David Ortiz doesn't have to do much to make people angry at him, myself included. Ever since the man had a positive drug test, it's been very hard for me to root for the man, and yet Red Sox nation continued to sweep it under the rug like it was another one of the big guy's playful comments. Like Manny being Manny, Papi was just being Papi.
But late Wednesday night, that playfulness crossed over into sheer stupidity and disrespect.
Speaking for the first time since the departure of Theo Epstein, Ortiz laid it out on the line, saying that this drama surrounding the Red Sox was just too much to deal with.
"There's too much drama, man," Ortiz said in the interview. "There's too much drama. I have been thinking about a lot of things. I don't know if I want to be part of this drama for next year." (via WEEI)
Boohoo, David. Boohoo. If you were looking for a quote to kick Red Sox fans right where it hurts when they're down, then you really succeeded. There are a number of things that are wrong with this statement, but for the sake of time (and since we're not The New York Times), I'll just be brief.
First...really? Really David? You're going to sit there and complain about the drama, when it was in fact you and our sluggish, fat and complacent teammates (Dustin Pedroia excluded) that brought this drama upon yourself? Then to say that you don't want to come back next year because of it? Cry me a river.
This isn't an example of the often overly critical Boston media, David. In truth, this is the outcome of what happens when you enter the month of September with a nine game lead for a playoff spot and then proceed to go 7-20 and blow that lead to a team with the second lowest payroll in all of baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays.
It's not like you didn't have your chances, Papi. In fact, you had plenty of chances. There were plenty of chances, too many if you ask me. That race should have been put away a long time ago. If you had actually showed up and played, then we wouldn't be having this discussion at all.
About the only way he could have made it worse was by bringing up the Yankees. Oh wait...
"That's something I gotta think about," Ortiz told ESPN [when asked about the potential of joining the Yankees]. "[The Yankees are] a good situation to be involved in. Who doesn't want to be involved in a great situation where everything goes the right way? ... They lost just like we did, they just went to the first round of the playoffs. I ain't heard nobody coming out killing everybody just because they lost."
You fool, you absolute fool. That first comment is almost acceptable compared to this. Papi, you just threw nine memorable years right out the door with those words. If you wanted to be remembered as a true Red Sox legend and great, well, that opportunity just flew out the window.
If Ortiz thinks that the media 'drama' is going to get any better in New York, then he is sadly, sadly mistakes. And do you know why nobody came out killing the Yankees? They actually held onto a lead in the AL East when it mattered and made the playoffs. Sure, they had their flaws, but the actually made the postseason, no beer or fried chicken involved.
And speaking of that, Ortiz opened his yapper again to utter the following about that ordeal.
"We had that when we won the World Series in 2004," he said. "We had that when we won the World Series in 2007. Beer in the clubhouse, it's always been there. Video games, that's always been there; guys eating fried chicken, that's always been there."
That's exactly what Red Sox fans wanted to hear, David. Don't actually man up to the team's shortcomings, just brush it off and say it happened other times. And to think you were considered a leader. Pathetic.
Ortiz not only proved that he has no idea how to handle the press, but that he is no different than any other one of his teammates from this lackluster 2011 squad. Selfish, greedy, egotistical, out of touch, disrespectful. All of those words apply.
So you know what, David? Why don't you take your cheating self down I-95 to the Big Apple. You'll fit right in very well with the culture of corruption and selflessness in that city. You definitely don't have a place left in this one.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out, big guy. Good riddance.