he'd be worth it.
Could go either way, really. Papi could rededicate himself to conditioning in the offseason and come back with .280/35/120, and set the stage for a relatively long, productive decline. On the other hand, even if he does rededicate himself, he could simply be following the career path of most lead-footed sluggers. And if he can't at least pull a .260/25/100, he has no value to the Sox or any other team.
I for one hope Papi retires with the team. I think he'll have a good year this year, around 2007/08 lines. If he can maintain that I think he would be worth keeping. But a repeat of those two months can't happen again. Of course it all comes down to money. How much for those last few years? Would he take an extension of 3-5 mill each for the last two?