Written by Derek Harvey at Bloguin
David Ortiz recently announced his plans to retire after completion of the 2016 season. His contract with the Red Sox includes two options for 2016 and 2017. So his retirement after next season will leave (at least) $10 million on the table. It’s not something you often see so he must really feel like it’s the right time. Finishing the 2016 season will round out his impressive career at an even 20 years.
Everyone will remember David Ortiz as a Red Sox great, but he actually began his career with the Seattle Mariners. They signed him as an amateur free agent from the Dominican Republic in 1992. Then in 1996 he was traded to the Minnesota Twins. He played his first six major league seasons with them and was…well he was actually kind of bad.
From 1997 through 2002 he played in 455 games, accumulating 1693 plate appearances. He hit a medicore .266/.348/.461 with a total of only 58 home runs. To put that in perspective, during that time his offense equated to a 106 wRC+, meaning he was just 6% better than league average. By FanGraphs’ metric, he was worth 2.2 WAR.
After the 2002 season, he would sign a one year contract with the Red Sox worth $1.25 million. He went on to hit .288/.369/.592 with 31 home runs. He was worth 3.1 fWAR that year, more value than he provided in the first six seasons of his career combined. The Red Sox would sign him again…and again…and again.
Once the 2016 season (and his career) is completed, David Ortiz will have spent 14 years in a Red Sox uniform. In those 13 seasons currently on record, he hit .288/.385/.566 with 445 home runs. He’s been worth a total 43.9 fWAR to the Sox. Over his entire career, he’s hit .284/.374/.547 with 503 home runs. That’s production that have led some to ask if he is Hall of Fame bound.
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