The only member of the three most recent Boston Red Sox World Championship teams will be hanging it up after the 2016 season. This will reportedly be David Ortiz’s last year in the majors.
Sources: David Ortiz will retire at end of 2016 season.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 17, 2015
Ortiz turns 40 on Wednesday, and will make $16 million this year after a club option vested and maxed out with Ortiz’s 614 plate appearances. He had another fine year in Boston, hitting .273/.360/.553 with 37 home runs, including the 500th of his career on September 12th against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
The Red Sox shouldn’t have any issues filling Ortiz’s spot at DH in 2017 – both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez will still be under contract, and neither can really do much in the field anymore. Neither did much at the plate in 2015 either, but that’s neither here nor there.
But losing Ortiz will sill hurt the Red Sox offense in 2017. Mike Napoli was the one Red Sox hitter other than Ortiz to have a 20 homer season from 2013-15…and Big Papi smashed 30 in all three seasons.
His Hall of Fame case will be discussed in great detail years upon years down the road, but it’ll likely be overwhelmed by discussion of PED use (fair or not) and the denigration of the designated hitter. Until then, we’ll prepare ourselves for the Jeter/Rivera-esque farewell tour, which I’m sure will be over the top and emotional.
