FORT MYERS, Fla. -- After stints with the Seattle Mariners and Minnesota Twins, David Ortiz joined the Red Sox organization after the 2002 season ... and hasn't left since.
Following a 14-year playing career with the Red Sox that included three world championships, Ortiz remains affiliated with the club as a special assistant to Fenway Sports Group. It's likely he will be associated with the organization for life.
Ortiz will never be able to claim -- as Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, and Jim Rice can before him -- that the Sox are the only organization for whom he ever played. The honor is a rare one: Wade Boggs didn't do it, and neither did Pedro Martinez or Roger Clemens or Manny Ramirez or Dwight Evans.
But Ortiz would like to see the Red Sox take steps to ensure that one day, Mookie Betts can be added to the list.
Betts, of course, is eligible for free agency after 2020. The Red Sox, though determined, have been unable to get an extension done with Betts, who has signaled that he's perfectly happy to go year-to-year rather than sign away some arbitration-eligible years and future free agency.
Now that Bryce Harper and Manny Machado have each signed their mega-deals, both sides have a clear understanding of the current landscape and what might be required to make a deal.
Ortiz told BostonSportsJournal.com that it's imperative a deal gets done.
"Without a doubt,'' said Ortiz. "You don't get that kind of player every day. I can talk to you about Mookie all day, every day. You know how every 10-20 years, a player comes along and whatever he does is remarkable, it's at a different level, a different stage? And 50-60 years from now back and talk about that type of player? To me, I think he is one of those, one of a kind.
"He's the guy who, as time goes by, he gets better, he gets hungrier. And in the clubhouse, everybody loves him. It's all about him. But the way he acts, he doesn't show that. He's very humble, and that's something that I love about it. That's the one guy you want in your clubhouse and you want him there for his whole career.''
The case could be made that, given his impact and his penchant for coming through in big moments -- especially in the postseason -- that Ortiz was underpaid in his time with Boston. The biggest multi-year deal he signed with the Sox was for four years and $52 million in April of 2006, and while there will be no necessary fundraisers for Ortiz (he made more than $156 million in his career), he never made more than $16 million in any single season.
From a financial standpoint, Betts has already surpassed that single-season high when he and the Red Sox agreed on a $20 million salary for this season in January, thus avoiding arbitration. He could make close to $30 million next year, and as a free agent, could become the game's first $40 million per year player -- if Mike Trout doesn't beat him to it.
And while the baseball world digests the whopping contracts recently given to Harper ($335 million, $25.4 million average annual value), Machado ($300 million, $30 million AAV) and Nolan Arenado ($260 million, $32.5 AAV), Betts could surpass all three.
"He's at that level and I'm pretty sure, at some point, the team is going to have to make it happen,'' Ortiz said, marveling at the numbers, "and hopefully this year, so we don't have worry about (him going onto the market).''
From his conversations with Betts, Ortiz believes the reigning AL MVP would, all things being equal, want to remain in a Red Sox uniform. And he advises Betts that familiarity is a big factor here.
"Oh, yeah,'' said Ortiz without hesitation. "This is what he knows. This is where he grew up. And I always told him this: 'Everyone knows how you go about your business; that goes in your favor.' These people see you every day and they know that even when you go through struggles, people understand. They know you're trying to bust your ass to get better. So people don't forget about that.
"Even though this is a big market and a hard market to play in, they know what Mookie's capable of. That's an advantage — I'm telling (you) from my own career. Yeah, when you go in a slump, some people start doubting. But most of the people know you're going to bounce back and do what you normally do.''
Asked if Betts should expect to surpass the total value of the deals just signed by Machado and Harper, Ortiz equivocated, but only a bit.
"Right now, he's at that level,'' he said. "He's at that level. He's put up some numbers that are hard to argue with. And he's not even in his prime yet -- this kid's 26. He's always looking for ways to improve. He and J.D. (Martinez) -- hitting is all they talk about.''
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