What do you do with David Ortiz? Here's a guy who has bled Red Sox red (note to self: this doesn’t work) for the better part of his career. He is arguably the greatest clutch hitter in team history. Would the Sox have won two World Series rings without him? Surely not.
Unfortunately, it’s become slightly uncomfortable watching Papí at the dish of late. There’s a lot of flailing, a lot of guessing. Indeed, these days, it looks as though Papi is trying to swat a lone mosquito with a butter knife. It’s a tricky, uncomfortable, sad and, above all, painfully slow-developing process which seems to be steamrolling toward an unfortunate ending.
Terry Francona, the erstwhile most loyal manager in the game, stuck with Ortiz in the three-hole for much of the season, defying both logic and the impassioned pleas of every baseball pundit this side of the Mississippi. However, a couple of weeks ago, even Francona had seen enough and he unceremoniously nudged Ortiz to sixth in the lineup- undoubtedly a shameful demotion for the once-proud slugger. Unfortunately, this has been akin to slapping a band-aid on a mortal wound. Papí still hasn’t hit and, I’m trying my darndest to be fair here, right now he wouldn’t be fit to bat ninth for the Padres.
What do the Sox do? Rumor has it Theo has been shopping around, inquiring after Adam Dunn and Nick Johnson of the Nationals and Jeff Francoeur of the Braves (while we’re at it, if there’s one player who could be perceived as a possible downgrade from Ortiz, its Jeff Francoeur). If one of these deals does come to pass, one would have to hope that Papí might eventually see the writing on the wall- a subtle “ahem, time to hang up the spikes” of sorts. Otherwise, the Sox will eventually have to drop Ortiz from the roster altogether and that would be shameful. In the interest of everyone’s dignity, lets hope he leaves on his own accord and does not wait to be pushed out the door.
