David Ortiz is frustrated and you can see why. The Red Sox have won six of their last seven games, Ortiz is crushing the ball at the plate and coming off a night where he hit a grand slam and his team won 15-5. Yet, the story circulating in the Boston media and on sports talk radio has been about a “toxic clubhouse” ever since ESPN’s Buster Olney’s article was posted. Not surprisingly, the Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy agreed with the story.
Even after Ortiz, Beckett, and others dismissed Olney’s toxic clubhouse accusation the story wouldn’t go away, and today David Ortiz had heard enough and went on a rant to reporters in the clubhouse:
“It’s becoming the s—hole it used to be,” Ortiz told reporters, referring to the pre-2004 era in team history, when pessimism and negativity were prevailing themes. “Playing here used to be so much fun. Now every day it’s something new. People need to leave us alone, let us play baseball….
“I don’t know, man, I’m just tired of dealing with the drama here. This is baseball, man. It seems like everything that goes on around here is like one of those congress decisions that will affect the whole nation. It ain’t like that, man, this is baseball. We’re supposed to have fun, to have our performance out there at the highest level. every day is something new, some drama, some more shit. I’m tired of that, man. I’m here to play baseball, man.”
Ortiz was asked if he still want to be in Boston after 2012.
“I don’t know,” Ortiz said. “I’ll think about it.”
Unfortunately, Ortiz’s rant is just going to keep the story alive and his comments about not having fun anymore and not being sure if he wants to be back next year are going to cause more problems. The media may have been way off base for the toxic clubhouse reporting but many are trying to cover their butts for not reporting on any of the clubhouse problems last season until after the collapse was complete. Ortiz needs to rise above the Boston media echo chamber and continue to play hard for his teammates and fans. If he is expecting the media to not try to create controversy then he needs a new PR adviser. Big Papi has every right to call out false reporting but he should not act surprised if reporters continue to look for controversy when it may not be there.
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