I am not going to hyperventilate, light my (metaphorical) nuts on fire, and run screaming into the streets of Boston demanding that David Ortiz be immediately sat down for the remainder of the season. (Looking at you Shaughnessy.)
But it is time we all sat down and had a serious chat about what, exactly, we should be allowed to expect from David Ortiz. I am not throwing him under the bus, I am not saying he should be pulled from the lineup, and I am not saying he won’t have a productive season. I’m just saying he’s not what he once was, and expecting him to come out and rake like he once did is more than a little unfair. It would only be fair, to everyone involved, to have Mike Lowell or another guy share some DH time with him.
Terry Francona could have protected Ortiz from some of this undeserved scrutiny by saying he would share some DHing duties with Mike Lowell (or whoever would have sufficed if Lowell were traded) on Day 1 of Spring Training. Would Papi have been happy about that? Probably not if all he heard was the surface statement, but Tito could have sat him down and told him that he would still get his playing time, Tito still had faith in his abilities, the DH spot was still primarily his job, blah, blah, blah. We all could have been spared this most obnoxious of situations if Tito had been a little cagey with the press. (Seriously Terry, if I was the Red Sox manager I’d lie like a mofo to the press. Can you imagine the fun you could have making up crazy shit and watching the Boston media lose it’s mind?)
As it stands today, if Francona plays Lowell for any reason it’s going to start a wave of speculation about his confidence in Ortiz. Having confidence in Ortiz to be productive and contribute has nothing to do with the fact Papi’s bat has slowed a bit, and maybe Mike Lowell would be the better choice against a lefty every now and then. The world is being placed on Ortiz’s shoulders when the Red Sox are no longer built around winning on his walk off home runs, though that would certainly be a welcomed event. The Red Sox are now built around an Ellsbury stolen base followed by a Pedroia double, steady production from VMart and Youk, pitching and defense.
Everyone also seems to have forgotten that for many years Ortiz had the benefit of hitting beside one Mr. Manuel Aristides Ramirez and was juicing in one form or another. Both of those factors were likely key ingredients to the rise of Big Papi. Hold on to those wonderful memories of walkoffs and glory, but take a good look at what is in front of us today. I adjusted my expectations for David Ortiz last season. I no longer expect him to be the feared clutch hitter he once was. I do expect him to be productive and I do expect him to benefit from sharing DH duties with Mike Lowell. Let go of the Big Papi Era, it’s gone forever.
I also feel I should mention Mark Teixeira is 0-12 on the season. Why isn’t anyone in New York panicking over that?
Oh, right. Because we’ve only played 3 games.
