Jayson Stark has a column up over at ESPN gong in depth with Terry Francona and Charlie Manuel about how they're dealing with struggling veterans David Ortiz and Jamie Moyer. There's an extended bit lauding Francona for his diplomacy and tenderness and whatever when it came to dropping Papi in the order:
So what does a manager do when he wakes up on Memorial Day and finds a guy like that who ranks 86th (out of 88) among AL qualifiers in batting average (.195), has a lower slugging percentage (.299) than Endy Chavez and has fewer homers (one) than Yovani Gallardo? Well, Terry Francona already knew what he was going to do. He'd known for days, he said. But he also knew there was a respectful time and place to drop Big Papi out of the No. 3 hole, and a weekend series against the Mets wasn't it . . .
. . . So Francona felt it was important to do more than just send Ortiz to "the penalty box." In the case of a player of this stature, the manager felt it was almost mandatory to keep him involved in the thought process involved in such a momentous decision. "When times are getting tough, you've got to make decisions," Francona said. "And everybody understands that. But there needs to be some loyalty there. There needs to be communicating -- how it gets back to everyone else, how you say it. I don't want him to think he's going through this by himself. Just because he's not hitting 50 homers, that doesn't mean we don't care about him."
That's sweet and all, but I can't for the life of me understand why the decision to drop Ortiz in the order has gotten as much coverage as it has in the last week, let alone Stark and Francona's treatment of it as some emotionally cathartic event. The exact order of the lineup really ain't that important folks, and if everyone thinks that Ortiz would have a hissy fit over where's he hitting in it, well, they haven't been paying much attention to David Ortiz's career. I can't recall him ever having tantrums over perceived slights, and he's almost always been a pro about this stuff. What's more, he's been way more out front about how he stinks this year than just about anyone.
No, the tough decision -- to which Stark only briefly alludes -- is how Francona would deal with actually benching Ortiz for an extended period or, even worse, how the club as a whole will deal with him if and when it becomes necessary to trade him or designate him for assignment. Which could definitely happen. This is the team that cuts bait in bad waters quicker than most, and it would not shock me in the least to see them do something drastic with Papi if he doesn't turn it around in the coming weeks.
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They could trade him to the Dodgers. I understand they are looking for a big bat right now....
TRADE HIM TO THE DODGERS!!!! How do you think he would fit in with any NL club let alone AL right now? You are probably really a nice person but when you post stuff like that you can be mistaken for being an idiot
The lessson here, kids...steriods are bad.
Wow, is Selena Roberts posting in this room? If we are dealing in unsubstantiated, unverified comments about steroids, I know a guy who knows a guy who sold Jeter steroids...totally true!
This one time I saw Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken, and Torii Hunter hanging out and taking big hits off of a steroid pipe they were passing around.
Dude, just stop.
, an obvious Red Sox fan, to claim Jeter takes steriods... is typical of bitter hateful, jealous Red Sox fans.
Papi's BEST FRIEND is a steriods dealer, he's the one who sold them to A-rod... and has Jeter fallen off the table the way Papi did once testing got more aggressive? No... but Shilling sure did, as did Big Papi, and Veritek....
Jason Varitek has a higher OPS than Derek Jeter right now.
And what, pray tell, do Yankees fans have that Sox fans should be jealous of? Last time I checked, the Red Sox were ahead in the standings, and have two championships since the last time the Yankees won one in 2000. "Bitter, hateful and jealous" certainly describes someone, but I'm not sure it is who you think it is.
also, somebody doesn't understand sarcasm.
And wow you must be kidding me. Schilling and Varitek never gave any reason to believe they were on the roids. and they never had this sudden drop. Tek's numbers were down last year but he's doing well again. It was just a down year. And Schilling was pretty solid to the end of his career.
Oh, you mean the Jason Varitek who hit two HR last night and now has 10 dingers for the season? The Jeter remark was obviously intended as sarcasm - but of course understanding sarcasm requires intelligence. Could Ortiz have been a steroid user? Sure. Is there anything besides speculation to support that allegation. JIM-254362 obviously ascribes to the check out tabloid theory that if you say something often enough and put it in BIG BOLD LETTERS it automatically becomes fact.
JIM buddy, sounds like somebody is smoking some speculation. You should lay off that stuff... seriously its really bad for you. Rot your brain.
Nah, JIM is just such a baseball insider that of course he knows who David Ortiz's "best friend' is, AND he knows who supplied A-Rod with his stuff. He has all the inside scoop. That is why he is spending time posting his vast knowledge to newsvine.com.
I am glad at least a few people understood my sarcasm. I was simply trying to point out that anyone can be accused if we dont have standards for what it takes to substantiate a story. I could have just as easily said Carlos Beltran for the Mets, or Pujols in St. Louis......Jeter is just an easy one because of the emotional attachment that NY fans have to him.
I'm not sure that the Sox "cut bait" quicker than most. Care to back that up, Craig? Yes, they made efforts to get rid of Manny but never accomplished it until Manny went cookoo. Trot Nixon played out the string til his contract expired, as did Foulke, iirc. Bellhorn and Embree were released, but they weren't owed big bucks when they were set loose. That's the part of this you are ignoring - Ortiz is under contract through next season, at substantial cost. They aren't going to release him if there is any chance at all that he'll come back somewhere else and terrorize Boston pitching. And Theo isn't likely before 2010 to decide to pay someone else for him to play elsewhere.
Ortiz is found to have an "injury" and head down to Fort Myers to find his stroke long before there is any discussion of dealing him or DFA-ing him.
I agree that the "injury" route is far more likely. All I meant by the "cut bait" line was that the Sox have been willing to part ways with stars earlier than other teams tend to. I'm not sure many front offices would have traded Nomar in 2004, or let Pedro or Millar walk. All were good moves, of course. Most of the time, teams will go that extra mile for a former superstar.
But again, I agree, given his contract situation, it's more likely that they'd DL him for some unverifyable malady than to simply cut him.
Nomar forced the Red Sox to trade him as well (or should I say Mia Hamm did) Nomar played up some injuries more than he should have at the end; turned down a 4 yr 60 million contract prior to that at Mia's urging. She did not want him to play in Boston any longer