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Surely, Boston Red Sox fans can’t believe David Ortiz is retiring. We understand. Your great-aunt who couldn’t tell a Carl Yastrzemski from a hole in the ground understands.

But Big Papi is indeed hanging ’em up.

The question now is, who can replace him?

The answer may be Edwin Encarnacion.

Granted, no one will ever truly replace Ortiz. The 10-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion will forever be a part of Red Sox lore. He was there when the Curse of the Bambino was lifted and for all the salad days that followed. He’ll never need to buy another meal in Massachusetts. 

He also hit 38 home runs, tallied 127 RBI and paced MLB with a 1.021 OPS in his farewell season. Clearly, Ortiz is rolling off the race track with gas sloshing in his tank.

On Thursday, Boston exercised its $17.2 million option on Ortiz for 2017 “as a formality,” per the team’s official Twitter feed.

That leaves the door cracked on an eleventh-hour change of heart, with Ortiz busting out of the phone booth in full Superman regalia to redeem Boston’s unceremonious division-series exit.

Back in reality, the defending American League East champion Red Sox will have to move on without their designated hitter, lineup anchor and franchise icon.

Which brings us back to Encarnacion, Ortiz’s friend and compatriot.

The 33-year-old Dominican posted a .263/.357/.529 slash line with 42 home runs last season for the Toronto Blue Jays while tying Ortiz for the AL lead with 127 RBI. He’s surpassed 30 homers in each of the last five campaigns and 100 RBI in four of them.

He delivered some huge moments in the postseason, including a Joe Carter-esque walk-off bomb in the AL Wild Card Game.

He’s also one of a precious few impact bats available in a weak free-agent class. 

That means demand for his services will be high. Considering his age and defensive limitations, however, his most serious suitors will be American League clubs in need of a DH.

That could include everyone from the Jays to the Baltimore Orioles to the Houston Astros to the Texas Rangers. 

If you’re looking for an ideal landing spot for Encarnacion, however, you couldn’t do much better than Beantown.

“The Red Sox know that they need to reinforce the middle of the lineup,” Ortiz said during a July 12 news conference, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick. “And sorry, Blue Jays, but who better than Encarnacion to do that?”

MLB investigated and absolved Ortiz for tampering, per Crasnick. The fit is simply too obvious. It’s like noting the sky is blue or that Bill Simmons is fond of Boston sports teams.

Encarnacion spent the first four-plus years of his career with the Cincinnati Reds before a 2009 trade to Toronto. 

He’s made himself exceedingly comfortable in the AL East. Other than the Reds’ Great American Ball Park and Blue Jays’ Rogers Centre, the stadiums in which Encarnacion has hit the most home runs are: Oriole Park at Camden Yards (16), Yankee Stadium (15) and Fenway Park (14).

The prospect of the right-handed swinging Encarnacion taking aim at the Green Monster and feasting in other AL East yards should leave Sox fans salivating.

“I think maybe the Green Monster helps,” Encarnacion said, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. “We are pull hitters. And we have that wall right there. I see the ball good here in this stadium. I love every time I come to play here.”

The Red Sox have an enviable farm system. They’re the division champs. They’ve got AL MVP candidate Mookie Betts at the forefront of a burgeoning lineup that led MLB in runs scored and OPS.

They don’t need Encarnacion. The riches they’d surrender to secure his services could squeeze the budget down the road, particularly on the back end of a long-term deal—unless he discovers Ortiz’s fountain of youth.

The Jays are expected to extend Encarnacion the qualifying offer, per Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball, meaning he’d cost a draft pick.

The Red Sox, however, can handle it. They’ve got the budget and the minor league depth.

There are other free-agent options, including Mark Trumbo, who hit 47 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles last season, and Encarnacion’s Blue Jays teammate, Jose Bautista. 

Then there’s Pablo Sandoval—remember him?—who is working his way back from shoulder surgery and could be in the mix at DH with Brock Holt, Travis Shaw and Yoan Moncada all possibilities at third base, per the Associated Press (h/t the Boston Herald).

The Red Sox can’t count on the prayer of a slimmed-down Kung Fu Panda, though. This team wants to win now and win later, and Encarnacion would help accomplish the former without precluding the latter.

“I do think that they will go very hard after Encarnacion,” CSNNE’s Sean McAdam said on The Baseball Show (h/t Matt Dolloff of CBS Boston). “That seems to be the guy they think is closest to providing near the production that Ortiz has given them in recent years.”

No one will ever replace Ortiz. That much is certain.

If the Sox are searching for the best facsimile, however, Encarnacion is probably their guy.

All statistics courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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The Colorado Rockies have hired Bud Black as their manager heading into the 2017 season, the club announced Monday.

FanRag Sports’ Tommy Stokke first reported the decision.

Black was the manager of the San Diego Padres from 2007 to 2015, accumulating a 649-713 career record in nine seasons. He was fired during the 2015 season after starting the year with a 32-33 record.

Although Black never led San Diego to the playoffs, he won the 2010 National League Manager of the Year award after helping guide the squad to a 90-72 record.

Padres players were quick to come to Black’s defense after the team relieved him of his duties.

“The way that Buddy ran the ship around here was fine,” pitcher James Shields said at the time, per ESPN.com. “We respect him as a manager and a man. As players, we’ve got to do a better job. It’s up to us as players to figure it out, try not to put blame on anybody.”

According to James Wagner of the Washington Post, the Washington Nationals reportedly intended on hiring Black to become their manager before the 2016 season, but negotiations broke down because of contract concerns. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Washington only offered him a one-year deal worth $1.6 million, which was “considerably lower than he anticipated.”

He instead spent the year working as a member of the Los Angeles Angels front office.

The 59-year-old manager will take over a Rockies team that finished in third place in the NL West with a 75-87 record last season. Former manager Walt Weiss, whose contract was set to expire, stepped down at the end of the year.

Although the Rockies haven’t finished with a winning record in the last six years, hitters such as Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez and 2016 batting champion DJ LeMahieu provide reason for hope in Colorado if Black can maximize the team’s talent.

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Only the Chicago Cubs deserve to look back onto the 2016 Major League Baseball season. For every other organization, it is now time to look forward.

That made the timing of Saturday’s Fall Stars Game, the showcase of the Arizona Fall League’s best players, perfect.

And no, the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber did not play in the game, though he played two Arizona Fall League games in order to get ready for the World Series.

But a host of top prospects did play and shine in the game, giving reason for a handful of organizations to be excited about the future. Who among them stood out the most?

Note: All prospect rankings are courtesy of MLB.com.

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Billy Goats and Bartman be damned. The curse over Wrigley Field has been lifted, and the Chicago Cubs are the kings of baseball for the first time in more than a century.

While fans continue to pinch each other, making sure this isn’t all some beautiful dream, the Cubs have little time to rest of their laurels. For the MLB offseason is officially underway, and team president Theo Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer and their staffs have work to do.

It’d be nice to keep the World Series-winning roster intact, but change is inevitable—even for the reigning champs. What follows is an overview of some of the decisions the team will have to make and how the roster might look when Opening Day rolls around roughly five months from now.

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As Milli Vanilli once sang, “Blame It On the Rain.”

OK, maybe Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan never actually sang those words, but the short rain delay heading into the 10th inning of Game 7 in the World Series robbed the Cleveland Indians of the momentum it had picked up thanks to a fabulous eighth-inning rally to tie things up with the Chicago Cubs.

It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact—and it may be the only reason the Cubs, and not the Indians, emerged victorious when play resumed.

While it was a disappointing ending to a terrific season, Cleveland is in terrific shape to make another playoff appearance, and perhaps another deep run, heading into the 2017 season. Of course, the roster won’t be exactly the same as some changes are inevitable.

What follows is an overview of some of the decisions that the team will have to make and how the roster might look when Opening Day rolls around roughly five months from now.

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Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Keon Broxton was arrested on Friday and charged with misdemeanor trespassing. 

Per Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times, Broxton was arrested in Tampa after refusing to leave an area following a fight. 

Auman noted the incident took place at 3:26 a.m. on Friday morning after Tampa police were dispersing a crowd following a fight. 

Per the arrest report Auman cited, Broxton was described as being “extremely intoxicated” with visible injuries to his face. As police were asking people to leave an area, Broxton started yelling “Y’all ain’t s–t behind your badges” and one of his friends took him from the area following another warning. 

The report then alleged police officers saw Broxton again a few blocks away, and he kept yelling at them, was issued another warning and walked back onto property he had been told to leave while still arguing with the officers, leading to his arrest.

Brewers general manager David Stearns issued a brief statement about Broxton’s arrest. 

“We are aware of the news regarding Keon Broxton and are currently gathering information,” Stearns said, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. We will defer further comment until we know more about the situation.”

The 26-year-old Broxton was born in Lakeland, Florida. He was originally a third-round draft pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009. Last season was his first extended opportunity in Major League Baseball, as he hit .242/.354/.430 in 75 games as the Brewers centerfielder.  

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Managers matter, and anyone who doesn’t think so must have missed the World Series.

No, this isn’t about whether Joe Maddon misused his bullpen or about whether Terry Francona could have done anything more to help the Cleveland Indians close out a series they led three games to one.

This isn’t about any decision Maddon or Francona made this week or last. It’s about the decision the Chicago Cubs made two years ago to hire Maddon and the one the Indians made two years earlier to bring in Francona—decisions that paid off and brought both teams to the World Series this year.

It’s about the decision the Arizona Diamondbacks made Friday to hire Torey Lovullo, who has many of the same abilities that make Maddon and Francona two of the best managers in baseball. Like them, he not only understands the game, but also understands the culture, and more than that, he understands dealing with people.

Who knows, maybe it even helps to have a connection with the Boston Red Sox, the team Lovullo served for the last four seasons as John Farrell’s bench coach. Francona managed the Red Sox, and Maddon interviewed there and was runner-up when Francona got the job. Even Dave Roberts, a first-year hit as the Los Angeles Dodgers manager, was previously best known for his part in the Sox’s curse-breaking run to the 2004 World Series title.

Roberts and Lovullo have other similarities, sharing an alma mater. (Although, the 51-year-old Lovullo played at UCLA nearly a decade before the 44-year-old Roberts.) Both have an appreciation of the numbers that play such an important part in the modern game, and both have the ability to connect with anyone they meet.

“Dave makes everyone he talks to feel like they’re his best friend, and it’s genuine,” Dodgers first base coach George Lombard said in September.

Lovullo is like that, too.

It’s why he was able to fit in so seamlessly as the acting Red Sox manager late last season, when Farrell left the team for cancer treatment. Lovullo handled a touchy situation with such ease that he instantly went to the top of the list of managerial candidates.

Because Farrell’s health status remained somewhat uncertain when the season ended, Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowski worked out a deal where Lovullo would agree to stay on in Boston for another year, working as the bench coach as long as Farrell was able to return.

Farrell returned, the Red Sox won the American League East and Lovullo’s star didn’t dim. In fact, when the Diamondbacks hired Mike Hazen to run their front office, Lovullo immediately became the leading candidate to join him as manager.

Hazen and Lovullo were close in Boston, where Hazen worked under Ben Cherington and then under Dombrowski. They go back further than that, back to when Hazen worked in the Indians front office and Lovullo was just getting started as a minor league manager.

Lovullo spent 10 seasons managing in the minors, experience that doesn’t guarantee big league success (Ryne Sandberg spent plenty of time in the minors, too) but can’t hurt. (Both Maddon and Francona did it, too.)

What matters most, of course, is whether Lovullo will be given players capable of doing what Maddon’s Cubs or Francona’s Indians did. He starts with a team that was one of baseball’s biggest underachievers in 2016, a team that had championship aspirations but instead lost 93 games.

Still, the Diamondbacks have a perennial MVP candidate in Paul Goldschmidt and a Cy Young winner in Zack Greinke. They have A.J. Pollock, whose injury on the eve of Opening Day helped sink the 2016 season.

It would be nice if they had Ender Inciarte and Dansby Swanson, too, but the Shelby Miller trade with the Atlanta Braves turned out to be the worst move of last winter.

It’s not the best of situations, especially with a history of ownership intervention and limitations on payroll. But ownership seems committed—for now, anyway—to the new front office. There’s no doubt Hazen will be committed to Lovullo.

He’ll walk in facing a challenge, but every new manager does. Maddon came to Chicago with a big budget and plenty of young talent on the way, but he took over a team that had five straight losing seasons and a century of failure. Francona came to Cleveland with some nice talent beginning to develop, but he took over a team with a limited budget coming off a 94-loss season.

In his first year with the Cubs, Maddon won the NL Wild Card and Manager of the Year award. In his first year with the Indians, Francona did the same in the AL.

Neither one has had a losing season since.

Both came in and changed the culture completely. Talk to anyone in Chicago or anyone in Cleveland, and you’ll hear volumes about the difference the manager made.

Can Lovullo do the same in Arizona? We’ll see, but I think he can.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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The city of Chicago threw a party 108 years in the making Friday.

Long-suffering fans of the Chicago Cubs packed the streets of the Windy City to watch the World Series parade that celebrated the team’s first championship since 1908. According to Chicago Bulls announcer Chuck Swirsky, television reports estimated that six million people attended the parade.

President of baseball operations Theo Epstein said of the party, “It exceeded my expectations by about tenfold. It was way bigger than Boston,” per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com.

The celebration started in Wrigley Field on the city’s north side and wound its way to Michigan Avenue downtown before culminating in Grant Park for a rally, as the Chicago Tribune highlighted:

Fans wasted little time filing into Grant Park, per NBC Chicago:

SportsCenter shared a look at the massive crowds hours before the team arrived for the rally:

The city prepared for the parade by dying the Chicago River a shade of Cubs blue, as the Chicago Tribune and Justin Breen of DNAinfo Chicago shared:

As players started boarding the bus, Wrigley Field was still flying the “W” flag that will likely remain above the scoreboard for the offseason:

Catcher David Ross provided a glimpse of his bus, while battery-mate Jon Lester had to look out for his head as the caravan made its way toward downtown:

The Cubs shared a look at a handful of the buses:

It was pure, cathartic bedlam by the time the parade reached Michigan Avenue, as Fox Sports MLB passed along:

Anthony Rizzo shared his exuberance with the crowd, per Dionne Miller of ABC Chicago:

Brad Edwards of CBS Chicago and Fox Sports MLB shared overviews of the scene:

The parade eventually reached Grant Park, where Cubs broadcaster Pat Hughes played the role of emcee. Team owner Tom Ricketts talked about the chance to finally tell desperate fans they won the World Series, per Fox Sports MLB:

Epstein discussed the rebuilding process and joked about this year’s slogan, per CBS Sports MLB: “Let’s be honest, for a while there, we forgot the ‘not’ in ‘try not to suck.'”

Epstein gave way to manager Joe Maddon, who called the massive crowds “Cubstock 2016,” per Sarah Spain of ESPN. Maddon also had another task, as Tony Andracki of CSN Chicago described: “Maddon immediately thanks wife after getting to podium. Theo runs over to have Maddon thank Mrs. Epstein too, because Theo forgot that part.”

The Cubs shared a look at that Cubstock crowd in Grant Park:

Hughes then introduced the players after Maddon. Dexter Fowler was the first player to speak, but Lester was the first one to swear, as Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation described:

Miguel Montero, Kyle Schwarber and World Series MVP Ben Zobrist also spoke, and Zobrist said, “This is a team full of MVPs, and we’re in a city of MVPs,” per 670 The Score in Chicago.

Rizzo took the stage after Zobrist and broke into tears when he introduced Ross and talked about how the veteran mentored him and the rest of the young players. Ross also got choked up and lifted the World Series trophy, as Fox Sports MLB documented:

Rizzo gave the ball from the final out of the World Series to Ricketts before the team and singer Brett Eldredge belted out “Go Cubs Go” with the crowd.

It was the party of a lifetime for generations of Cubs fans, but it may be the first of many if Epstein continues to operate his well-oiled machine on the city’s north side.

Chicago won an MLB-best 103 games this year and features a young core of position players. Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Schwarber, Javier Baez, Jason Heyward, Jorge Soler, Albert Almora Jr. and Willson Contreras are all 27 years old or younger.

It is not a stretch to suggest they could add to the 2016 title, especially after proving they can deliver on the biggest of stages in the clutch moments.

Game 7 appeared to slip from the Cubs’ grasp when Rajai Davis drilled a game-tying home run off Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning. However, the Cubs rallied following a rain delay and received critical run-scoring hits from Zobrist and Montero in the 10th.

Thanks to the 2016 team, future Cubs squads will no longer be under the burden of history and an extensive World Series drought.

Now the talented players who Epstein and the front office brought to Chicago will turn their attention toward the 2017 season, where they are already listed as championship favorites on Odds Shark.

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The Arizona Diamondbacks filled their manager vacancy by hiring Boston Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo.

The Diamondbacks confirmed the move on Monday, sharing an image of Lovullo signing his contract:

“I want to aim as high as possible,” Lovullo told reporters afterward. “I am very optimistic that we have the capabilities of doing something special.”

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 in Phoenix initially reported the Diamondbacks would hire Lovullo on Nov. 4.

Lovullo had been Boston’s bench coach since 2013 after previously serving two seasons on manager John Farrell’s staff with the Toronto Blue Jays.

He was interim manager for the Red Sox in 2015 for 49 games while Farrell underwent chemotherapy, posting a 28-21 record.

The 51-year-old former MLB infielder played for seven different teams during parts of eight seasons, spending most of his time in the minors.

Aside from his stint as Red Sox interim manager, Lovullo managed at the Single-A, Double-A and Triple-A levels from 2002 through 2010. He won a World Series title with Boston as a coach in 2013.

Lovullo takes over a D-backs team that finished under .500 in each of the past two years under Chip Hale. They haven’t reached the postseason since 2011 and have just one playoff berth in the past nine years.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports believes Lovullo may prove to be the right man for the job in the desert:

ESPN’s Jim Bowden agrees with that assessment:

Arizona won only 69 games last season despite making a big splash during the offseason, but there is plenty of talent in place.

With Zack Greinke as the ace starter and a lineup that includes the likes of Paul Goldschmidt, A.J. Pollock, Jake Lamb, Jean Segura and Yasmany Tomas, Lovullo has a lot to work with.

Lovullo has a winning pedigree as a bench coach, and if he can alter the losing culture that has overtaken the Diamondbacks in recent years, they have a chance to be contenders in 2017 and beyond.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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After 13 years as a scapegoat, a weight was lifted off Steve Bartman’s shoulders when the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday, and according to a spokesperson, the victory brought happiness to the Windy City’s former public enemy No. 1. 

Per Josh Peter of USA Today, spokesman Frank Murtha said the following Thursday regarding Bartman’s reaction to the Cubbies ending their 108-year title drought: “He was just overjoyed that the Cubs won, as all the Cubs fans are.”

Bartman infamously got his hands on a foul ball in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series between the Cubs and the then-Florida Marlins, which prevented outfielder Moises Alou from making the catch.

The Marlins overcame a 3-0 deficit in that contest and a 3-2 deficit in the series to eliminate the Cubs, thus prolonging their title wait.

Many blamed Bartman for the loss despite several other factors coming into play, and it led to Bartman completely removing himself from the public eye.

Now that the Cubs are champions again, however, many have called for Bartman to have some involvement in Friday’s championship parade, including ESPN’s Rece Davis:

Despite the groundswell, Murtha said Bartman has no interest in overshadowing what the Cubs accomplished: “We don’t intend to crash the parade. The one thing that Steve and I did talk about was if the Cubs were to win, he did not want to be a distraction to the accomplishments of the players and the organization.”

Regardless of if or when Bartman decides to emerge publicly, it is abundantly clear that Cubs fans are ready to embrace him.

Time and winning can heal plenty, and although the backlash against Bartman was always unfair, perhaps no one individual benefited more or felt more relief when first baseman Anthony Rizzo secured the ball in his glove for the final out of the 2016 World Series.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

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