David Ortiz: Please stop talking

Let me start off by saying I like David Ortiz and am grateful for all of the big moments he has provided Red Sox Nation with since 2003.  This team clearly would not have won three championships in ten seasons without him.

Having said that, I can’t listen anymore to comments he makes about his desire for a contract extension and his threats to finish his career elsewhere.

A few weeks ago Ortiz was telling the Boston Globe he’d play elsewhere if the Red Sox did not accommodate him with an extension.  Now this week he’s telling the Boston Herald that his critics need to stop criticizing him about a subject HE brought up in the first place.  Enough is enough.

Oct 28, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Boston Red Sox first baseman David Ortiz hits a single against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 7th inning during game five of the MLB baseball World Series at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: H.Darr Beiser-USA TODAY Sports

You know what David?  Just play baseball.  Nobody wants to listen to you whine to the beat reporters that you get no respect from the Red Sox organization.  You’re a 38-year old DH and, though you may be the best ever at the job, don’t expect Ben Cherington and the rest of the organization to quake at the knees because you feel “disrespected.”

The reason this organization has been so successful over the past decade is because they’ve mostly made rational, well thought out decisions.  And a bad decision would be for the front office to let themselves be bullied into a bad financial decision by the face of their franchise with threats to play elsewhere.

Cherington & Co. are likely to let this play out and Ortiz is just going to have to live with it.  The bottom line is he’s 38 and closer to the end than the beginning of his career.  The Red Sox are correct to be cautious.  They will pay Ortiz fair market value in due time, they always do. Why we have to endure this posturing every year by Ortiz is beyond me.

Frankly, it’s tiresome.  Ortiz is just another in a long line of athletes who don’t seem to understand that fans root for the laundry in the end.

They don’t want to hear about “disrespect” when guys are making obscene amounts of money to play a kids game.  They don’t care about the money when it’s not their money. They will still root for the team once the individual players move on.  It would be the same situation with Ortiz.  He needs to realize this fact and stop talking about this subject.  An argument with the fans is one he cannot win.  That has been proven time and again.  The player always looks bad.

Personally, as a fan, I’d hate to lose Ortiz but life would, believe it or not, go on at Fenway Park without him.