Papi Returns!

David Ortiz will remain in Boston for two more years. I'm not sure that anyone is really surprised by this - Ortiz is a Boston institution and is still one of the best hitters in all of baseball. Could you have imagined the outcry if he had left for another team?

The risk is, of course, that his 37 year old body will betray him eventually, but after some slow starts the last few years, Ortiz has committed himself to staying in shape and has reaped the dividends  Consider these stats, as relayed by ESPN Boston:

• In the past three seasons (2010-2012), he trailed only Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Jose Bautista and Josh Hamilton in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS).
• In the past three seasons, he trailed only Cabrera, Votto, Bautista, Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun in OPS+, which measures OPS adjusted to a player's home park. 
• In the past three seasons, he trailed only Cabrera, Bautista, Hamilton, Votto and Braun in slugging percentage.
• In the past three seasons, he trailed only Bautista, Giancarlo Stanton, Cabrera and Hamilton in isolated power (ISO), which measures the percentage of extra-base hits a player has.

That's a damned good hitter! I'm convinced the Sox are at least a year or two away from contending again, but in the meantime I'm very happy that good 'ol #34 will continue to hold down our DH spot.