David Ortiz speaks about his one year deal with the Red Sox
Early in November the Boston Red Sox picked up the option year on designated hitter David Ortiz’s contract. On Tuesday 16 November, Ortiz made his first public comments about the $12.5
million deal.
Speaking to ESPN, Ortiz said, “I was trying to get something different. I wanted to stay here longer. But I got what the team offered me, and I'm fine with it.”
Ortiz and his agent had been pushing the Red Sox for a deal longer than the one-year option, but that deal failed to materialize. In recent years the team has been reluctant to sign its
aging players to longer-term deals. Ortiz, who turns 35 on 18 November, is one of the oldest players on the Red Sox roster.
For his part, Ortiz felt he was deserving of a longer deal, saying, “I thought what I've done here in Boston was well-deserving of two years, but I can't do nothing about it now except
come back and play.”
Another reason that the Red Sox may have been reluctant to sign the popular “Big Papi” to a long term contract were his early season struggles over the last two seasons.
In the first 34 games of the 2009 season Ortiz hit .208 with 30 strikeouts and no home runs. During that drought Ortiz went a career high149 at bats without hitting a home run. He was
able to turn his hitting around and by season’s end he had accumulated 28 home runs, 99 runs batted in and hit for a .238 batting average.
Ortiz started the 2010 season slowly as well, hitting one home run and batting .143 in the month of April. He again found his groove as the season continued, finishing the year with 32
home runs, 102 RBIs and a batting average of .270.
Ortiz struggled with the reactions of the press and Red Sox fans when he was mired in his slumps, but said he has a plan for the 2011 season. “I had trouble with the negativity, the dark
side of things,” Ortiz said. “People doubting if I could hit, was I done? Well, I'll come back and prove them wrong again.”
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