David Ortiz-Didn't need him

[lots of luck]

He has done some pretty amazing things since joining the Red Sox clubhouse. What were the circumstances around him leaving, was it payroll or production on the field. Sorry for the short term memory.

[IFallsRon]

Payroll. They wasted his raise on Mienky. But he went late to Boston in the free agent market and only made $1,250,000 last year. Sox are giving him $ 4,587,500 this year and getting pretty good return.

[bottomfeeder]

From what I remember, Ortiz wasn't nearly the hitter he was in MN that he is now. Part of that I assume is him maturing as a hitter, but also, it can't hurt be stuck in the middle of that Red Sox lineup. I'm guessing he see a lot more hitable picthes now.

[bottomfeeder]

My speelling is horrible!

[buzzsaw]

Besides all of the above mentioned facts I hear the Twins announcers discuss this earlier this season and I guess he was injured once in a while. Also, a defensive liability. Too bad we didn't have a crystal ball to see his future hitting skills.. I also heard that he didn't want to play on the turf and most likely was leaving anyways.

[Captain B.R.K]

Don't beat yourselves up over this one: DAVID ORTIZ is a hitter now because of a short porch at Fenway. Anyone with power can smack a homer over that fence. I think little Johnny Damon stands taller than the fence out there in RF!

Nice to see him doing well, but he would Never been the hitter he is now in the dome.

That's a fact.

PLUS the Sox don't ask him to do anything but swing a bat....we wanted him to do 1B.

[Pete Riola]

Just getting over that loss from 10 days ago I feel it's time to get back in the baseball forum despite my depression. He was always a good hitter they dumped him because he needed to be paid and he was injured about 1/3rd of the time. Can't play the field either. I'm an Ortiz fan he's alway having fun out there. Will this game ever end? 4-4 in the 14th with Ortiz up. Can you say Ding Dong?

[Tofishem]

Ding-A-Ling-A-Ding-Dong!

Ortiz did it again tonight!

Bruce

[The Grebe]

I bet old Dougy boy is happy! Had he stayed with the Twins, he would have been at home, watching baseball on the tube! Ah well, he has to have some sunshine in his life, just like the rest of us!

Changing teams did'nt seem to change him much at the plate?

Seems like his new team is in the same dilema the Twins were in, Ortiz/Mient-cave-itch?

Enough of that...The game last night was pretty exciting, huh? I like the Yanks, but I would'nt mind seeing those scrappers take it from them!

[bottomfeeder]

Has Dougy even played in this series?

[pikehunter]

Yeah, Dougie played a few innings last night after the Sox put in a pinch runner and moved the lineup around a bit. He actually hit a double that I thought was going to be the game's biggest hit, but he ended up stranded at third.

He was up in another huge situation, when Ortiz got caught stealing. I still wonder if Dougie didn't miss a sign there. He sure had that "Oh dump!" look on his face when he saw Ortiz running.

[bigbucks]

Well obviously someone missed a sign as Ortiz wouldn't run on his own, even if he had the green light.

Fenway may have a short porch, but it's not to right field, other than right on the line, like within 10' of it, it's low, but so what. Besides when have Ortiz's homers needed a short porch. He's been a good hitter, who's gotten progressively better. Hitting behind Manny would help anybody. He was hurt a lot, which cut down on his AB's & he hasn't been hurt as much playing on grass. All of these things play in. And yes his defense, isn't.

The Twins are going to lose some good players who they like this year, because they aren't willing/able to pay the ridiculous sums that some of these other teams are. It's the economics of a small market team.

[Big Ick]

I'm pretty sure, and I'm sure everyone will agree, that Ortiz wasn't the hitter in Minnesota as he is now in Boston. Oritz attributes his new found success to the hitting coach over there in Boston. Why the Twins got rid of him...he doesn't fit the profile to play on a small-ball team.

[pikehunter]

Just read in one of the Boston papers that indeed Francona sent Ortiz - straight steal, nothing else on. Unbeleivable.

Funny part is that he should have been called safe. Nonetheless, that's one that Boston fans could have been shaking their heads about for a long time if things had turned out differently. I had issues with some of Gardy's decisions, but I'll take him over Francona any day.

[friendlyfisher]

Ortiz was an over weight, over injured crybaby when he was a Twin. Now he is an underpaid, underappreciated RBI machine. Thats just the way baseball goes. By the way, johan Santana played for at least two other teams. You win some you loose some. ff

[The Grebe]

Francona sent Ortiz? Really? They even admitted to that in the paper? Cheez, that rivals a recent coaching decision by someone, to use Kubel as a pinch hitter!

Had they not pulled it out, that call would have put the coaches head on a platter! That would be like sending LeCroy to steal a base!