Ortiz To The…Yankees?!?!?!?!!?

When I first saw the article that said free agent David Ortiz would have to “think about” playing for the Yankees my reaction was akin to this.

There’s no way I would want that guy on my favorite team, especially with all the memories I have of him killing said team. As a Yankee fan would you want to root for public enemy number one?

Then I got to thinking: what better way to rub it in Red Sox Nation’s face than to “steal” the guy who was the face of their franchise for so many years. When the Yanks head up to Boston next season, wouldn’t it be great to see Big Papi in a grey uniform with ‘New York’ written across the chest? One of the key cogs in The Thing That Shall Not Be Spoken Of would now be playing for the enemy.

I could get used to that, and my reasons are three fold:

First, in addition to what I said before, having to see Red Sox fans boo one of their most popular players ever would be great. There would be some cheers but for the most part it would be jeers. I never thought I’d see that, and, quite frankly, I really want to.

Next, he is still a productive player. Last season he hit .309/.398/.554 with 29 bombs, 96 RBI, 40 doubles for a 154 OPS+ in 146 games. His strikeout total was drastically down from the prior two seasons and his walks were about the same. Sure, he’ll be 36 in November but I think he could still be useful.

Finally, the Yanks need a DH. Jorge has most likely played his last game in pinstripes and who knows if Jesus can hold up for a full year. Having this fatso around to mash taters and show Jesus the ropes wouldn’t be a bad thing, in my opinion. Plus, if he signed with the Yanks he’d have to shave that God-awful facial hair, which is a good thing.

I guess the way I’d put it is: I wouldn’t pine for the Yanks to sign him but if they offered him a one-year deal for $7 or $8 million or even two years for about $15 million I wouldn’t be up in arms over it.

After all, if I could embrace Roger Clemens why would it be any different for Papi?