Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz doubled in his 425th plate appearance of the season today, triggering his 2016 option in the process, tweets Scott Lauber of the Boston Herald. The option is for an $11MM base salary and increases by $1MM for 475, 500, 525, 575, and 600 plate appearances. Ortiz is on pace to finish with about 625 plate appearances which would trigger the maximum $16MM payout.
Ortiz, 39, is in the midst of an up-and-down season. He’s batting .241/.333/.472 on the year, but his numbers have markedly improved since some mid-season adjustments in late May. After a brief benching on May 28 and 29, Ortiz has hit .261/.356/.546 in 239 plate appearances with 17 of his 23 home runs.
Ortiz has rarely played in the field throughout his career. The Red Sox designated hitter hasn’t started 10 games at a non-DH position since 2006. He does draw a handful of starts per season at first base thanks to Interleague games. He is a veteran of 19 seasons – six with the Twins and 13 with Boston. The Mariners originally signed him as an amateur free agent back in 1992.
He’s now on pace to reach 500 homers this year, too.
Another decent season should give him HOF worthy stats 2500+ hits 500+ HR 1700+ RBI’s.. It should be interesting to see how HOF voters feel about him when he is eligible.. They haven’t been kind to DH’s yet, especially, with Edgar Martinez.. Through 18 years their stats are very similar but Edgar doesn’t get very much love, supposedly, because he was primarily a DH. Ortiz should be a lock to get in after 2-3 years on the ballot. Imho had he been a position player throughout his career Ortiz would be a first ballot without question.. Like I said, it should be interesting..
If Ortiz makes the 500 HR mark, which now seems like an eventuality rather than an if, then I believe the only thing that will prevent him from entering the HOF will be the steroids question rather than the DH issue. Some voters have already gone on record as saying they won’t vote for any hitters from this era. Others will spar over the 2003 report.
Regardless of his HOF entry, as a Sox fan I believe Ortiz has already earned his entry into the Boston Sports Pantheon.
I don’t think Ortiz is ever going to make it. Steroid issues + bad media relations + basically career DH makes me think that he’ll have so much against him that it won’t happen :c
You might be wrong.
he has had good media relations outside boston so don’t see that as a factor. if he doesnt get in it’s because no career dh will ever get in or a possible steroid connection.
His media relations aren’t bad outside of the few that try to knock him down (Shaugnessy for example), which causes him to be outspoken about the subject.
500 HR used to be the magic number, or one of for enshrinement and he already had been robbed of 1 (or 3) MVP awards with being a DH as the excuse.
Can’t see one of the most feared hitters in the entire game over the last 12+ years being denied, not once he gets 11 more HR and he just may do it this season. More have been elected in the last half dozen years far less worthy by writers and his PED use STILL isn’t proven fact, unlike a few others out there who don’t need names rehashed.
Ortiz belongs.
Eliminating the inactive-for-ten-years voters will probably (and unfortunately, in my opinion) blow the doors open to Bonds, Clemens, etc., so I doubt Ortiz, by the time he’s eligible, will be much affected by that. His DH status and “temper” will be the determining factors (although Roberto Alomar’s infamous no-no didn’t hold him back, so we’ll see).
Alomar didn’t make it on the first ballot solely because of the spitting incident. Why do you say it didn’t hold him back?
He’s anything but a lock to get in. If some of the other drug tainted real stars didn’t get in, and they shouldn’t, Ortiz certainly does not warrant election. And if he had the tools to be a position player, he would have been one. He has demonstrated time and again what a liability he is in the field. Further, he has demonstrated time and again, his capacity for whining, temper tantrums, and egomania. Some see him as a detriment to the game rather than the “bigger than the game” image he has of himself.
In MY humble opinion, there’s no way David Ortiz is worthy of HoF status.
First off, there are tons of players who have awful attitudes that are in the Hall, and cheaters. David Ortiz connection to PEDs is so flimsy its absurd.
“David Ortiz connection to PEDs is so flimsy its absurd.”
Really? The man tested positive in 2003 and admitted to the positive test with the media. He swore at the time of the interview he would find out how it happened because everything he introduced to his body was no different than any other player and he would report back to how it happened. He never addressed whatever he learned with the media again.
He tested positive for something. We have no idea what it was at all. Who knows if its currently legal. Who knows what type of test it was? This was before the hearings in 2005. Ortiz wasn’t able to find out because the test wasn’t supposed to be leaked at all in the first place. It’s not that he was trying to hide it, he doesn’t know. It’s not like Arod who has tested positive and been caught red handed many times.
Borderline, but I don’t think Ortiz will get into the hall of fame unless he manages to somehow play long enough to reach 600+ HR and 2000+ RBI. Media and the fact that he got released will not help either. That said, he will surely be in the Red Sox’ hall of fame.
You are using the fact that he got released 14 years ago in a hof case? That is insane.
I don’t see how you jump him in over other PED users who had better overall careers–and played the field. Are you really going to exclude Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Sosa and Palmerio- and let in Ortiz? MLB will have to rationalize an era in which they tacitly approved of the use to boost attendance, and they haven’t yet. Making a special dispensation for Ortiz doesn’t seem fair.
It’s never been clear what Ortiz tested positive for if anything. Most of his best years came at the end of the height of the Steroid Era when there was big spotlights. He has not tested positive since that shady 2003 test. We have no idea if it was legal or not or what it was. Saying as how over 100 players tested positive in that pool, its hard to imagine they were all doing the worst or things that would clearly be illegal now. Bonds went to court over it, Clemens had a long bitter feud, McGwire, Sosa, palmero all made idiots of them selves before Congress.
bruins, let me suggest that none of us really know anything for sure. the number of users was almost certainly a lot higher than the ones who got caught, and the fact that players are still being caught–including high level players like Braun and A-Rod–tell us it still goes on. I was really trying to make a point about dealing with an era–and i think MLB is going to have to. But if you failed a test, you failed–and you have to be categorized that way. Saying that Ortiz belongs because you don’t want to believe the results but McGwire should be in because he said “I don’t want to talk about the past” seems to be the wrong way to go about it. Either we take all these users as they are, maybe marginally adjust their stats downward and decide whether they belong based on those “adjusted” numbers, or we exclude them. A-Rod is one of the greatest players of all time. Would I vote for him if I had one….yuck, and maybe he needs a special exclusion because he couldn’t control himself. But Bonds an all time great–a complete churl–but an all time great. Take Ortiz before Bonds? I’m sorry, but that’s a denial of history.
The evidence against all those guys is overwhelming. They were connected to huge scandals. You can’t just say that everyone whos ever failed a test is a cheater or guilty. We don’t even know what they were testing for. Also he is among the most tested players and there has been nothing. It’s kinda like Mike Pizzia where there is no real evidence. Palmero straight up lied to congress.
This is why I say MLB needs to come up with a different way of evaluating these players. Of course, fans will stick up for their guys. I still read a blog where we had one participant who was a Ryan Braun fan–he got into one knock-down drag out argument after another with various readers/commenters, until he simply disappeared from the site. But if Palmerio should be barred because he failed a test and then lied about it, where does that put Ortiz? He failed a test and, he, too denied using. Maybe that’s the truth, and maybe he’s another Raffy. Who knows? It all comes down to whether you believe him. The guy I have the most sympathy for is McGwire (and I’m neither an Oakland nor KC fan). McGwire was using and MLB was building him up like Paul Bunyan. It was great for the sport. You seriously think no-one had an inkling? Of course they did, but they didn’t care, because the dollars were rolling in. Then he’ a pariah–and he didn’t lie.
The problem is we have a good idea of what everyone who was caught, was caught with. It could even be something that is no longer or never was banned. He has not tested positive since the implantation of the drug program. He has also never been accused by any former or current player. The thing all those other guys is that its more then one test, or witness or evidence.
Zero chance Ortiz gets into the Hall. He is the poster boy for steroids. Look at the before and after pictures from when he started using and its obvious. He doesn’t look like the same person that was on the Twins. Boston fans and media can bleat all they want but he doesn’t get any votes outside of New England.
Wow its almost as if when people get older they put on weight? Wow we have an expert here. Poster child? Look at Canseco, Palmero, Big Mac and bonds. Come on man..