Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal 11s11 seconds ago
Sources: David Ortiz will retire at end of 2016 season.
Sources: David Ortiz will retire at end of 2016 season.
David Ortiz will retire at end of 2016 season.
- Thread starter soxhop411
- Start date
This is not much of a surprise given his age and the fact that he surpassed 500 homers.
But I'm glad the Sox will know in advance and have the maximum time to plan. And if anyone deserves a victory lap, it's Papi.
But I'm glad the Sox will know in advance and have the maximum time to plan. And if anyone deserves a victory lap, it's Papi.
Not too big of a surprise there. Hopefully the team goes back to the playoffs and can get a ring for him to go out with.
One of the greatest postseason hitters of all time. Thanks for the memories. One last shot to go out on top!
Pete Abraham @PeteAbe 4m4 minutes ago
Ortiz said last spring he did not want a Jeter-like retirement tour but that his agents and sponsors did. Maybe they won out.
Ortiz said last spring he did not want a Jeter-like retirement tour but that his agents and sponsors did. Maybe they won out.
Wow. This is going to be an interesting year.
We always knew this day would come, but damned if I don't want it to.
We always knew this day would come, but damned if I don't want it to.
Wow. We all knew this day would arrive, but it's nonetheless jarring to think of this franchise without Ortiz. There is plenty of time in the next year for hagiographies, tears, and all the schmaltz. Yankee fans will probably get a taste our thoughts during Jeter's last year.
I just think it's awesome that pre-Ortiz, the Red Sox were generally considered a joke / losers / bumbling fools. A car wreck along the side of the road that people pointed and stared at. As Ortiz now retires, the perception is nearly the polar opposite: winners (last few years aside) / competitive / have their shit together (2011 aside). In general, baseball fans are more sick of us winning all the time instead of pitying us. The Red Sox are now normal.
Ortiz had as much to do with that 180 as any person over the last 15 years.
I just think it's awesome that pre-Ortiz, the Red Sox were generally considered a joke / losers / bumbling fools. A car wreck along the side of the road that people pointed and stared at. As Ortiz now retires, the perception is nearly the polar opposite: winners (last few years aside) / competitive / have their shit together (2011 aside). In general, baseball fans are more sick of us winning all the time instead of pitying us. The Red Sox are now normal.
Ortiz had as much to do with that 180 as any person over the last 15 years.
I can't believe how hard this is hitting me. Oct 2nd vs Tor should be a great tribute. Won't be his last game though, he's got one more postseason in him.
So statue at Fenway in 2017, Mayor of Boston in 2018?
I was hoping he'd announce while holding up the WS trophy at Fenway. There's no need for a Jeter-like tour.
There's a $10 million team option for 2017 that increases in salary if he reaches 425 PA this year, so he's leaving money on the table by retiring after 2016.
He absolutely deserves it and I hope my comment wasn't interpreted as he doesn't. I just don't think the non-stop hype of farewell tours is necessary and after a while it starts getting old.
Wow, changes the entire season for me. It will hang over everything the team does. A farewell tour (ugh), HOF talk (good), and PED's references (shoot me now). More than anything, I'll appreciate every long, slow, deep, soft, home run trots that last three days.
Here's to the greatest Red Sox in playoff history!
Here's to the greatest Red Sox in playoff history!
Ortiz is a member of a very special group - Boston's GREATEST winners: Russell, Havlicek, Cousy, Bird, Orr, and Brady.
Few people outside of Boston (who aren't Sox fans) care that much about Ortiz, just like few people outside of NY cared that much about Jeter. Letting people know in advance that this is his last year is one thing, celebrating his own career above the game(s) about to be played, except for a handful in Boston near the end of the year, would be inappropriate and groan-inducing, as it was for Jeter.
Jeter's retirement tour had nothing to do with Jeter, or with the Yankees. The fact that the Minnesota Twins chose to give Jeter a five minute ceremony before a game is on them. Jeter could have said, "Can you please just hand me these gifts in private?" but the Twins want the ceremony for their own PR reasons. This was not, as far as I know, something that Jeter planned out with each of the teams.
or the other way. spend now is easier knowing another $10m (up to 16M) is off the books for '17.
It would be awesome if, by winning one more ring this year, he could add Mookie and Blake to the distinguished list of Sox stars he has shared a duck boat ride with.
I hope he doesn't. The one thing I've dreaded, as Ortiz approaches 40, is that he'll hang on too long and end his career on a note of futility like so many stars do. Declaring that 2016 is the end ahead of time pretty much squashes that, and ensures that his exit will be graceful and positive. Both he and the fans deserve that.
Both statements seem to be off. Of course, maybe I'm guessing here, too. You really don't think anyone outside Boston/New York cares about David Ortiz's/Derek Jeter's history within the game? Based on what?
To the contrary, based on my Twitter feed, I'd say there is an active antipathy toward Ortiz outside of Boston because he "did steroids" (don't bother trying to explain to people that this isn't really the case) and has a penchant for watching his homers. I fear that, outside of Boston, his farewell tour may not go the way his agents are envisioning it.
Do you know this for a fact? I'm not saying it's false because I honestly have no clue. I'm guessing that he willingly participated in the Gatorade commercial. Did he ask for things to be toned down and MLB and/or the teams said no?
He was their best hitter last year, so I was looking forward to him hanging around for a while. Its not like there are other 25 home run hitters (let alone 37 home run hitters) around the team.
You know what will cheer you up? ... Create a Jose Fernandez trade proposal!
+ 1. I hate those fucking things, and sneered with contempt at Jeter's. Can't be a hypocrite here. Hope they show some restraint. That said, I love the guy, and everything he's done here. One more year to enjoy it. Hope it ends with him getting ring no. 4, or at minimum a good, deep playoff run.
Sure, they know him as a very good player with a bunch of great baseball moments. For a team they (more likely than not) are either impartial or ambivalent towards. Other teams' fans don't really need 2004 shoved in their faces yet again while their team struggles toward relevance for another year.
Don't get me wrong: who really cares? It's merely a silly exhibition that's just a sign of the times. I guess when Pujols, Ichiro, Beltran etc... all retire we can expect tours as well, to celebrate their "history within the game", too. I look forward to sports writers using "Did he get a farewell tour?" as a barometer for HOF worthiness.
Some legends have come and gone over the last 10+ years, but this one induced a different reaction to me unlike the others. Maybe it's because he's the one constant throughout this run that really started in 2003, and hit bottom a few times and yet still through it all Ortiz basically has put up .900 OPS or better. The team will miss him and I think the connection to the pre-2004 era also dies with him. He's the one guy who gets to retire on his terms and still be among the top hitters in the league. For some reason I thought he'd play 2 more years, but finishing in your age 40 year as a position player is not bad. Plus, the amount of work to prepare your body to handle 150 games and 550 ABs is really tough when you hit 40--as anyone in that age group can attest. He's a tough act to follow and I guess I'm still a little numb for some reason with this one.
You mean because the club option becomes guaranteed if he hits plate appearance milestones.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/al-east/boston-red-sox/
Funny thing is, you could have seen Mumbles saying this exact thing at the Fenway farewell ceremony.
I can say that in the DR Ortiz is the man. I was at a resort a few years ago and every employee who saw my B hat talked about Big Papi like he was a god. They were more enamored with Ortiz than Pedro Martinez.