David Ortiz: A Minnesota Retrospective

Ortiz was my favorite Twins player when they let him go, and even though I wanted him to stay, letting him go didn't seem crazy at the time.

Today, I want to see them hang onto Arcia and get rewarded for it. Seems like it would be a good way to replace a bad taste that's been in my mouth for 15ish years.

I was going to say something like, "hindsight" and "time to let it go".  Then I looked at his 2000-2002 stats:

.265 BA, 48 HR, 186 RBI

A ballerina at 1st?  Er, no.  Neither is Sano in RF         

Different era.

With Ortiz Twins probably win the 2006 WS.  If that happened, Mauer and Gardy could be HOF candidates

If wishes were fishes....damn it.

Just a perusal of the column leaves me with the impression that money played a large part in Ortiz leaving? His stats seemed above average, and he was pretty young. Makes me think that I should read it again, there is no way money could have been the determining factor? We should get over this, Ryan was somewhat new as a GM at the time, and made mistakes. He has learned and adjusted! How do I know? He now keeps all DH type players on the team, and will even bring some in from other countries. True it causes a few glitches on defense, but most baseball games are won by hitting, not pitching or defense.

I don't think we have enough data to determine who is the superior DH, Ortiz or Tyner.

His swing was like Dave Parker of the Pirates, but with even more power. Ortiz could play good 1st base, surprisingly nimble feet and a quick glove. As Seth said, the knock on him was a lack of durability, or the perception of it. 

Part of the learning process for young players is learning how to take care of their bodies, avoiding injuries, staying in shape, etc. David Ortiz went through that phase, but he got over it and has had a great career. 

For those who have forgotten, Ortiz was irritated by the hitting philosophy of the Twins, which emphasized hitting to all fields, where Ortiz wanted to just pull home runs. Later he credited Twins coaches for helping make him a better hitter, able to go oppo when needed. Ortiz got many key hits for Boston by flipping his wrists to send a ball to left field. 

I believe there were several factors: money, but it was 1st or even 2nd; the Twins were enamored with Mientkevitz and his defense--and were willing to pay a salary premium (as well as a spot on the Active roster) to keep him at 1st instead of moving Ortiz to1B (who played pretty good Defense!); Gardenhire's love for a 3rd catcher and perceived need for RH hitting; but, I believe the most important factor was the clash between Ortiz and the Twins over  his hitting style--the clash of egos! The Twins won the ego battle but the overall war!! Mientkevitch was easily tradable and given a full year at 1B Ortiz could have fetched a very tidy sum in a trade after the 2003 season. So foolish.

I was furious at the time about this choice. A younger version of me even wrote letter to Terry Ryan campaigning for the Twins to keep Ortiz.(The only time I have ever done anything like that). The local media had been speculating this would happen. It did in fact seem to be a major mistake to many fans, myself included. Torii Hunter spoke out against this decision as well. Tom Kelly criticized Ortiz regularly on his Sunday radio show in regard to "Mr. Ortiz's inability" to hit to the opposite field. He was very condescending with fans who called in about his Ortiz views and would frequently make very critical comments of their perspective. It was clear he had strong views on David Ortiz and they were not terribly favorable. TK retained influence with the Twins FO. I remember one show where he essentially compared his skill set to Pedro Munoz or Bernardo Brito. Bit wrong there as it turns out. He also frequently mentioned Ortiz's defensive limitations but it was in juxtaposition to Mientkiewicz's exceptional defensive skills. Dave Ortiz was a serviceable 1B on a team that already had exceptional defense there. The issue of offering him arbitration was framed in part around DH but at that time many thought Ortiz would do fine at 1B as well. So it was keep 2 of 3 from Dougie, LeCroy, or Ortiz. Fun fact, David Ortiz was originally known as David Arias. Some sort of "misunderstanding" with birth certificates

He did not suck at 1B.  And he was a damn good young slugger.  Yeh, he was squeezably soft, and had some injury problems, but I was looking so forward to having him in the lineup for the 2000's, and then....

Walked away for nothing.  Didn't even get a bag of damn balls out of it.  Yes, $ was a factor, but cripe, not an earth-shaking amount, even then.  I was astounded, just flabbergasted, and so incredibly disappointed in my team when they did that.  And what a gigantic mistake it was.

I remember that same feeling coming back, a few years later, when, right after the Wolves selected Ricky Rubio, they had the next pick coming as well, and everybody but everybody knew it was going to be Steph Curry.  But then, David Kahn, in his wisdom....  "and the T-Wolves select..... Johnny Flynn!"  There isn't a typeface big enough for the WTF to grow to.  I sat there with my mouth agape for like 10 minutes before I could even speak.

Ortiz.  Curry.   Geez- Louise, what absolutely boneheaded moves those were- at the time, and certainly in retrospect.  

Edit:  Oops, I had to amend this-  I forgot about what havoc Ortiz would have wreaked with the RF baggy in the Dome.  He surely would have ripped that thing more than once, hitting rockets off of it, and over it, and somebody would have had to fix it, and that costs money, so maybe it is better he went away.