Papi Says There's No Chance He'd Ever Accept A Trade From The Red Sox

(Source) — David Ortiz intends on finishing his career in Boston, and he’s not willing to accept a trade to another club. “No chance,” Ortiz said Thursday, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. “This is the team I’ll be with the rest of my career.” Ortiz can refuse any trade because he has 10/5 rights (10 major league seasons, at least five with his current team). So even if the Red Sox do agree to trade him to another club, no trade can go through without consent from Ortiz. “I couldn’t do that to my family,” Ortiz said, per the Globe . “I couldn’t just go to another team and fit in after all of these years. I want to be here.”

Well that kind of sucks. I mean, I totally get it. If I was Papi I probably wouldn’t accept a trade either. He’s a folk hero here, one of the all-time Boston greats. He’s earned the right to tell Cherrington to fuck himself if he tries to move him and if this is where my family was happy I would absolutely do the same.

But it still sucks. Having a .230 hitter who steps in the bucket every swing in your three spot is a bit of an anchor. Moving Papi would solve a lot of problems by letting Hanley switch to DH and making left an easy spot to get Brock in the lineup everyday. And as bad as Papi has been this year, he wouldn’t be hard to move at the deadline at all. Every contender wants a proven bat that is arguably the greatest postseason hitter in history, you’d get a good return for that. So while I understand Papi’s reasoning here, I wish it wasn’t the case. It’s time to move on from David Ortiz. And if I’m saying that you know it’s true, because I’d be the worst GM in the history of sports. I get so sentimental with players that I never, ever want to move them. Papi, I do.