David Ortiz addressed the media at length earlier today. He fielded questions on his health, that guy from Washington Heights, and steroids. Here is a quick recap of the 25 minute media session...
On his health:
Ortiz insists that he is at 100 percent and ready to get back to the home-run-hitting monster of old this season. He took a full 2 months off from hitting over the off season and concentrated on getting in better physical condition. He has yet to hear the popping noise in his wrist since giving it the time off to properly heal. He openly noted his displeasure with those who consider him old at 33 and on the decline. "I heard people saying, he’s getting old or whatever. Dude, I just turned 33. I never seen a player be called old at 33". - Good point Papi, but you're going to really produce to prove some of those people wrong.
On that guy from Washington Heights:
Papi openly states that the Red Sox lineup is not as powerful without Manny and could use another hitter. He stressed the pitching strength of the AL East as reasoning to pursue another bat and expects to see many 2-1 or 3-2 ballgames. That said, he quickly went on to mention that the current line up has "a lot of good hitters" and is capable of doing damage. When asked about seeing good pitches to hit, I thought he had a great response: "I'm gonna take everything day to day. If I don't see pitches to hit I won't swing . . . If I can help my team walking . . . I've been walking my whole life. I just want to be healthy like I am right now. If I'm healthy, I know I can do some damage."
On A-Roid sticking himself with needles
Ortiz still considers A-rod the best player in the game, pointing to his continued massive production throughout his entire career. He expects that "80 or 90 percent of the game is clean" now as a result of testing. However, his most interesting point was in regards to potential penalties for testing positive: “You do what you’ve got to do. Bang them for the whole year."
Check out the video below for a clip of the actual interview (thanks to boston.com for the vid)
2 comments:
A lot has been made that the Red Sox offense is significantly weaker this year. It's probably not the offense from 03 and 04, however I don't think its as bad as everyone says. Certianly health is an issue, but its an issue for all 30 teams.
The Sox have a solid 3-7 in the order, and the MVP, Dusty, in the two hole, and Jacoby leading off, sophomore year. 1-7 in the line up is not going to be a picnic for any pitching staff.
I like Ortiz in a bounce back year. He's not hitting 50 homeruns, but 35-40 seems possible.
Manny's numbers with the Sox last season, 100 games, 20 homeruns 68 RBI, .299 avg...good but not great.
If Ortiz stays healthy...and the rest of the lineup is producing enough around him that he sees good pitches to hit, there is no reason why he can't hit 35-40 taters.
I agree that our 3-7 is solid, and when you toss in a MVP in the 2 hole our lineup is consistently dangerous until you get to the Lowrie/Tek/Bard area.
I expect more out of this lineup than most, certainly not the 950+ runs scored of the 03/04 years, but around 850-870 isn't out of the realm of possibility.
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