6:37pm: The deal is now in the language stage, tweets Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
6:23pm: The deal will also include incentives that can boost the overall value to $30MM across two seasons, Bradford tweets.
6:10pm: Once the deal is finalized, it will be for two years and at least $26MM, tweets Rob Bradford of WEEI.com (via Twitter).
5:20pm: Two sources told Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter) that they expect Ortiz to sign a deal before the night is out.
4:50pm: The sides are "very close" to a deal, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports (on Twitter).
NOVEMBER 2nd, 9:47am: The Red Sox and Ortiz are starting to close the gap in their negotiations, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports (on Twitter). Texas' interest is real, Cafardo writes.
11:02am: It appears likely that Ortiz will hit the open market, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. Boston's exclusive negotiating period ends Saturday morning, at which point Ortiz will be free to discuss a contract with any team. The Red Sox are expected to extend Ortiz a one-year qualifying offer.
NOVEMBER 1st, 8:13am: The sides hope to bridge the "modest gap" and agree to a contract within the next 24 hours, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports (on Twitter).
OCTOBER 23rd: Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe hears from both sides that Ortiz isn’t close to a deal, though talks are amicable (Twitter link).
2:45pm: The Red Sox and Ortiz have had productive talks and are discussing a multiyear deal, Alex Speier of WEEI.com reports. However, it’d be inaccurate or at least premature to say an agreement has nearly been finalized.
1:06pm: The Red Sox are finalizing a two-year contract with David Ortiz that will keep the slugger in Boston through 2014, Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com reports. The sides have already agreed on a two-year term, but haven’t yet agreed on compensation. They hope to announce a deal by the end of the week.
Ortiz appears to be seeking a $25MM guarantee for two years, Edes reports. The Red Sox are willing to commit to a contract in that range, but hope to complete a deal for a few million less. Agent Fern Cuza spoke with the Red Sox on Monday and Ortiz spoke with GM Ben Cherington and manager John Farrell today.
Ortiz, who turns 37 next month, posted a .318/.415/.611 batting line in 383 plate appearances this past season. He hit 23 home runs and 26 doubles, but appeared in just one game after suffering a right Achilles strain on July 16th. Ortiz is an SFX client.
This would be fantastic to just get it done. He wants to stay, and they want him back so just make it happen.
They would really have him over a barrel if they made him a qualifying offer. Which AL team is going to give an aging DH only player 2 years + surrender a draft pick? I don’t think the Red Sox would do that though because it would basically ruin their relationship with him.
If they can’t agree to terms by the time qualifying offers are do they have to do it. Then they have the leverage since a lot of teams instantly back away. Make no doubt about it, Boston wants him back and will do everything they can to keep him.
Due*
Blue Jays..
He is actually exactly what the Jay’s need. A vocal leader who’s won it all, left handed power bat to hit between Bautista and Encarnacion. Also, seems to be very close with Joey Batts. Would make a lot of sense, even if it’s only to stick it to the Red Sox, especially considering the Jays’ first round pick is protected.
Ortiz as a vocal leader is vastly overplayed. He’s a nice club house guy, but not a leader at all.
I was hoping he would leave, but he’s worth the 2 year deal
He is probably older than 37. Wouldn’t give him anything more than a one year.
The offense looked anemic without him in the later part of the season. He wants to stay, just get it done.
One year at $8M with incentives. That way, if he takes a “dump,” he loses $$. If he thinks someone else will give him 2 years at $25M—-see ya and thanks for playing. We’ve got some nice parting gifts for you on the way out.
He’s not going to decline the Red Sox qualifying offer and then agree to 8 million..
Goes from modest gap to him hitting the market? Someone’s got the wrong info here.
This is going to get very interesting. Losing David Ortiz would mark the end of an era for Boston indeed. He still is symbolic of all they accomplished in 2004. Someone with a need for a power bat will jump on the opportunity at Big Papi for DH
If they make him the qualifying offer (which they probably will) it will get even more interesting. I just wish they’d overpay for him just to keep his bat, the fan base and his teamates happy. A 2 year deal at 25M is probably overpay, but it’s short term and they have SO much money the next two years it would not be a big deal at all. Obviously you never want to overpay, but this is a situation where the face of the franchise is more important. He’s only a DH, but like you stated, he’s symbollic.
Couldn’t agree more, and this is coming from a Mets fan who wants to trade David Wright. Basically the difference between the two situations is that Ortiz would be a 2 year commitment. I think new management does not really plan on having huge payroll constraints in the next 2 years so its a good way to save face. The loss of Ortiz would mean that the Red Sox have completely lost all identity in a time that they need it the most. They are in a “rebuild” phase where payroll is flexible. I think they plan on competing next year but more in a Oakland Athletics sense then a New York Yankees. Overpay Ortiz to keep the brand in tact and realize that if it is a bad contract, the organization probably won’t need the money until 2015 at the earliest
Well said and glad someone doesn’t think we are crazy for thinking that, lol.
Cleveland should go after him, unless his relationship with Francona is terrible…
If he hits the market i see Miami as a good fit…they need a 1B, his power behind Stanton would be huge, he is a great veteran presence alongside Reyes, and of course the Latin appeal would just be the icing on the cake.
I presume you see Ortiz as a 162-game first baseman? Good luck with that. 40, maybe 50 games tops. Other days, he’d be the world’s richest pinch-hitter. Nah, he HAS to go to an A.L. team
I think I remember hearing that he won a Gold Glove in the minor leagues (don’t fact check me. I hate when the truth gets in the way of a good story)
The minor leagues for this guy was an eternity ago and realistically has no bearing on anything he can do now, gold glove or no.
If they are just haggling over a few million right now they need to get it done within the next 24 hours, please. Unless he’s really holding out for 30 which is crazy. If it’s 25-27 just do it already.
Haggling over a “few million” annually for a DH, then be that generous with Ross when they actually need 2 corner OF and he has also stated a willingness to stay.
That being generous by a few million is kind of what got them into that prior situation and what has some other teams locked into multiple dreadful contracts now.
While it’s been awhile (other than Tek) since a long time Sox player has retired with them, I still don’t want them way over paying for that “privilege” like other teams think that they have to resort to.
I honestly would rather overpay him for 2 years and have him retire here than have him walk, but that’s just me. It’s not as if this type of overpay will be anywhere near as impactful to the club as a whole as the Crawford overpay was. He’s arguably the most important Red Sox player of the last decade, the face of the franchise, best DH in baseball, vital to our offense..and yeah, I think he “deserves” it regardless of what his market value is. I know plenty will disagree with that logic and everyone is entitled to their opinion. And I’m all for bringing Ross back too. I haven’t heard any numbers floated yet so I think it’s too early to say if they are being fair with him or not. The fact was that they were never going to give him a qualifiying offer of course and he was probably always going to test the market a little. I got no problem bringing him back for 2-3 years at 6-8per.
I have no problem with the team giving him 2/25, even upwards of 2/27m after he seems to have improved after losing some weight the last couple of years, but if Ortiz is looking for any more than that? Then let him go and agree he has been the overall best player for the team over the last 10 seasons, but Boston generally doesn’t have a history of overpaying for past performance with it’s veterans and Cherrington is going to have to feel he can still produce think we both realize when he makes his final offer.
Agree on Ross also, tho think if they have any hopes of bringing him back the figure is going to have to be closer to that 8m, maybe even 9mAAV figure.
I would probably draw the line at 28 and I think when the deal is (presumably) announced later tonight that it will end up being closer to 25 than 28. Maybe 26? With Ross I definitely wouldn’t do 3/27 but 2/18 would be reasonable…perhaps even preferable to a 3 year deal in the 21-24 range..I dunno.
3/27m sounds bad, understand, then think of how overpaid Swisher is thinking/figuring on getting paid and it isn’t nearly as bad, but yeah.. That figure to me is on the extreme high range for what would call “out of Boston’s” price range also.
2 and a team option, at 8-9m AAV would be about the best they can hope for is my thinking.
As for Ortiz.. If they can get him signed at 2 and 26m range? They should hurry up and get it done.. Then move onto Ross and try to keep him in town as well.
All signs point to them wrapping up the Ortiz deal tonight..just gotta wait and see what the figures end up being. Supposedly their intitial offer was 2/20 while he wanted 2/30 so somewhere around the middle would seem probable. The thing about Ross is that we have some decent internal OF options IMO like Kalish, Brentz, Linares. If they can’t get Ross for a deal that makes sense then RF might be a good position to plug one of the kids in to..
I’ll agree about Linares, but they kept passing him over time after time last year (like Lin) when they needed anyone at all to play the OF and kept playing liabilities, such as Nava out there. Little hope they will give him a chance either and not sure Brentz is ready with hardly any AAA time and poor plate discipline shown so far.
Agreed Kalish should have 1 of the spots if he can stay healthy, but they need a severe upgrade for the other corner OF and Nava isn’t even 1 5th OF as he is really only a poor defensive LF only that isn’t much of a hitter. They need help out of ST at one of the corners and Linares seems destined to be another guy, who can hit that the team skips over time after time.
Lin would have fit nicely in this situation, but the team chose to keep multiple other non performers (Nava, Valencia etc..) on the roster instead.
Yeah, they really do seem intent on not giving Linares his shot..it’s weird.
I’m not a Sox fan and am looking at this as strictly a rebuild move, so I think it’s a bad move. I think they should have offered arb and let him leave.
That said, I certainly understand your POV and if that’s the priority of the fans and the management, I wouldn’t fault them for it.
Being generous on 2 year deals while they partially rebuild isn’t going to get them in to long term trouble this time. It’s this offseason we bridge the gap. That’s all people mean by a couple million extra for stop gap players on 2 year deals.
2 years 20-25 million might be an overpay but the sox have plenty of money the next two years and they need some legitimate players to make sure they dont repeat august and september of this year.
i could afford to pay a babysitter $50/hr while me and my wife go to dinner for a couple hours. doesnt mean im gonna do it.
do you make hundreds of millions dollars a year?
If child services was on your case and hiring that baby sitter would save some face you would…
Does anybody else think that you shouldn’t be able to make qualifying offers 2 years in a row to a player? Or is the ability to opt out at the cost of a draft pick fair enough?
There was no such thing last year, so I don’t see the relevance.
I think the Sox could build a better team overall without Ortiz. I hate the idea of a DH not being able to play a position in the field.
Napoli would be a good fit. Sox need a 1B, would add depth at C and could be used a lot in the DH roll. He could be had for around or maybe less than 2/$25, adds flexibility, and Sox get a top pick if Ortiz walks. They could then move Salty to add a B level prospect from a team like the Mets.
Good luck in getting Napoli for less than 2/25…
While I agree with this statement, I really do not believe the Red Sox are in a position where Ortiz would really be blocking anybody. The team is relatively young so its not like they need a rotating DH spot and there is payroll flexibility so its OK to overpay him. Sure, if this was 18 months ago and the Red Sox were looking to improve on a playoff team I would agree with you. Right now they need to sign him just so that it doesn’t look like a full blown, fire sale-esque, rebuilding process
Yankees should sign him for 1/14. *evil grin*
Well lets close the gap by 11:59 please and thank you!
Hurry up Ben.
BenC—if they want Ortiz so badly do a sign and trade. Let’s get on with the Hot Stove–I’d rather get a player than a draft choice. Call Daniels and see if you can work out a deal. The Rangers must know Josh will sign soon with the Brewers or the Dodgers–or who knows maybe the Astros.
Sign and trades arent allowed in baseball, you have to wait until May I believe to trade a player signed to a new deal.
Paul where is that in writing? I know draft choices can’t be traded for a year after they sign but I’ve never heard that someone can’t be traded after signing a major league contract. Perhaps it’s something in the new CBA.
I think Boston will finish the deal since the Rangers are waiting tomorrow if not. Ortiz could be the pure DH that the Rangers lack as MY is more of a utility player at this point.
poor Michael Young, he always gets the bump no matter where he goes. He played second until A-Rod left and he got “promoted” to SS..it was all downhill from there. Moved to 3rd for Andrus, then DH for Beltre, then 1B, back to DH, now Ortiz may displace him yet again…someone give that man a hug
Im sure his 16MM dollar salary makes him feel better
That’s the importance of getting a multi year deal when your value’s at a peak.
Don’t do it, Sox. He’s starting to burn oil and his transmission is grinding.
Seattle Mariners should offer him a better deal to DH and backup or challenge Justin Smoak at first base. He would do well at Safeco Field returning to a team that once drafted him on top of the fence in outfield moving in for hitter friendly park. Hurry up GM Jack Z to sign Big Papi on the team.
This is music to my ears. Ortiz is what’s left in terms of face of the franchise. They need him.
Fudge!! with sprinkles on it.
Well they aren’t really paying him more than last year. Two years I do not have a problem with. Now on to the pitching!
“The deal is now in the language stage,”
Inglés o Español?
Igpay atinlay.
Emotional deals are never good. I feel (probably in the minority here) that the front office felt the hit from this year and made an emotional decision to give 2 years and nearly 30 to a 37 year old DH coming off an Achilles injury.
It’s not the worst signing, but probably excessive.
Excessive yes, but its what they needed to do.
ESPN says it’s done.
$30 Million for a old although still potent Ortiz seems a lot, but the Red Sox have money to burn.
30 million is supposedly the max he could reach with incentives. And if he does reach those incentives, the money will have been well spent.
Wasn’t Ortiz asking for a 3 year deal last season? With this 2 year deal you just gave him exactly what he asked for in the first place. I just thought that was funny
He was given a 4 year deal in 2006 that ended up beng 5/$65M, the richest contract ever given to a DH. He has made $98M in his career.
For many legitimate reasons he hasn’t received the two monster contracts that usual position players get. First, he truly can only DH. Second, he was a late bloomer. Third, he is welll rounded physically without being well rounded in terms of skill. The guy can hit and hit for power, but that’s it.
just power?