David Ortiz deserves an extension (and your love)

I'll never understand people who don't like David Ortiz, who not only is a tremendous hitter, but the closest thing we have to a living Muppet in Major League Baseball. He looks like Sweetums would, if he suddenly became human. Sure, Ortiz is loud. Yes, his name was on the leaked list of players who tested positive for PEDs eleven years ago (and, by the way, we don't know which PEDs he tested positive for, or if he deliberately used them or not, and neither does Ortiz). Look at David Ortiz though. If you're not a Yankees or a Cardinals fan, how can you stay mad at a guy who plays this well, smiles this wide, and has never issued a boring quote in his life? Ortiz doesn't just make the Red Sox better, he makes baseball better.

Because of that, I don't blame Ortiz one bit for wanting to get paid and for being frustrated at "haters" in the media and on radio call in shows. Having to come into camp without it, Big Papi is understandably campaigning for some job security, hoping to stay in Boston beyond 2014. After eleven years and three world championships, there's probably not another player in the game today more closely aligned with the place where he plays, except for Derek Jeter in New York, and maybe Joe Mauer in Minnesota.

Should he have said, "I don't even know why they're bitching about me talking about contracts. Guys putting up my numbers, they're making $25, $30 million. I'm not asking for that. I'm asking for half of it. And they're still bitching about it? (Expletive) them. I'm tired of hearing them talk (expletive) about me when I talk about my contract. Hey, every time I talk about my contract, I earn it, (expletive). So don't be giving me that (expletive)?"

I can understand why he did, however. I can imagine being sick of feeling unwanted, when he's contributed so much to the Red Sox. I can appreciate how annoying it must be to hear over and over again that he's too risky, that he's "selfish, tone-deaf, and offensive," as Dan Shaughnessy said earlier this off-season when he argued "the Sox would be nuts to cave on this."

More importantly, I can see David Ortiz's point. Yes, he's 38 years old. Yes, he got hurt in 2012. He also has the fourth highest OPS in baseball since the start of 2010, behind only Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, and Jose Bautista, and is fifth in wOBA. He's as good a hitter today as he was back in 2006 and 2007, when led the AL in homers, RBI, walks, and on-base percentage. According to OPS+, these are the best hitters in the last 100 years from ages 34-37:

Ortiz has been worth between three and three-and-a-half wins per season since 2010, and it's all bat. Even if we assume he's going to be slowing down, and was only as good as, say, Billy Butler or Kendrys Morales, those hitters were still worth 1.5-2.5 wins above replacement. In a market where a marginal win is roughly worth around $7 million on the open market, Ortiz would still come in at or below market value if he was extended at his current salary. Once you throw the Red Sox's deep coffers and the presumed value of keeping a popular franchise leader and icon around, it seems pretty harmless for the club to toss their slugger a bone, and extend him through 2015. He's more than earned it and is almost certain to be worth it, if for no other reason than it will drive Dan Shaughnessy nuts. That's the kind of production you can't measure on the field, and that it's impossible to put a price on.