Serious conversations about a new contract for David Ortiz are expected to begin at some point next week, Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston.com reports. The Red Sox have already had some informal talks about contracts for Cody Ross and Ortiz, who are both on track to hit free agency next month.
"David is someone who we feel strongly about bringing back and we're trying to figure out a way to do that and we hope that happens," GM Ben Cherington said at the end of the regular season.
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.
If the Red Sox are serious to their fans about a retooling they will not bend to BigPapi and continue to only give him one year deals.. He has not proven that he can remain healthy enough to command much more than that.
It might behoove the Red Sox to try a multi-year deal. His bat doesn’t appear to be slowing down at all, and the idea behind a two-year deal is that you can get a discount on price for security. For example, instead of 1/13M for 2013, maybe you can get 2/20M done. If he holds up, you end up saving around $6M. With all the money they have to spend right now, that’s not a bad gamble to make.
It’s also not that good a gamble to make. At some point the Red Sox need to move on, and given the roster overhaul during the 2012 season, perhaps that time is now. Unless the Red Sox are prepared to have a special Ortiz line item in their budget that doesn’t affect the overall budget, they should hold firm on a one-year offer.
What you say would be absolutely valid if it were some one else. Ortiz, much like Jeter, has become an icon to his team, and a very productive one at that. A contract that’s fair to both sides is going to be tricky this time around.
The Red Sox don’t have anyone that is going to put up his numbers currently on the roster. They’re more than likely going to have to pay a hefty price in the FA market if they let him walk. Boston can use the fact that he is getting older and has been injured the two years, so one can see their point concerning a long term contract. His counter is that he has been productive when healthy and his injuries weren’t any longer in duration than any of the other players, who have been younger.
For his part, Ortiz has to see that his options are limited. Not many teams that he would be interested in, are in the market to pay big money for an older DH.
With the move by Houston to the AL, there will be a number of games during the season that he may not play. Any GM interested in Ortiz, would bring that up in negotiations for the purpose of getting a less expensive signing.
A fair offer for both sides would be 2 yrs $32MM. Ortiz gets a raise, more than one year. The Red Sox get protection in case he’s foolish enough to refuse the offer.
This is a strange article. I know it’s just based of the Joe McDonald piece but it doesn’t really appear to be rooted in any reality. It’s not that they’ve been in discussions all day and it’s heating up. Just basically says “they’ve talked in passing about a new deal and they’re going to talk about it some more next week” — looks like a cheap play for page hits for ESPN Boston.
The headline says “to intensive,” which seems like a little hype but is accurate and the article explains that it is next week, not now. In any event, the hyping is only a product of the headline here at MLB Trade Rumors, not at ESPN, which has an article about them planning to enter talks next week and a headline that says “Sox to Step up David Ortiz Talks.”
Jays need Ortiz , AA needs to give him a 2 year deal to take him away from the sox , and then let Lind sit in AAA. Bautista , Ortiz, Encarnacion. Jesus…
And yes Jesus will hit 6th.
would be a good move, but sounds like boston is trying to lock him down before he hits the market.
This saddens me greatly. If Ortiz knew what was good for him he would play with his boy Bautista and give us the scariest 3-5 in the league. AA will go get some pitching this offseason , Ortiz would be the icing on the cake to deepen that lineup. I’m sick of Linds inconsistency.
I can see Ortiz pushing the Blue Jays into the playoffs (2nd WC spot). It would also make a lot of other players expendable. (ex. Cooper, Lind, Darnaud/Arenicbia). Hopefully, the Blue Jays won’t give him the Frank Thomas treatment …
2 years, $15M. If he wants a penny more, let him walk. As a die-hard Red Sox fan, even I know that this team is going nowhere with or without him. Either use him as a stopgap until more prospects are ready, or let Lavarnway DH.
That sounds awfully short sighted. If you want to low-ball an offer, you set it at the qualifying offer (around 1yr/$13.4m). Then if he rejects, you can switch to a 2yr deal…At least that way, you guarantee draft pick compesenation if he signs elsewhere.
Yeah, I forgot about qualifying offers. Yes, either 1 year/$13.4M, or, say, 2 years/$18M.
1 Year with a team option for a second seems fair. If i’m the Red Sox, i wouldn’t be as much worried about the money as I would the years. I think given his recent injury history, Ortiz would be receptive to it as long as he got a good raise up front. If his raw value at $5 million per 1 WAR is what they baseline him on, then $15 million is really where you start. Marquee value probably tacks on another million to it, so you’re looking at $16 million being a fair offer for the first year. If I had to make concessions, I wouldn’t budge off the team option, but I would go as high as $18 million for the one year and then lower the team option number. Basically, target him around $28-$30 million over the course of the contract assuming they take the option. Then you’d be looking at $18 million for the first year, then $10-$12 million fo the option year. To sweeten the pot, add in some incentives to get the number up over $30 million. Considering marquee importance to the team given the current state of their roster and overall production, that’d be fair.
Just from what I’ve heard from Cherington and Ortiz, this year seems like it’ll be a lot more amicable than last year’s negotiations. Had the blockbuster not happened, I’d suspect Ortiz would be gone, but I think given the current state of the roster, it just makes too much sense to bring him back.
So this guy pretends to be injured for 3 months because he is too much of a prima donna to play for a losing team. And now they are going to resign him? Wow, the red sox franchise is absolutely terrible.
Have you ever injured your achilles?
Of course not.
I would take whatever money they were going to put towards Ortiz and send it towards Mike Napoli. Not only can he DH, he can also play C and 1B. Unless Ortiz is going to play 1B all year, I let him walk for anything over $10M. He missed the second half of the season and have no reason to believe he won’t miss another half of a season next year. I would love to see a guy like Napoli get 600 ABs!
Ortiz has said countless times that a 2 year deal is more important to him than money and that it’s all about the respect that comes with the extra year and allowing him to go at least ONE season without having to be asked contract questions by the media. Regardless of his actual market value as an aging DH, he does have a point with the respect issue (especially when you factor in the long-term deals, both good as bad, that the team has given to numerous other players and also their current financial resources) and I think the Sox would be wise to appease him AND save some money in the process by offering him a guaranteed 2 year deal in the 20-25 mil range + maybe some extra incentives that could push it to 30. Say what you will about his attitude, age, the DH market, etc..the truth is, he HAS earned it.
But wait. He has TAKEN the one year deal before. Last year he was in the same position roughly, and he took the arbitration offer. This year, its much simpler. Why change strategy when this guy is simply another year older now than the last time?
Like last year, I do not see many teams out there willing to pay $15M+, AND give up their first round pick for an aging slugger, who is coming off of an injury, that defensively is useless. The market for Ortiz is not strong at all, and Papi knows it, just like he did last year when he was willing to go to arbitration.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Make him the qualifying offer. If he goes elsewhere, you get compensation. If he takes it, he is back at a price Boston can stomach. Either way, the problem is solved.
From a financial standpoint, Boston has all the leverage – there’s no question about that. Like you said, there are few (if any) teams who will be willing to pay him as much as the Red Sox will be willing to for 1 season. But like I said, this is not about money for Papi – it’s about respect and he deserves respect for everything that he has done for this franchise. He showed this season that he has AT LEAST two more years left in the tank. And even if his production declines some, how would that one extra year really hurt the team? He’ll still be the best pure DH in the game, an MLB icon and a fan favorite. Our offense is nothing without him, we need him back. If the Sox make the same move as last season and try to “play it safe” and only go 1 year I honestly think he will decline – even if it means taking less money to go somewhere else. I would much rather have him for 2 more years and have him happy than have him mashing for the Blue Jays (whose 1st round pick is protected by the way)