Red Sox slugger David Ortiz's tenure in Boston almost ended soon after he signed with the club, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com. “When I wasn’t playing, I told [Theo Epstein] to release me or trade me, because I was better than the other guys he had here,” Ortiz said, recalling a time in May 2003. “He told me to give it some time, he’d make some moves, then I would play. And then I started playing and here I am still.” One of the moves to help ease the logjam ahead of Ortiz was sending Shea Hillenbrand to the D'Backs for Byung-Hyun Kim. More from around baseball..
- Joel Hanrahan trade rumors have died down somewhat but the Pirates could still deal the closer based on how the season unfolds, write Bob Cohn and Rob Biertempfel of the PIttsburgh Tribune-Review. However, the club would need to receive an offer that they absolutely could not refuse.
- Execs are wondering if the Phillies will go into sell mode in July if they don't get healthy and turn things around quickly, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
- Pitcher Mark Prior is attempting another comeback in the Red Sox system and reliever Clayton Mortensen told Alex Speier of WEEI.com that the veteran is close to being big league ready.
“I was better than the other guys he had here,” Always humble and modest, that’s Big Poppy.
BTW, Happy Fathers Day.
“if you can do it, it ain’t braggin”
-M.Ali
Well I certainly wouldn’t say it to his face, but wow, what a terrible quote. That’s what bragging is.
Not taking up for ortiz, cause as a Cub fan yourself you noticed (for sure) he can lack in hustle on the bases at any given time.. As was evident when he was thrown at at home when he decided to not run very hard on Salty’s double last night..
The person he was referring to mostly..Hillenbrand was not exactly mr. congeniality on any team he was on and managed to get himself tossed, or flat out released despite having a really good bat.
He would have fit right in with the mid-late 70’s red Sox and NYY in fact.. he didn’t get along with anyone not related to him and the higher the authoritative figure? The worse down the totem pole he regarded them.. Definitely not how one prolongs a MLB career and even Ortiz realizes that isn’t how to stay on a MLB team.
Nah.. He (ortiz) just forced the normal lacking of spine Grady Little to make a choice and get Epstein to move Hillenbrand.. About time as well.
I think you’re confusing being heavy and slow with a lack of hustle. Ortiz looked like he was giving it his all – and appeared to be taking a pretty good path around the bases. He’s just a slow runner.
REALLY! He was dogging it looking back at the ball in play and when he saw Royster waiving him in he kicked it up from a jog to his super slow sprint. Look back at the game, he picked up the pace considerably when he realized Royster was waiving home.
I was actually referring to the Mohammad Ali quote as being terrible. Talking up something you can do is what bragging is. Thinking you’re better than you are is something else. If the quote was “If you can do it, it ain’t arrogance” than I would have been cool with it.
The quote from Ortiz doesn’t necessarily bother me. It’s kind of egotistical, but at the same time I don’t think I would want a player who comes into a new organization and thinks to himself “gosh, everybody here is better than me!” I think you have to believe in your own abilities to be successful at a major league level.
Lack of hustle is, unfortunately, not unfamiliar as a Cubs fan. I do think Soriano got more hate than he deserved for his play the other day and it seems like everybody in the world is leaping to his defense, but I remember a quote from Dale Sveum early in the season, maybe even spring training, where he said something like “we can’t control results, but we can control effort.” Well, then let’s not make excuses for lack of effort. Maybe Soriano gets a pass for his knees–maaaaybe–but he’s certainly not the only guilty one.
I read a story recently about a prospect who at the time was being scouted, hit a pop up and was half way to third base when it was caught. I wish I could remember who it was. In any event, THAT is the kind of player I want on my team. In a world where a handful of wins is the difference between a mediocre season and going to the playoffs, the occasional times when that hustle actually makes a difference can be huge.
Please trade Hanrahan
i think grilli would be capable as our closer so if it gets us a good bat and maybe another starting pitcher because brad lincoln should stay in the bullpen.
I agree. I love Hanrahan personally, but I also realize he’s our best trade chip right now to get other holes filled on the team. Grilli or Lincoln could easily try their hand at closing. Closers are struggling all over the league right now, so someone could offer us a nice piece or two.
Prior has 15 strikeouts in 6.2 innings. I hope he can complete his comeback this time.
I’m right there with you. The problem is with him being so good in the minors, the big league pen has been very strong so why would they change that? Unfortunate situation.
These problems will sort themselves out…don’t worry!
To my knowledge, Pittsburgh isn’t in the NL East…
The Phillies really have no choice but to go into sell mode. I think winning the division is pretty much going to take a miracle at this point as it’s going to take Washington AND Atlanta falling back down to Earth as well as over .600 ball.
Sell Mortimer, sell!
Even if they have to tank this year and even next year to a degree, we’re looking at a brighter future considering the money that’s coming off the books after 2013. Really, they’re only stuck with Papelbon, Howard, Lee, and Rollins.
… and even then they’re still technically contenders if Halladay, Lee, Utley, Howard, Rollins, and Co. stay healthy. 2nd Wild Card spot at least.
At $180M on the books, you should not have to “tank” in any year, that is of course unless your payroll is loaded up with overpaid aging players who spend more time on the DL than on the field.
Ooopss…….
I know where you’re going with that and that’s not really Ruben’s fault other than overpaying Howard… and then misleading himself and the fanbase into thinking he’d be back by May 1st.
I’m not defending him at all because he’s certainly made more mistakes than not since the 2nd Cliff Lee trade (or third if you count the Bartolo Colon trade).
If the Phillies could execute in “clutch” situations and play some sort of fundamental baseball, they’d be in better shape… that’s certainly not on him.
Can’t blame RAJ at all, especially considering the local sports media praised every single move he’s made so far. They bashed the national media for being critical of the Howard extension, “gotta bring back Jimmy”, and even Thome was labeled a good move as a pinch hitter and clubhouse presence. You know I’ve been saying they should let Cole walk at the end of the year and spend the money elsewhere (or trade him if the 2nd WC becomes a lost cause). I think the real interesting decision will be Ruiz when he comes up in a couple of years. Important to the pitching staff, but getting old like the rest of the core.
The phillies have sebastian Valle in the minors coming up in a few years, but I see Ruiz a phillie for the rest of his career.
RAJ was given a team that was in Win-Now mode and agree that he shouldn’t have given howard that contract, but as long as howard gives the phils 3 good years out of those five years, I believe it was worth it. They should go into sell mode trade Hamels and Victorino and just try to make a run at the wild card. Hamels will probably net some good prospects that may be ML ready or just a year or 2 away from being ML ready. If Utley comes back and can gain some Utley of old, I think the phils should trade him to a AL team in the off season. If utley were to get traded in the off-season does he have a no trade clause?
I can’t remember for sure, but I think 2013 is the last year on Utley’s contract. That or 2014.
The addition of the second wild card will make Amaro’s decisions even more difficult. Remember where the Cardinals were last year? No one had them making the post season. And now there’s two wild cards?
I do think that the Phillies could make this bad season a good one by dealing their pieces. They have three players who they could get pieces back to help their aging club going forward — Pence, Hamels and Victorino.
It makes sense to get rid of Pence because he will net you the most in return of the three since he is still under team control through next season. It’s not a hard decision for me: sign another 30-year-old player who will make $10+ mil a year or get a couple of good young pieces for him.
A losing season wouldn’t be the worst thing for the Phillies since they could stock the farm and would have a good draft pick — which they haven’t had in years — possibly in the top 10.
Trading those three doesn’t mean you can’t be a contender next year by any means. You still have Ruiz, Howard, Galvis, Rollins, Brown, Halladay, Lee, Worley, Papelbon. That’s more than most teams can say.
Funny thing, I actually used the Hillenbrand trade in an argument supporting the idea of trading Youk. The point being, solving a logjam could have positive unintended consequences. While the trade itself was unremarkable, it allowed Billy Mueller and Ortiz to both play full time. Billy Ballgame won a batting title and Ortiz became an icon.
Hanrahan to Boston for Youk and Lavarnway, plus Pirates eat ALL of Youks contract. Bucs may also send a minor leaguer (Kingman, Lambo, Cunningham, etc). I’m not sure how much is left of his contract, but I think it is a good chunk, plus Lavarnway is blocked pretty solidly.
Thoughts? How would you tweek it to make it work?
lavarnway, boegaerts, and youk would be a steal for the pirates! Hanrahan is overrated and making great bullpens out of nothing is huntington’s forte! Remember the last time we traded our closer (dotel)! HA I hope J-Mac makes the dodgers regret that for years! also eating youks contract wouldn’t be so bad because hanrahan is probably going to get paid around 7 million next year