2008 NFL Week 12 Picks and Podcast: Live Thursday at 8PM ET | Week 11

General

Walking off with it

By Vtknowitall, Section MLB
Posted on Thu Aug 03 2006 at 9:45 PM EST Printer Friendly Page
More on: MLB, David Ortiz (all tags)

David Ortiz has been pitched around in recent years' MVP voting, but now he is flat out winning games for his team, and is that not the definition for MVP?

        MVP is not a word that has been added to the title of David Ortiz, yet. While Fenway has been rocked by the chant many times, the writers have yet to award Big Papi the recognition he most exemplifies.
    Fifteen walk-off hits as a member of the Red Sox should prove that Papi is the most valuable player in baseball. Unlike anyone else in the game, he routinely wins games simply on his own. When the game is tied late in the game, Ortiz is the last guy on the face of the planet that an opposing team wants standing at the plate. Albert Pujols? Alex Rodriguez? Derek Jeter? Sure, Jeter is scary in the postseason, Mr. November, but Ortiz does it all year long. If the game is up for grabs, Big Papi takes it for the Red Sox. That seems pretty valuable to me.
    Fifteen is just his number of walk-offs, which means that they are only at home. Game winning hits is not a stat used in many players' repertoire, but Ortiz's demands it. Last year's American League MVP was Alex Rodriguez. While A-Rod has plenty of defining stats, Ortiz has defining moments. This season, Ortiz has no competition, boasting 5 games that he has won with a single swing of the bat.
    On Monday, he hit two home runs, the second of which came off of Cleveland closer Fausto Carmona in the bottom of the ninth. The Red Sox were down 2 runs, he was the fourth batter of the inning. Sure enough, they managed to get two men aboard, and with Manny Ramirez coming up next, Eric Wedge opted to pitch to Ortiz with two men on than load the bases. Then, almost like clockwork, shocking no one, David Ortiz blasted a 2-0 fastball over the deep centerfield wall, driving home the three winning runs, making it the 5th win you can credit directly to Ortiz this season. Nobody else can say that.
    So, the knock on Ortiz is that he does not play defense. Well, if DH is a position, then it should not be treated any differently than a position in the field. It looks to me like it would actually help him. He has exactly one error this year. He definitely is not hurting his team with his defense. This is opposed to Alex Rodriguez, who has been struggling mightily at his position. With the Red Sox league leading defense this year, I think Ortiz is doing just fine with his defense.
    Big Papi for MVP should not even have to be said this year, but there it is. Not only is he having a monster season, leading the majors in home runs, RBI, and game winning hits, the voters know that they owe him. It will be almost impossible to keep Ortiz from walking off with the MVP award this year. Remember the Faith.

Story writing contest

Log in or create an account to vote for this story!
< Knicks Not Rich Enough To Afford Butler | What A Putz >
Display: Sort:
Walking off with it | 4 comments (4 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
why are we comparing arod and papi? (#1)
by cernig on Thu Aug 03 2006 at 12:34 AM EST
clearly this year arod is not an mvp candidate so why would you even think of comparing him to papi? you really are just making papi look bad i guess is what im trying to say... do more comparing to someone who is a legit candidate this season for the award.

A-Rod (#2)
by Vtknowitall on Thu Aug 03 2006 at 10:45 AM EST
Really, it was more about showing how he should have won it last year and there is no way they can deny him his award this year.

[ Parent ]
Ortiz (#3)
by kroberts on Thu Aug 03 2006 at 9:45 PM EST
I agree that Ortiz has been looked over in the past, and he is certainly deserving of a good hard look this year. He is leading the AL in home runs and RBI, with 37 and 105, respectively, as well as bringing in 80 runs for the Bo Sox. The real question is, why SHOULDN'T he win it? There is no one out there that really compares statistically.

Let's be serious (#4)
by Anonymous Fan on Fri Aug 04 2006 at 9:48 AM EST
The first comment pretty much sums it up.  Arod is not in contention for the MVP this year, so comparing his sub-par fielding for this year with Ortiz's lack of fielding is really irrelevant.

To say that he deserved it last year and was cheated out of it is biased and pretty stupid.  AROD had comparable batting stats and also played an excellent third base, arguably one of the more difficult positions.  He was a more valuable part of the Yankees than Ortiz was for the Sox.

With that said, this year he clearly is the front-runner, if not one of the only runners in the MVP race.  People who say that a DH cannot win the MVP because they do not field are just plain wrong.  Ortiz is by far the most valuable player on the Redsox and clearly one of, if not the best clutch hitters of all time.  ESPN, basketball fanatic, writer Bill Simmons just wrote an article comparing him to Bird(pretty much definition of clutch).  If the Redsox stay afloat and make it to the post-season they will almost certainly be carried by the bat of ortiz.

Ortiz for MVP.

-Yankees fan

Walking off with it | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Display: Sort:


Login

Create an account

User ID:
Passwd:

Forgot your password?

Related Links