Tag Archives: David Ortiz

“30 Teams, 30 Posts” (2016): Papi’s last ride is a bit more complicated

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In 30 Teams, 30 Posts, I write a post (of varying amounts of seriousness) about every MLB team in some way in the lead-up to the beginning of the 2016 season. Earlier installments can be found here. Today, the Red Sox and David Ortiz.

Every year, it seems, there is a player who is going on a farewell tour. And this year, it’s David Ortiz.

But this year, the farewell tour is a bit more complicated. Because David Ortiz is more complicated. Yes, he is one of the most beloved figures in 21st Century baseball, and seems to be a pretty cool guy. But there are some things that will make this farewell tour a little uneasy.

First, there’s the steroid talk. David Ortiz has never officially tested positive for anything in his career, but he reportedly was one of those who tested positive when MLB did preliminary testing in 2003 to get an idea of how many MLB players may have been using PEDs before true official drug testing began in 2004. Again, this is not official, but it’s been said to have happened. And Papi himself has admitted that at certain times in his career he wasn’t 100% sure what he was putting in his body.

Secondly, there were his comments this spring on domestic abuse. They were utterly tone-deaf, and a reminder how far baseball- and society- has to go in handling and dealing with these issues.

And lastly, and by far the least important, is how he was on the field. David Ortiz was a good, and often great, player, but he was no slam-dunk Hall-of-Famer like some previous people who got retirement tours, such as Cal Ripken, Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

So will David Ortiz get a retirement tour? Yes. Will he deserve it?

That’s less clear.

Next: The A’s.

 

 

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The Final Mr. Octobers of 2013

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The Mr. Octobers for the final game of the 2013 World Series are Shane Victorino (who had 4 RBIs) and John Lackey (who threw 6.2 innings of 1-run ball).

And so, after the final tally, the Baseball Continuum hereby dubs David Ortiz and Jon Lester as the Mr. Octobers of the 2013 Postseason. They get, uhm… nothing. Still, congratulations!

Standings (PP= Position Player, P= Pitcher):

PP David Ortiz– 38

P Jon Lester– 23

PP Shane Victorino– 21

PP Matt Holliday– 18

PP Carlos Beltran– 16

P Koji Uehara– 16

P John Lackey– 15

P Justin Verlander– 14

P Michael Wacha– 13

P Clayton Kershaw– 11

P Max Scherzer– 11

P Zack Greinke– 10

P Carlos Martinez– 10

PP Yadier Molina– 10

PP Jonny Gomes – 10

P Felix Doubront– 10

P Adam Wainwright– 9

PP Jhonny Peralta – 8

PP Adrian Gonzalez– 8

PP David Freese – 6

PP Miguel Cabrera– 6

P Anibal Sanchez – 5

P Hyun-jin Ryu– 5

PP Yasiel Puig– 5

P Carlos Martinez– 5

PP Austin Jackson– 5

P Doug Fister– 5

PP Mike Napoli– 5

P Sonny Gray-3

P Gerrit Cole– 3

PP Pedro Alvarez– 3

P Mike Minor– 3

PP Hanley Ramirez– 3

PP Yoenis Cespedes– 3

P Jason Grilli– 3

PP Carl Crawford– 3

P Chris Capuano– 3

PP Seth Smith– 3

P Dan Otero– 3

PP Jose Lobaton-3

P Jake McGee-3

PP Juan Uribe-3

PP (Position Player) Russell Martin– 1

P (Pitcher) Francisco Liriano– 1

PP Desmond Jennings– 1

P Alex Cobb– 1

Mr. Octobers for Yesterday’s ALDS games (October 5, 2013)

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The first game of yesterday, in which the Red Sox beat the Rays, is an easy pick: David Ortiz, who had his first multi-HR game of his illustrious postseason career, was the offensive Mr. October. On the mound, it was Koji Uehara, the closer for the Red Sox who squelched any chance of a final rally by the Rays with a surgical 1-2-3 9th inning. Interesting note: The Rangers traded Chris Davis to the Orioles for Uehara. Now they have neither. Whoops.

The second game, a true classic, is harder to pick. I mean, how do you pick between Sonny Gray and Justin Verlander, both who had games that would have sealed them as Mr. October winners otherwise? Well, I’m going to cheat a bit here: I’m not going to give out a position player Mr. October, instead, I’m giving out TWO pitching Mr. Octobers for this game. Now, of course, you could say Stephen Vogt could deserve the hitting Mr. October due to his walk-off single, but, well, he had failed in basically the same situation twice earlier in the game, so, sorry.

Standings (PP= Position Player, P= Pitcher):

PP David Ortiz- 3

P Koji Uehara- 3

P Justin Verlander- 3

P Sonny Gray-3

PP Carlos Beltran– 3

P Adam Wainwright– 3

PP Adrian Gonzalez– 3

P Clayton Kershaw– 3

P Gerrit Cole– 3

PP Pedro Alvarez– 3

P Jon Lester– 3

PP Shane Victorino -3

P Mike Minor– 3

PP Hanley Ramirez– 3

P Max Scherzer– 3

PP Yoenis Cespedes– 3

PP (Position Player) Russell Martin– 1

P (Pitcher) Francisco Liriano– 1

PP Desmond Jennings– 1

P Alex Cobb– 1

In/Out/In-Between of the WBC as of 8 PM on December 8, 2012

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Today’s changes:

The Boston Globe reports that David Ortiz almost certainly will be unable to play in the WBC, due to his Achilles’ injury not being fully healed yet.

The complete list is below the jump:

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