Take a power-hitting DH who runs like molasses going uphill. Turn over the odometer and expand the BMI. Throw in a wrist injury -- the very kind that puts the brakes on bat speed. Stir in a big contract. What you have is a career that's over, but doesn't know it.
You have David Ortiz.
Ortiz is done like burned meatloaf. It's not just that he hasn't hit a home run in April or that he's batting .217. It's not that his compadre Manny is gone or that last season was his worst with Boston. It's that the careers of big fellas like him fall off the table when their time comes and you can see it when he bats.
Ortiz can't get around on fastballs. He's got to start his swing earlier, making him more vulnerable to breaking pitches. Pitchers are no longer afraid of him, particularly in Boston's densely-packed lineup, and are throwing more pitches in the zone. When a player without speed or defense loses walks, home runs and hits, all he's got is his sunny disposition. As Leo Durocher famously observed, you don't win pennants with those.
Perhaps Ortiz is still recovering from last year's ouchies and will rev it up when the weather warms. We certainly saw Carlos Delgado find another gear in the second half of last year after it appeared that he was ready for his parting gifts. But Delgado is a better athlete than Ortiz. I'm betting that Big Papi is this year's Mo Vaughn.
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