When we found out that Jonathan Papelbon was going to sign with the Phillies, one of my initial thoughts was:

“Well, now the Sox have no excuse NOT to re-sign David Ortiz.”

Rumor has it the Papelbon didn’t bother to ask the Red Sox if they wanted to match the offer from the Phillies… and rumor also has it that the Sox assumed Paps was a goner. That tells me they had no intentions of paying $40-$50 million for a closer. And that means there’s money in the piggy bank for Big Papi…

Offense was not a problem in 2011, but that doesn’t mean you let one of the best bast in your line up walk away. Ortiz remains the best DH in the game and is still capable of hitting close to .300 with 25-30 homers and 90-100 RBI. He hit .238 in 2009, but still posted 28 HR and 99 RBI. In 2010 he hit .270 with 32 ding dongs and 102 RBI. And last year he hit .309 with 29 HR and 96 RBI.

Despite turning 36 tomorrow (11/18), David Ortiz had his best season since 2007 (.332 / 37 / 117) last year… and the biggest surprise came against lefties. After struggling mightily in ’09 and ’10, Ortiz flipped the script and posted a .329/.289 split – hitting for a better average against LHP for the first time since 2005 – the best season of his career (.330 / 47 / 148).

After all the PHD talk, Ortiz has improved his game over the past three seasons and that’s proof enough for me that he’s worth a 2 x $12M contract with an option for a 3rd year. The question is: Will another team offer Ortiz a better deal?

Bottom Line: The Sox have a ton of big contracts on the books and plenty of holes to fill… but there’s room for a new closer, some pitching depth AND new deal for Ortiz. What’s another $170 million among friends, right?

Don’t sign him because the fans want love him or because he’s good for ratings and t-shirt sales. Sign him because we play in the AL East and he’s still the best DH in the game.