Hey Big Papi, please come back
Dear David Ortiz, I was standing in the Red Sox clubhouse in Seattle on Tuesday, looking around at all the blank faces on the heels of a four-game losing streak and wondering where you were.
On a yacht, probably. Wearing a fedora, maybe. Sporting a fresh haircut, surely. Still in shape? I’d bet on it. It got me thinking. Could you hit one home run? If you put your life on hold for a couple months and hopped a flight to Boston, could you go deep once before the end of the season?
You don’t have to hit 20 homers. You don’t have to hit .300. Could you take one swing that connects on a ball so smoothly it clears the wall in right, lands in the bullpen and sends both of Steve Horgan’s arms straight to the sky?
I think you can. I think everybody in New England thinks you can. I think everybody in baseball thinks you can. It’s time.
Because if you can connect on that first home run, we know more will follow. And this Sox team is in a power drought that it never experienced in your 14 years in Boston.
I know you’re loving the endorsement deals, but they’ll still be there when you retire again. If anything, there will be more.
With you, the Red Sox will be the team to watch in October.
They need you, and fast. They’re hitting .212 since the AllStar break. They’re slugging .302, almost 40 points lower than any other team in baseball. They’ve hit just 10 home runs.
You know better than anybody what a great offense looks like. This isn’t one. But it can be.
Now batting: the designated hitter, No. 34, David Ortiz.
The crowd on its feet. The legend returns. The opposing pitcher is sweating bullets. He’s one of those young guns who can throw 100, but who can’t these days? He’ll want to tell his friends that he blew one by the 41-yearold who may end up in the Hall of Fame. And you’ll flick your wrist, spin your body and follow through with one hand. The bat drops. The ball sails. Fenway Park, alive again. Hanley Ramirez would love to have you back. Maybe you haven’t been following, but he’s playing first base again! And no, he’s not perfect over there. But the team is better with him at first than as a DH. And I doubt it takes him a week until he’s handling the position as well as he did last year.
Mitch Moreland had a nice first half. But he’s hurting, man. He’s playing through a broken toe. He needs rest. And when he comes back, what a weapon to have off the bench. Play him twice a week to rest Hanley. You’ll need some rest, too. But this is a trio that could handle DH and first base better than any club.
This team isn’t great without you. They’re just 41-41 on days when Chris Sale doesn’t pitch.
Oh, by the way, you have to see this guy throw at Fenway. It’s an event. You remember what it was like in 2003 and 2004 when Pedro Martinez gave you that special feeling every five days like there was no way you could lose? Sale is doing that. What are you worried about? Looking like a fool for going on the retirement tour last year and now coming back?
C’mon, man. Do you really think any team is going to say, “No, we don’t want Ortiz in our stadium. We already sent him off with a ceremony and a giant piece of crap that we thought would be funny on ‘SportsCenter.’ ”
Heck no. The 15,000 who barely show up in Tampa Bay want to see you hit home runs, as do the nearly 40,000 at Yankee Stadium. Just imagine you and the Judge, firing back and forth. What an event that would be.
Baseball needs you. Did you see what happened to Adrian Beltre on Wednesday? He got tossed for taking his warm-up swings out of the on-deck circle. What happened to making baseball fun?
And obviously, we’re having a little situation in Boston. David Price doesn’t look like he’s having fun. He’s upset about every little thing again, the way he did before you guys were teammates, back when he got mad at you for getting the best of him on the field and looking like you were having too much fun doing it. Boohoo.
This team could use some direction. Come show them how it’s done. You don’t think the guys miss you? Maybe you should log onto Twitter and see what Mookie Betts posted on Tuesday, the day the Sox lost their fourth straight. “I miss you big bro,” Mookie wrote. It’s a nice picture of you, giving him advice. It’s funny, because I remember one of the defining moments of his young career, when he snapped out of a slump and said it was because you told him something. Remember what, David? You told him to stop thinking. Just swing the bat. No more thinking, David. It’s time to come back. Baseball fans need you. Boston needs you. And the Red Sox need you. If you hit one home run — just one — it’ll be worth it.