Red Sox Report: Big Papi Weighs In On Fried Chicken, Beer & Baseball
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Big Papi is in the house! And he’s glad to be back.
David Ortiz reported to Red Sox training camp in Fort Myers Wednesday and he showed a little sense of humor upon his arrival. “I’m not talking about fried chicken and beer,” he said. “I had enough this offseason.”
And with that, he met with the assembled media.
Ortiz admitted that, for a while, he wasn’t sure that he would be wearing a Boston uniform this year. “I’m not going to lie to you. At one point, I thought I was done here,” he said. “The front office was caught up in a lot of things. At one point, I guess I thought I wasn’t a priority here. That’s the way it looked to me.”
But Ortiz admitted that he was happy to be back. He also said that he talked recently with his former manager Terry Francona whom he called “a close friend.” He said that Francona was “tired” and that he “needed a break.”
Ortiz and the club avoided arbitration at the last second and agreed on a 1-year deal worth a total of $14.75 million. He is coming off of a very solid 2011 season where he batted .309 with 29 homeruns and 96 RBI.
NOTES:
-Much of the talk down in Fort Myers is about who might be the Red Sox new team captain with Jason Varitek no longer there. Most believe that Dustin Pedroia is the obvious candidate for that role but he couldn’t seem to care less. “I don’t even think about that stuff,” he said. “It’s day one for me. I just want to have a good practice and help the team.”
For his part, new manager Bobby Valentine said that he really hadn’t planned on naming a captain so don’t expect it to happen anytime soon.
-Top shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias is getting lots of attention early on in camp and for good reason. First, Iglesias may be as good a defensive shortstop as the Red Sox have ever had and that position is not one of strength for the organization. With Marco Scutaro traded to Colorado, Iglesias will battle Nick Punto and Mike Aviles for the starting job with Punto considered the early favorite. The biggest challenge for the 22-year old Iglesias will be getting hit bat to round into shape. He batted just .235 for the Pawsox last season and had an OBP of .285. The organization will likely want to see him lift those numbers up before giving him a true shot to earn the starting spot in Boston.
-Is Bobby Valentine setting the stage for Carl Crawford to possibly be his lead-off hitter this year? Valentine isn’t sure that Jacoby Ellsbury is best suited for that spot because of his tremendous power and ability to hit so many extra-base hits. His argument seems to make sense. Then again, you wonder if this isn’t a way for him to appease Crawford who openly complained about being misused by hitting low in the order last season. We shall see.
-Speaking of Crawford, he continued his aggressive rehab of that injured left wrist by taking more swings in the batting cage on Wednesday.
-There are 42 days until Boston’s season opener against the Tigers in Detroit on April 5th.
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It