YankeesRedSox.com

The more I watch, the more I am starting to wonder if the David Ortiz of yesterday is gone.  Gone is the feeling of excitement, confidence.  Instead I worry, dreading each at bat.  "At least make a hard out" I tell myself.

The man who hit 232 home runs in 7 seasons has been reduced to a warning-track power, bottom of the order hitter.  Some of the local sports personalities say they can sense him coming around, it's just a matter of time.  Well, I'm starting to doubt he can turn it around.

It is such a disappointing feeling too as Ortiz was so often the source of late-inning heroics and helped fuel the Red Sox offense in this decade.  He was as important if not more so than Manny Ramirez (save the jokes).

Now the Red Sox find themselves with an aging/declining slugger hitting 6th, and soon to be on the bench.  Sad to be sure, but a major impact on the line-up.  Theo Epstein needs to figure out his options and pull the trigger on a power bat.  The current regime has yet to draft a power hitter that has contributed in the major leagues (Hanley Ramirez was a Duquette pick...just ask Dan Duquette) and they are paying for it now.

The Boston.com ran a feature today on the "10 players the Red Sox should consider" and boy were some Red Sox fans way off base.  Just how could 29.8% (as of 9:40pm, 6/1/09) think Victor Martinez is a better option than Adrian Gonzalez (27.9%)?  Please, come on now.

Victor is a fine hitter, but he is/was a catcher and has logged many miles at age 30.  Gonzalez on the other hand is just 27 and entering his prime.  He already has 20 home runs this season (Victor has 5) and won this thing called the "gold glove" at 1st base in 2008.  No offense to Mike Lowell, but imagine Gonzalez hitting 3rd playing 1st base with Kevin Youkilis playing 3b and Lowell at DH.  Youkilis could spell Gonzalez and take an occasional day off in the field to play DH.  A wonderful solution.  Wonderful because I thought of it.  Me alone.

Here's the problem:  While it is easy to say Gonzalez is the best player of Boston.com's top 10 list, he is likely to be one of the most difficult to pry away from San Diego.  Can you say Clay Buchholz and Lars Anderson?

My preference, based on impact and ease of acquisition, would be Adam Dunn.  Yes he strikes out more than I did at high school dances, but he can hit the bomb and wouldn't have to touch anything resembling a glove while in Boston.  And at 2 years and $20mm, he isn't cheap, he sure isn't a longterm commitment.  His current team, the Washington Nationals are not contending this year and could use an ETF of handy Red Sox minor leaguers for the years ahead.

The fact I've written this much on David Ortiz's replacement is an indication of where my thoughts are on the subject.  Big Papi, please turn it around so we (read: me) can put this discussion to bed and go back to the way things were.  I like things much more when you were hitting.