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Q.  Who were the two very best players ever to be traded as minor leaguers?

A.  One of them was David Ortiz, traded of course by the Chuck Armstrong administration.  See the note after the signoff.

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Q.  How old is Ortiz?

A.  He was 37 last year.  Have you seen his slash lines at ages 36 and 37?  He's still every blinkin' inch a (left hand) Manny Ramirez.  He keeps his weight down, he's got a chance to be Raul Ibanez...

This could be relevant to our peanut-crackin' bleacher-bum chatter about Carlos Beltran, or might not be.  I remember three or four years ago, the Red Sox gave Ortiz a 2-year deal at $13M per, and THE very best sabermetric blog ripping them a new one over it.

That's not to say the 2010-11 deal might not have tanked, of course.  But need we be as glib as we are about refusing contracts to aging superstars?

In chess terms, you ask the question "if you had this position every game, would you play the same move every time?"  If you would refuse all contracts to old players, you'd have refused Ortiz' last contract.  You'd have refused his last two contracts.

....

To put it another way:  you want to be very aware of what WAR/$ says, but you also want to allow for human intuition.  Which told the Red Sox that David Ortiz was a player they needed, at his ages 34-37.  They were entitled to make that call, contrary to WAR/$ analysis.

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Q.  And I'm fine with that.

A.  And you're fine with not being in the Red Sox victory parades, too.  

Literally speaking, we mean.  We don't mean it snidely.  We mean it as a statement of the crux of the matter.  If you are fine with passing on EVERY David Ortiz opportunity, you are probably also fine with not winning the World Series.  Dr. D isn't.

(Thirteen, we're guessing, will speak up for those in one category but not the other.  ;- )  Such species exist.  But we SSI fans are laser-focused on CHAMPIONSHIPS, in a way not fashionable in mainstream sabermetrics.  Mainstream sabermetrics seeks to "contend every year, on a modest payroll, and let the dice roll in the playoffs" - ironically the attitude that Pat Gillick takes, and that got mis-translated while he was here in Seattle.)  

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Q.  Is Dr. D leaning for, or against, the idea of Carlos Beltran?

A.  Leaning against.

He fancies the idea of Kendrys Morales, short-term, doing a Beltran impression -- especially if that makes possible a Ryan Braun or Cliff Lee scenario.  SSI would rather go bigger than Carlos Beltran.  So would Jack Zduriencik, we're sure.

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Q.  What's with the title of the article?

A.  A fascinating response here recently by Bill James ... if Babe Ruth had been born when David Ortiz was, do you think he'd have adapted his personality to the times?  I do.

James sez:

BABVA,

Dr D

.......