Kuzul

The next time there’s drama between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, Major League Baseball will get to share in the blame.

Yup, we’re taking it for granted that there will be more drama. It’s gotten to be a pretty safe bet over the years with these two clubs, and MLB raised the odds with its response to their most recent dust-up.

The latest news, via MLB.com, is that Red Sox right-hander Brandon Workman has been suspended Tuesday for six games for throwing at Rays third baseman Evan Longoria last Friday.

Given that a warning had been issued, the pitch was a bit too close to Longoria‘s head and Workman was ejected from the game, his suspension (which he is appealing) is neither surprising nor totally unwarranted. 

But it’s still hard to ignore how Workman would not have targeted Longoria had it not been for the actions of David Price. For what he did earlier in the game, he also deserved to be punished.

Remarkably, he was not.

For those who missed it, it was Price who kicked off a heated evening at Fenway Park by drilling Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz with a fastball in the first inning:

Last I checked, intentional beanballs are against the rules. And while the pitch Price eventually got Mike Carp with in the fourth inning can be rationally explained as unintentional, it’s a lot harder to do that with the pitch that got Ortiz.

Brooks Baseball can show that it was by far the biggest outlier on a night when the Rays lefty was staying away from Boston’s left-handed batters. But even more important than that is how, as Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe noted, Price “essentially admitted” to throwing at Big Papi on purpose.

And that might even be an understatement.

In a chat with Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, Price indicated he was channeling old-school sensibilities in going after Ortiz:

You can’t read this without thinking not only of Ortiz’s showboating routines on virtually all his dingers, but more specifically of the two homers he hit off Price in Game 2 of the ALDS last October.

It was the second of those that irked Price, as Ortiz took a while in getting out of the batter’s box (that may or may not have been due to him not being sure the ball would stay fair). Price made it clear to reporters after the game that he wasn’t happy about that.

The ol‘ unwritten rules would indeed say that drilling Ortiz was the way for Price to get even. And in doing so, he boasted to Rosenthal about earning plenty of approval from around the league:

These comments should have been grounds for MLB to punish Price alongside Workman. 

Unprecedented, you say? Nah. Don’t say that. There’s precedent, all right. 

Remember what happened with Cole Hamels and Bryce Harper in 2012?

Here’s the short version: Hamels plunked Harper with the fastball, wasn’t ejected, but didn’t bother denying after the game that he hit Harper on purpose. Hamels’ eyeroll-worthy justification was that he was trying to “continue the old baseball.”

Evidently, MLB heard him. Because a day later, Hamels was suspended for five games. 

Thus Hamels was punished not for having the nerve to bean a player at an opportune moment, but for having the nerve to issue the beaning and then boast about it after the fact.

Since Price did the same thing, the Red Sox have every right to be upset that he wasn’t given the Hamels treatment.

And from the sound of things, they are.

Here’s Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe:

The most baffled of all? That would be Big Papi. 

Having already called Price, via CSNNE.com, “a little girl,” “a little [bleep]” and saying Price “better bring the gloves” next time, the news of Price escaping punishment hasn’t made Ortiz any less angry.

Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald has the (slightly NSFW) quotes:

“I don’t even know what to say, you know? I mean, he started everything up and we’ve got to pay for it, basically,” Ortiz also said, via WEEI.com’s DJ Bean. “That’s the message that I’m getting, right?”

Would Ortiz have been 100 percent satisfied if Price had gotten suspended?

Likely not, no, but he surely would have been more than 0 percent satisfied. This is Ortiz at his Incredible Hulk-iest, and you better believe that’s not lost on his teammates.

Ortiz isn’t some scrub. He’s the Red Sox’s best hitter, their longest-tenured member and the biggest, baddest presence in their clubhouse. If ever there was a guy the Red Sox were going to back in a dispute, it’s him. Especially one the Red Sox aren’t winning.

And the score says they’re not winning this one. They hit no Rays while Price hit two Red Sox. Their guy was ejected while Price wasn’t. Their guy was punished while Price escaped punishment. And at all of this, their biggest star is very much annoyed.

Maybe Ortiz and the Red Sox would have let the whole thing go if Price was suspended. Perhaps that would have been proper justice in their eyes and an excuse to move on.

But since the powers that be exacted no justice, vigilante justice is bound to happen.

Look for the Red Sox to take matters into their own hands next time they come across Price and the Rays at the end of July (25-27) at Tropicana Field. There’s liable to be beanballs, hard slides into second base or both.

I don’t want to see it, nor do I think anybody should. Baseball will be better off when all the unwritten gladiatorial nonsense goes away for good. All that will be left is just, well, baseball.

But consider yourself warned anyway. No thanks to MLB, the Red Sox have a score to settle.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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On Friday night, Fenway Park turned into the Wild West. Scores were settled, barbs were thrown and threats of future retaliation echoed through the night.

In the David Price vs. David Ortiz drama—stemming from Ortiz’s reaction to a home run off Price in the 2013 ALDS—both players are at fault for letting emotions overtake the game.

When Price plunked Ortiz last night, it was a clear directive toward last season’s postseason blast at Fenway Park, regardless of Price’s justification after the game, per Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. 

“I’ve got to establish my fastball in,” Price said. “I’ve got six lefties in that lineup. It’s my favorite side of the plate to go to.”

Despite an offseason phone call between the two players to bury the hatchet and move forward, the first Ortiz vs. Price at-bat of 2014 ended in a painful jog down to first base for Boston’s designated hitter and a short night for Red Sox manager John Farrell. 

The intent was clear and direct, bringing fans back to Price’s emotional quote after Ortiz launched an eighth-inning home run in Game 2 of last October’s ALCS, per Rob Bradford of WEEI.com.

“He knows how I’ve pitched him the last year and a half, probably two years. He steps in the bucket and he hits a homer, and he stares at it to see if it’s fair or foul,” Price said. “I’m sure that’s what he’d say. But as soon as he hit it and I saw it, I knew it was fair. Run.”

Ortiz didn’t run that night, allowing Price the freedom to retaliate eight months later. The reaction of Tampa’s dugout last evening conveyed a feeling of purpose, something the umpire crew clearly agreed with when issuing warnings. 

At that point, the story could have ended. In Boston, Price would have been known as a sore loser and enforcer of old, archaic unwritten rules surrounding batter-pitcher etiquette. 

Although every team is peeved when on the receiving end of the slow, dramatic home run gaze and trot, almost every 25-man roster in baseball has a player or two that does the exact same thing.

Price let emotion and personal vendetta start a feud, but Ortiz’s actions later took the fracas to a ridiculous level. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, a Price fastball sailed up and in on left-handed hitter Mike Carp, marking the second Red Sox batter plunked in the game. Unlike the Ortiz moment from earlier, there was no motive or logical reason for Price to hit Carp in that situation. 

Tampa entered the game on a three-game losing streak and risked falling behind the lowly Houston Astros for the American League’s worst record if a win didn’t commence on Friday in Boston. With a runner already on second base and Tampa clinging to a slim one-run margin, the idea of Price willingly putting the go-ahead run on base is absurd.

Yet, due to the vitriol from the Ortiz exchange earlier, the Red Sox took it as a pitch meant with more intent and hatred.

The benches clearing incident that followed—spearheaded by Ortiz’s show of emotion on the field—made the situation bigger than it had to be. 

After initially issuing a warning when Price hit Ortiz, the umpires correctly didn’t deem intent on the pitch to Carp. Thousands of Red Sox fans may disagree, but two separate situations suddenly became one thanks to Ortiz and press conference words that will likely live in Fenway infamy, per CSN New England.

“You can’t be acting like a little girl out there,” Ortiz said. “You’re not going to win every time. When you give it up, that’s an experience for the next time. If you’re going act like a little [expletive] when you give it up, bounce back and put your teammates in jeopardy, that’s going to cost you.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Ortiz landed one last barb to the assembled media:

With that, a baseball situation became something more. It’s uncomfortable when athletes use the term “war” to describe anything on a diamond, field, court or rink because of the real-world that exists outside of the multi-billion dollar bubble of professional sports.

Furthermore, the idea that Ortiz wants to continue this nonsense is disconcerting and embarrassing for the game.

Price didn’t have to hit Ortiz, but Ortiz didn’t have to continue the dialogue and banter in the aftermath of a meaningful back-and-forth AL East tilt. 

Rays third baseman Evan Longoria summed up the night best, giving credence to Ortiz’s emotion but putting it in the perspective of baseball wins and losses, not war, per Smith’s Tampa Bay Times report.

“I’m right there with Papi in saying, “It’s game on, whenever we go out there,” Longoria said. “We’re all fierce competitors. But at the end of the day it doesn’t come down to who’s more macho or who has more guts when it comes to going out and clearing the benches. We’re out there fighting to get out of the cellar.”

On Friday night, both Price and Ortiz lost track of what was most important, driving an inane personal vendetta to the breaking point and altering the course of an important game along the way. 

Agree? Disagree?

Comment, follow me on Twitter or “like” my Facebook page to talk about all things baseball.

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David Ortiz says he has lost respect for David Price.

In the process, a lot of people have lost respect for Ortiz.

The Boston Red Sox‘s outspoken designated hitter routinely says what’s on his mind and rarely fails to bring out the emotions of his audience. He has inspired teammates, fans and even an entire city through his intensity. It is probably one of the reasons he has gained so many fans over his career.

His passionate postgame comments about Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price brought out some emotions and opinions of another nature. 

Price plunked Ortiz with a 94-miles-per-hour fastball in the first inning of Friday night’s game. If you read between the lines of Price’s postgame comments, it would appear the pitch was in retaliation for Ortiz’s slow trot after a home run in last season’s American League Division Series.

Benches cleared in the fourth inning after Price hit Mike Carp with a pitch.

During the game, Red Sox starting pitcher Brandon Workman, third base coach Brian Butterfield, manager John Farrell and bench coach Torey Lovullo were ejected.

After the game, Ortiz went off on a rant to reporters, including Rob Bradford from WEEI.com.

I have a lot of respect of the guy, man, but it’s over. I have no more respect for him. Last year we kick his ass in the playoffs, he went off, talking s–t about everybody, Tom Verducci and everybody. Players. We kind of got to talk on the phone. We kind of straightened things out. He was kind of upset. Me as a veteran I kind of let him know how things go in this game. Later on he called me and apologized because he knows he was wrong. He apologized in public. He apologized to myself. Everything was cool. So first at-bat of the season against him he threw at me. I mean, it’s a war. It’s on. Next time he hits me he better bring the gloves. I have no respect for him no more.

Less than a week removed from Memorial Day, a moment of honoring fallen soldiers, is a little too soon to take a baseball beef and compare it to an armed conflict. As can be expected, fans did not react kindly to the comments.

It’s a game, not a war. Win or lose everyone lives to see tomorrow.

The poor timing of that comment would be overshadowed by the addition of a very misogynistic tone to his rant.

I was surprised for a minute until I watched the video. I thought everything was cool. You can’t be acting like a little girl out there. You aren’t going to win every time. When you give it up, that’s an experience for the next time. But when you’re to be acting like a little b—h every time you give it up, bounce back like that and put your teammates in jeopardy, that’s going to cost you.

When you infer that there is something wrong or inferior with being a female and include a hateful term toward women, people usually get upset. 

One good indicator of a poor statement is when a player upsets a fan of their team.

There were, of course, some fans of the Red Sox that were completely fine with what Ortiz said.

The rivalry between the Red Sox and Rays has become the most heated in the AL East. With two more games in this series and more games this season, it is safe to say the final words of this feud have not been said.

Hopefully, we have heard the final comparison to war and words rooted in disrespect to women. 

Stay classy.

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Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz heads into Tuesday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds with a chance to take sole possession of fourth place on Boston’s all-time home run list.

Per ESPN Stats & Info, Ortiz hit his 379th home run in a Red Sox uniform Saturday against the Oakland Athletics, pulling himself into a tie for fourth place with retired right fielder Dwight Evans.

Evans and Ortiz couldn’t be more different, as Big Papi was a late-blooming slugger who could barely play first base, even in his younger years.

Evans, on the other hand, was successful from a young age and will ultimately be remembered for his work with the glove just as much as his work in the batter’s box. The man affectionately known as “Dewey” to Red Sox fans retired with six Gold Glove Awards and just two Silver Slugger Awards.

Ortiz? Six Silver Sluggers—all as a designated hitter—and nary a Gold Glove.

Shortly after passing Evans on the franchise homer list, Ortiz will take aim at Jim Rice, who hit each of his 382 career home runs in a Red Sox uniform. Much like Ortiz, Rice was renowned for his slugging prowess, but he didn’t have a whole lot else to offer.

Once Ortiz inevitably hits four more homers to pass Rice for third place, his ascent up the leaderboard may come to an end. Carl Yastrzemski sits in second place with 452 dingers, while Ted Williams’ 521 are good for the all-time Red Sox lead.

Ortiz seems to have plenty of gas left in the tank, but he is 38 years old, and he needs 74 more home runs to pass Yastrzemski for that No. 2 spot.

Signed through 2015, Ortiz would likely need to play until at least 2016 to have a shot at surpassing Yastrzemski, as the slugging DH hasn’t topped 30 homers in a season since hitting 32 in 2010.

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With a brand new World Series championship banner hanging on Yawkey Way, the Boston Red Sox have some pretty big shoes to fill as we move towards the 2014 MLB season.

This year, fans will be treated to an injection of youth with Xander Bogaerts likely taking over as the everyday shortstop and Jackie Bradley Jr. in center field.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia took his talents to South Beach and veteran backstop A.J. Pierzynski has been brought in to fill the void.

To get the closest and most accurate projections possible, the following statistics were compiled and compared, ultimately creating an equation to help determine how each player will perform in 2014.

The stats consist of basic offensive numbers: games, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, stolen bases and batting lines.

Generally, to reach a conclusion on each stat, players were evaluated on their performances against every team the Red Sox will face in 2014. Those figures were compared to players’ career numbers, as well as other variables, such as home-versus-away numbers.

These are the results. 

Begin Slideshow

The National Baseball Hall of Fame is a sensitive and controversial topic, regardless of which player, era or concept is up for discussion. As the baseball community reacts to the 2014 induction list, one thing is certain: At some point, a designated hitter will be inducted into Cooperstown.

When that day arrives, former Seattle Mariners great Edgar Martinez should be the man to carry the torch into baseball’s hallowed hallways. 

After researching the respective careers of the top designated hitters in baseball history, Martinez and David Ortiz, it’s clear which player should be the first in Cooperstown. The voting public may react differently over the next 10 years, but the facts are undeniably in the favor of the currently eligible Martinez.

With no disrespect to current Red Sox star David Ortiz, the idea of Big Papi paving the way for designated hitters in the Hall of Fame is backwards. After all, it was Martinez who redefined offense at the position, dominated American League pitching for years before Ortiz’s ascension and put up staggering numbers that few hitters in baseball history have ever matched.

Before breaking down why Martinez is deserving of induction in Cooperstown, this disclaimer is necessary in the interest of clarity: David Ortiz is on the path to the Hall of Fame, regardless of where the numbers and facts currently stand. If he continues to mash AL East pitching over the next few seasons, his accolades will be too hard to ignore for the BBWAA voters.

Of course, Edgar Martinez’s numbers should be too hard to ignore now.

In baseball history, only 19 hitters with at least 5,000 career at-bats, regardless of position, have posted a career slash line of at least .300/.400/.500. Edgar Martinez is one of those hitters. The names on the following chart comprise the most dominant offensive performers in the history of the sport. 

Currently, the average Hall of Fame hitter has produced approximately 69 WAR, according to Baseball-Reference. Martinez, despite making his name as a designated hitter after injuries and failed attempts at playing the infield during his youth, retired with a career WAR of 68.1, virtually identical to the average HOF mark.

Over the years, my stance on Martinez’s candidacy has shifted. Reliving his career through statistics, video and columns from his playing days has provided clarity on the kind of impact performer he truly was for the Seattle Mariners. That impact, similar to what Ortiz has meant to the Boston Red Sox, can’t be overlooked.

After acknowledging Martinez’s rightful place in Cooperstown, the topic shifts to his place among all-time DH’s, specifically in reference to the path Ortiz is currently blazing through the sport. 

Let’s take a look at four key areas (peak, late-career dominance, October success and total value) to assess why Martinez, not Ortiz, is the rightful king of the DH throne. 

When at their respective bests, both Martinez and Ortiz were middle-of-the-order stars, run producers and nightmares for opposing pitchers. Although a dip in Ortiz’s performance, followed up by a current resurgence, made comparing their six-year peaks difficult, the numbers don’t lie: During their best, Martinez had more of an impact than Ortiz.

While a fair argument can be made that Martinez’s best years coincided with one of the biggest offensive booms in history, OPS-plus, or adjusted OPS, takes that into account. Even after resetting the league standards, Martinez was 12 percent better than Ortiz during their most dominant seasons.

This piece, specifically when comparing career excellence of both designated hitters, produced some surprising numbers. None of which was more eye-opening than the perception vs. reality look at how each hitter performed during the late stages of their career.

Admittedly, Ortiz’s most recent success, capped off by another dominant run to a World Series ring, led me to believe that his late-career dominance was pushing him past Edgar Martinez. As Ortiz ages, he seems to get better and better. In a twist of irony, Martinez did the same. In fact, he was even better from age 35-37 than Ortiz has been. 

If there’s an area where Ortiz closes the gap, in a significant way, it lies in October. Over the course of his career in Boston, David Ortiz has surpassed Reggie Jackson to become the true Mr. October. That feat, while difficult to parlay within a discussion of regular-season dominance, is part of Ortiz’s ledger, undoubtedly part of the reason he’ll eventually land in Cooperstown.

Martinez, despite a few gigantic postseason series, including the 1995 ALDS that put the Mariners franchise on the national map, didn’t come close to replicating the success that Ortiz put forth when championships were on the line. If we call Martinez a good postseason performer, it’s necessary to call Ortiz an elite October hitter. 

Finally, there’s the subject of value. Although Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs have varying degrees of WAR and calculating the true value of players, their respective systems paint a very similar picture of the two DHs in question. Without a doubt, Martinez provided more value than Ortiz. In fact, the gap isn’t even close.  

To be fair, Ortiz’s career isn’t over. With the way he’s hit over the last few years, projecting three or four more years of value onto his career ledger isn’t outlandish. Yet, even if he can produce 3.8 WAR per year (his average value over the last two seasons) for the next three years, his career mark will still be well below the average hitter in the Hall of Fame.  

Depending on your take on postseason accolades, Ortiz is likely poised to parlay his championship rings, Mr. October moniker and importance as a central figure in Red Sox history into a future Cooperstown induction ceremony. If, say, Ortiz retires within 10 WAR of Edgar Martinez, the pomp and circumstance around his fame and October genius will even the playing field. 

If that occurs, Ortiz will have done enough to catch Edgar Martinez as the greatest DH ever. When that day arrives, Ortiz should join Martinez in Cooperstown, not be forced to knock down the door for a hitter of Martinez’s caliber. 

Agree? Disagree?

Comment, follow me on Twitter or “like” my Facebook page to talk all things baseball. 

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David Ortiz would like an extension on his contract, and the sooner the better.

But for various reasons having to do with history and upon-closer-inspection statistics, it would be better if the Boston Red Sox waited.

If you’re not caught up on the latest, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reported on Friday that Big Papi is pressuring the Red Sox to tack another year on the two-year, $26 million deal he signed last winter. Apparently, negotiations between the two sides are already happening.

For what it’s worth, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reported in November that Ortiz and the Red Sox actually agreed last winter not to negotiate until his two-year contract expired. But hey, you can’t blame Ortiz for wanting an extension now.

The guy hit .309 with a .959 OPS and 30 homers in 2013, and he is fresh off an MVP performance in the World Series. When it was suggested that he could just wait until after 2014 to talk, it’s no wonder Ortiz brushed it off.

“What for?” said the star designated hitter. “You know what’s going to happen if I’m healthy and good to go. I just hate the situation where I have to sit down at the end of the year and talk about my following year. Let’s do it now. We’re world champs right now.”

Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington should hear Ortiz out, but that’s it. Extending Ortiz now would only make sense if there was some sort of assurance that he could be himself in 2015, and no such assurance exists.

Let’s start by defining what Ortiz being himself means. If we narrow it down to 2013 and the past three seasons as a whole, it means:

This is fantastic stuff on its own. But for production accumulated between the ages of 35 and 37, it’s historically fantastic.

A search on Baseball-Reference.com for players who have logged as many as 1,500 plate appearances with an OPS+ as high as 160 in that age span returns only five other names:

• Barry Bonds: 237 OPS+
• Babe Ruth: 210 OPS+
• Hank Aaron: 173 OPS+
• Nap Lajoie: 167 OPS+
• Tris Speaker: 164 OPS+

Four Hall of Famers, and one guy who, at the least, has the numbers of a Hall of Famer.

As for how these guys did after their age 35-37 explosions… Well, it’s a mixed bag:

Bonds was tremendous, but we know the reasons for that. After him, Ruth wasn’t the same player. Aaron rebounded at age 39 after a down year at age 38, but in a modest amount of playing time. Lajoie and Speaker, meanwhile, both fell apart.

It may be a small sample size, but it’s one that reaffirms something we already know about baseball: aging sucks. 

And if you’re thinking it, history doesn’t look much kinder if we narrow our focus to designated hitters.

A search for players who A) played until they were 38, B) played at least 50 percent of their games at DH and C) logged at least 3,000 plate appearances returns only a couple of names. Here’s how those players did in their age-39 seasons:

Once again, we find ourselves looking at a mixed bag. Frank Thomas wasn’t himself as he got older. Ditto Don Baylor. Harold Baines was quite good between the ages of 36 and 38, but then he dropped off at 39. Cliff Johnson didn’t even play an age-39 season.

Edgar Martinez and Hal McRae appear to be exceptions to the rule. The catch is that Martinez logged only 407 plate appearances in his age-39 season, and McRae logged only 369 in his.

In all, here’s what history has to say: If Big Papi enjoys a healthy and Big Papi-ly productive season at the age of 39, he’ll be doing something that’s very rarely been done throughout history and never been done by a designated hitter.

If you’re the Red Sox, the question is easy: Why be quick to sign up for something that’s essentially unprecedented?

As it is, the Red Sox don’t even know what Ortiz is going to do in 2014 at the age of 38. A good guess is that it probably won’t be anything like what he did in 2013.

Via FanGraphs, here’s what the ZiPS projections see for Ortiz in 2014:

So fewer plate appearances and generally less awesome production. Which sounds plausible.

Fewer plate appearances would come courtesy of an injury, and that’s fair given both Ortiz’s age and the fact that he had an injury cut his 2012 season short and bite into his 2013 season. Less awesome production wouldn’t be a surprise due to Ortiz’s age and, indeed, what happened in the second half.

That story goes:

Ortiz was hardly bad in the second half, but he wasn’t excellent either. Two easy symptoms to point to are the increase in strikeouts and decrease in fly balls that went over the fence.

Perhaps the least encouraging symptom, however, is how Ortiz suddenly stopped crushing fastballs. He generated 17.4 runs above average against heaters in the first half, but only 2.7 in the second half.

In particular, he struggled against right-handed four-seamers. As Brooks Baseball can show:

That’s a pretty serious drop-off in production, and one reminiscent of Ortiz’s dark days of 2008 and 2009 when he seemed to be no match for good fastballs.

And while Big Papi did mash for most of the postseason, his struggles against heaters did bite him in the American League Championship Series. Against the Detroit Tigers‘ collection of hard-throwing right-handers, he collected only one hit off a righty four-seamer.

Maybe Ortiz will put these struggles behind him in 2014 and go on to have another excellent season. If he does so, he’ll have proved once again that age is just a number, one that has no influence on his ability to hit.

But the Red Sox should wait to see if that happens, not expect it to happen. Because if they extend Ortiz’s contract only to see him decline in 2014 and then decline further in 2015, they’ll be sorry.

And it might not be just because they’ll be paying good money for not-good production. Maybe it will be because that money could have been committed elsewhere.

Here’s some food for thought: Next winter’s free-agent market is poised to include Max Scherzer, Homer Bailey, Justin Masterson, James Shields and maybe Clayton Kershaw, as well as Chase Headley, Pablo Sandoval, Colby Rasmus and Brett Gardner. 

The Red Sox are going to need pitching with Jake Peavy, Ryan Dempster and possibly Jon Lester coming off the books. They might need a third baseman and/or a center fielder. The players listed above are players who would fill these needs, but also players who are likely to cost a lot.

Extending Ortiz wouldn’t necessarily stop the Red Sox from helping themselves to any of these guys, mind you, but every dollar helps. 

The Red Sox are going to be tempted to honor Ortiz’s desire for an extension. He’s the longest-tenured member of the team, he’s a fan favorite and he’s coming off a stupendous season. These are all solid reasons to go ahead and do it.

But pushing back against those are the reasons not to do it. Ignoring those would be unwise.

And that, indeed, would be quite out of character for this Red Sox front office.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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How much do you know about Bobby Richardson?

Not much, I’m guessing. Richardson had a couple of seasons in which he hit .300, but he ultimately retired with a pedestrian .266 average and a pedestrian .634 OPS. A modern baseball fan doesn’t think of him as one of the titans of the game.

Richardson does have one claim to fame worth knowing, though. In 1960, he won the World Series MVP. He did so despite playing for the New York Yankees, who lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates when Bill Mazeroski swatted a walk-off home run in Game 7.

To date, Richardson is the only player from a losing team to be named World Series MVP.

And this brings us to David Ortiz.

For the moment, Richardson and Ortiz have nothing in common, the key difference being that Big Papi certainly is a titan of the game. The Boston Red Sox‘s veteran slugger is a career .287 hitter with a .930 OPS and 431 home runs, numbers that make him one of the great hitters of his era.

In a couple days’ time, however, Richardson and Ortiz might have something in common. Ortiz is playing in the World Series now, and he’s playing well enough for an intriguing question to materialize.

Take it away, Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com.

Granted, there is an element of silliness to this question. Ortiz and the Red Sox have a 3-2 lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, and Games 6 and 7 (if necessary) will be played at Fenway Park. The Red Sox are more likely to win it all than they are to lose it all.

But because the Cardinals are indeed a very good team, there’s certainly a chance the Red Sox could still lose the World Series. Regarding the World Series MVP, though, Zuckerman’s question is both relevant and a good one because Ortiz really has been that huge in the World Series.

In five games, Ortiz has come to the plate 20 times. In those appearances, he’s logged 15 at-bats. In those 15 at-bats, he has 11 hits. Four of those have been for extra-bases: two doubles and two home runs. He’s also walked four times, reached on an error and hit a sacrifice fly.

Ortiz has therefore reached based 16 times in his 20 plate appearances, and one of the outs he made brought home a run. That makes only three unproductive plate appearances in five games, which is absurd.

Equally absurd is Ortiz’s slash line. He’s currently hitting .733/.750/1.267. That’s a 2.017 OPS. Turn the sac fly he hit in Game 1 into the grand slam that it could have been, and Ortiz is hitting an even more absurd .750/.800/1.438 with a 2.238 OPS. 

As it is, the numbers Ortiz does have are already historic. Behold where Big Papi’s numbers currently rank in the realm of all-time great World Series performances, according to Baseball-Reference.com:

If you’ve gotten the feeling that you’ve been watching one of the all-time great World Series hitting displays, it’s not just you. That’s exactly what Ortiz has been up to against the Cardinals.

The four guys ahead of Ortiz on the World Series OPS ranks—Lou Gehrig, Billy Hatcher, Hideki Matsui and Babe Ruth—played on teams that won it all. One supposes that bodes well for Big Papi and the Red Sox.

But then, there’s the guy directly below Ortiz on the World Series OPS ranks: Barry Bonds.

Bonds is there because he hit .471/.700/1.294 in the 2002 World Series, in which he and the San Francisco Giants lost to the Anaheim Angels in seven games. That’s a 1.994 OPS, a number that presents a strong case for Bonds’ World Series performance as the greatest ever by a player on a losing team.

And since Bonds didn’t win the World Series MVP, he presents a fascinating case study. For if we take it for granted that Ortiz keeps right on hitting only to see the Red Sox lose the World Series, why would he be the best choice for the World Series MVP when Bonds wasn’t in 2002?

Well, there’s the obvious, which is that the numbers Ortiz is flirting with putting up in the World Series are better than the numbers Bonds put up back in 2002. And since this is an MVP discussion, there’s also the matter of what Ortiz’s numbers have meant to the Red Sox.

Take a moment to consider how Bonds did in the 2002 World Series relative to the rest of the Giants:

Bonds was stupendous in the ’02 World Series, but the rest of the Giants held their own around him. Heck, the MLB average in 2002 was a .748 OPS. Bonds’ supporting cast did better than that.

Now, consider how Ortiz has done in the 2013 World Series relative to the rest of the Red Sox:

Ortiz has a third of the Red Sox’s hits. He basically has 40 percent of their extra-base hits. His OPS is almost five times as large as that of his comrades.

That makes two major differences between Bonds in 2002 and Ortiz in 2013. The next major difference is that Bonds actually had some legit competition for the World Series MVP.

The award ended up going to Troy Glaus. And while he wasn’t as huge as Bonds was in the ’02 World Series, he was pretty darn good. Here’s the must-have comparison.

Bonds and Glaus both came to the plate 30 times. Bonds undeniably had the bigger impact, but Glaus’ impact was plenty big. A 1.313 OPS is definitely something to write home about.

And it’s not just in the conventional stats that Glaus held his own against Bonds. He did so in the other stats too.

For those who are wondering, “aLI” is Average Leverage Index. It’s a measure of the amount of pressure a hitter faced in a game or a series depending on the situations he was hitting in, according to Baseball-Reference.com. In the ’02 World Series, Glaus faced more pressure than Bonds did.

“WPA,” meanwhile, is Win Probability Added. It measures how a player impacted his team’s probability to win games. Glaus helped the Angels’ overall win probability almost as much as Bonds helped the Giants’ win probability.

“RE24” is Runs Added by 24 base-out situations. Just as win probability is a fluid thing that can be influenced by players in given moments, run expectancy is a fluid thing that can be influenced. That’s what RE24 is all about. Bonds was clearly better than Glaus in the ’02 World Series to this end, but a 4.57 RE24 for one seven-game stretch is pretty darn good.

Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, we can turn to back to Ortiz and try to find his Glaus.

And therein lies the dilemma: nobody on the Cardinals is really holding a candle to Ortiz through the first five games of the World Series.

The best option is Matt Holliday, who has an even 1.000 OPS. No other Cardinals hitter who has logged at least 10 at-bats is doing better than .801, and Holliday also owns four of the club’s nine extra-base hits. 

But while Holliday will do for a candidate for the World Series MVP award, he doesn’t come close to cutting it as a match for Ortiz:

The conventional stats obviously favor Ortiz to a huge degree. He’s also faced more pressure and positively influenced Boston’s win probability and run expectancies to a far greater degree than Holliday has for St. Louis.

Holliday, basically, is no Glaus. 

Obviously, there’s still time for things to change. The Cardinals aren’t dead yet, and there’s still time for Ortiz’s numbers to come back down to earth. 

The catch, however, is that even if Ortiz’s numbers do come back down to earth in the final two games of the series, they’ll still be outstanding.

Let’s say Ortiz comes to the plate four times in each of the next two games of the series and takes an 0-fer. If that happens, his batting line for the series will drop to .478/.536/.826. That’s a 1.362 OPS, which is still better than the OPS Glaus had in 2002.

An OPS like that is also one that Holliday would be hard-pressed to match, as gaining 362 OPS points in two games would require him to go on a tear. That could happen, but it’s not like he’s been an absolute terror for Red Sox pitchers in the series. The only Cardinals hitter they’ve struck out more than Holliday is Matt Adams.

Instead, it’s probably going to be up to somebody else on the Cardinals to wrest the World Series MVP away from Big Papi. Maybe Michael Wacha could put himself in line for the award with a huge performance in Game 6. Or maybe Joe Kelly could do so in Game 7. Or maybe Trevor Rosenthal could do it by finishing off the last two games of the series and adding to an impressive performance that has already seen him pitch 3.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts.

Even then, however, denying Big Papi the World Series MVP would be no easy call. It would essentially boil down to a choice between rewarding a guy who came up huge in the last two games over a guy who authored an all-time great performance through at least the first five games.

Since there are a ton of variables still in play, the best I or anyone else can say of this matter is “We shall see.” This is baseball, where weird things happening has long been the norm. 

But for now, what we know is that David Ortiz is the biggest, baddest dude left standing on the baseball landscape, and that the Red Sox have needed every last digit of the astronomical numbers he’s put up in the World Series. If the Red Sox hold on, he’ll be a slam dunk for the MVP award.

And even if the Red Sox don’t hold on, the people who determine such things may never get a better excuse to finally give Bobby Richardson some company.

Note: All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. 

If you want to talk baseball, hit me up on Twitter.

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With Major League Baseball’s 8-team and now 10-team playoff format, it’s actually become somewhat rare to see teams with the best regular season records reach the World Series. Fans of the 97-win St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox certainly aren’t complaining.

Both teams found a way to fend off opponents and reach the 2013 World Series, which will be a rematch of the 2004 Fall Classic. This time around the series will be decided by four names: David Ortiz, Koji Uehara, Allen Craig and Carlos Beltran. 

The clutch-performing role of David Ortiz hasn’t changed one iota since 2004. To take home the hardware, Ortiz will have to do more than his 2-for-22 line in the ALCS. Ortiz will be playing defense from the dugout as usual in Game 1 at Fenway, but the real challenge comes when the Sox travel to St. Louis. Ortiz will likely play first base.

Ortiz is an adequate first baseman, “I’ve seen Big Papi play a lot,” said Red Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes, via Danny Knobler, Baseball Insider for CBSSports.com “I mean, the guy can play first base. If you ask me, you can go #goldglove for Napoli, but Ortiz isn’t bad there.”

The main downfall is that the Red Sox will then have to pull Mike Napoli out of the lineup. Limiting his plate appearances, possibly disrupting his rhythm and removing protection in the batting order for Ortiz. Napoli has been a primary source of offense for the Red Sox hitting .300 with a pair of doubles and home runs in the ALCS.

Sitting Napoli is a hefty price to pay and that makes the production of Ortiz that much more important to the series. Farrell has left the door open saying Ortiz will get time over Napoli at first base, but not revealing the number of games he’ll start according to Alex Speier of WEEI 93.7.

Ortiz and his clutch hitting have been a constant for the Red Sox since 2004, but the role of clutch pitching has seen many names. The latest of said names is ALCS MVP Koji Uehara. The 38-year-old Uehara isn’t the typical overly animated gas-throwing closer, but he gets the job done with a fastball that sits around 90 mph.

To beat the Cardinals and the clutch hitting they always seem to find, Uehara will have to be the shutdown closer he was against Detroit. In the closer role one lapse or one bad pitch can lose a game making it a crucial position.

Uehara’s deception and control should continue to work in his favor. The Red Sox players certainly aren’t worried about Uehara, “Well, ‘invincible’ is not a word we use because we don’t ever like to take things for granted in this game, but you’ve got a lot of confidence in Koji, that’s for sure,” Red Sox Catcher David Ross said via Scott Lauber of The Boston Herald. “As a catcher, you’re just trying to get to the end of the game, and with a guy like that, you realize, if I can just get through the eighth with a lead, we’ve got it.”

One of the clutch hitters Uehara may have to face is Allen Craig, who sustained a foot injury on Sept. 4th. Before the injury Craig was the Cardinals’ primary clean-up hitter and he racked up a solid .315 AVG / 13 HR / 97 RBI line.  

Craig will likely be the DH in Boston and coming off the bench in St. Louis according to Anthony McCarron of New York Daily News. Craig does, however, boast a .454 clip with runners in scoring position. Production like that is sure to be a series changer. Luckily, Craig will have two games to prove his worth in Boston before moving back to St. Louis.

While Craig’s clutch regular season hitting and valiant return to the lineup earn him a mention Carlos Beltran needs no such validation. Beltran is in the debate as the greatest postseason hitter ever. A great performance in his first World Series would certainly help solidify that claim and fuel the existing conversation. Here’s what some analysts are already discussing:

To win a ring this year, Beltran will have to continue his clutch postseason hitting.

Thus far, Beltran has provided 12 RBI’s for the Cardinals, who have 42 runs in the 2013 postseason. For the Cardinals to be successful Beltran will have to continue receiving high fives after RBIs as he’s doing in the picture below.

If the Cardinals continue to rely on Beltran for over a quarter of their offense he’ll have to produce in a big way. The switch hitting Beltran may have a tough time in the series with Jon Lester taking the hill as the Red Sox starter.

Beltran was a much better hitter from the left side (.315 AVG / .509 SLG / .871 OPS) than from the right side (.252 AVG / .448 SLG / .729 OPS). Lefties Lester and Red Sox reliever Craig Breslow will likely force Beltran to take a good portion of his cuts from the right side.

 Beltran is, however 4-for-13 from the right side this postseason, but that’s a pretty small sample. Plus, both of his home runs have come hitting left-handed. No matter which side Beltran is taking his hacks from he will have to continue to be a primary source of offense for the Cardinals to revenge their 2004 World Series defeat.

One way or another these four players will decide how this series will be won. Will it be decided by brilliant pitching and a few clutch hits? Will both teams find their offense? Who will gain the edge? It all remains to be seen, but one way or another these four players are at the heart of which way the series goes.

Each of these four players will likely be at the crux of their teams victory or failure. Newcomers like Xander Bogaerts and Matt Adams might be the heroes. Or pitching performances from Michael Wacha or Jon Lester might steal the headlines. Ortiz, Uehara, Craig and Beltran are necessary pieces to their respective teams, will have opportunities to perform in the clutch and will be the deciding factors in the outcome of the 2013 World Series.

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After a dramatic two-game split in Boston, the Detroit Tigers return home for a crucial Game 3 in the first of three consecutive games to be played at Comerica Park.

Despite a late-game collapse in which Detroit allowed five Boston runs over the final two innings of Sunday’s Game 2 loss, a combined one-hitter from Tigers’ pitchers in Game 1 gives Detroit a theoretical chance to win the ALCS at home.

Before looking too far ahead, here are four keys for the Tigers in Tuesday’s Game 3:

1. Start strong

Detroit’s starting pitchers have been outstanding during the playoffs, and especially so far in the ALCS. Game 1 and 2 starters Anibal Sanchez and Max Scherzer combined for 13 scoreless innings, surrendering only two hits while striking out 25 Boston batters.

Game 3 starter Justin Verlander pitched 15 scoreless innings against Oakland in the ALDS, allowing six hits and recording 21 strikeouts in two starts. And no, those numbers don’t come from a video game.

Verlander pitched just once against the Red Sox during the regular season, allowing four runs and seven hits in only five innings pitched on June 23. The Tigers Game 3 starter admitted that despite getting roughed up earlier in the season, his game plan against the top-ranked Red Sox lineup hasn’t changed:

“I think the only way you combat that is be aggressive,” Verlander said in a press conference on Monday. “Throw a lot of strikes and pound the strike zone.”

2. Dirks’ Day 

The starting left fielder for most of the regular season, Andy Dirks will make his first start of the postseason on Tuesday, batting ninth in Jim Leyland’s lineup.

Dirks batted .256 in 131 games during the regular season with 9 home runs and 37 RBIs, but is only 3-for-26 (.115) since September 21. Dirks has the potential to provide a noticeable upgrade at the plate from struggling utilityman Don Kelly, who started Game 2 in left field and is 0-for-4 in the ALCS.

3. Contain Boston’s 1-4 hitters

Not surprisingly, Jacoby Ellsbury, Shane Victorino, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz are huge factors in Major League Baseball’s top scoring offense. But the high percentage of the Red Sox offense coming from their 1-4 hitters is alarming.

Four of Boston’s seven hits on Sunday came from the first four, and five of Boston’s six runs were driven in by Pedroia and Ortiz. Ellsbury, Victorino and Ortiz lead the Red Sox in batting average—batting .375, .333, and .300, respectively—while Pedroia is fifth, batting .261.

The four have scored 19 of the team’s 32 runs during the playoffs and have recorded 18 of 28 RBIs. If Verlander has success against Boston’s first four, the Red Sox will have to rely on Jarrod Saltalamacchia for offense, and the slumping bats of Stephen Drew, Jonny Gomes, Will Middlebrooks, and Mike Napoli.

4. Fix the bullpen

Despite an impressive performance in Game 1, the Tigers bullpen struggled mightily in Game 2, allowing all six Boston runs and ruining a career outing for Scherzer. Tigers relievers Al Alburquerque, Drew Smyly and Joaquin Benoit have postseason ERAs of 9.00, 6.75 and 5.79, respectively.

That should explain everything.

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