BOSTON -- Perhaps now David Ortiz will win the Most Valuable Player Award that he should have won last year.
Once again this season, Ortiz fully deserves the American League MVP. But if it
takes a few sympathy votes to have justice done, so be it.
After two episodes of an irregular heartbeat and chest discomfort, Big Papi was back at Fenway Park on Saturday, but not yet in a playing capacity.
"I might pinch-hit today, I feel that good," Ortiz said with a smile before the Boston Red Sox took on the Toronto Blue Jays. But Red Sox medical director Dr. Thomas Gill said that the medical team consulting on Ortiz's condition would "reconvene" Monday to determine when Big Papi could resume his career.
Ortiz, appearing in the Fenway interview room, seemed to be himself, which is to say genial and open. Extensive tests have demonstrated that there is no problem with his heart. This is good news for Red Sox Nation, but also for all of baseball. Ortiz is an asset for the entire game, for what he does and for who he is.
What happened here, from the perspective of the medical layman and designated hitter, was that Ortiz became highly stressed, in large part over the fading fortunes of his team. There were two episodes, one during the five-game sweep at Fenway by the Yankees, the other during the recently-concluded 2-7 West Coast trip.
"I've been stressing out [about] the way things are going with us trying to make it to the playoffs and things not going well on the field," Ortiz said Saturday. "I'm pretty sure everybody on this ballclub is having nightmares about it, because our team is built up around winners -- around guys that get prepared to compete every day. And [if] you don't get back what you expect personally, you're going to stress out.
"So, I guarantee you that I am not the only player stressing out at this. There are other things in the game that you can control and everybody is aware of it, but I'm pretty sure the only way out is to keep on trying."
So, Ortiz was so devoted to his team's welfare that he gave himself an overload of stress, which resulted in these alarming symptoms. This is obviously not good from a medical standpoint, but it certainly doesn't damage the standing of Ortiz as a true teammate.
For the moment, Ortiz continues to wear an "event monitor," but the prognosis is positive.
"The most important thing right now is to know that I had no problem with my heart," Ortiz said.
And that brings us back to his availability as the 2006 American League MVP. The argument used in favor of the successful MVP candidacy of Alex Rodriguez last year was a reasonable one, a traditionalist's position, even though it had a few holes. The offensive numbers of the two players were roughly comparable and Rodriguez "played a position," in his case third base. If he had played third base in 2005 the way he has played it this year, this would not have been a very compelling argument. But he was
fine at third last year, and this position carried the day.
This year, that same argument is being used on behalf of Derek Jeter, who is undoubtedly having a superb season. Nothing can or should be said to diminish the value of Jeter to the Yankees or in general. If you were to name an American League MVP for the last decade, it might very well be Jeter. But the AL MVP for this season should be Ortiz.
It is true that Ortiz, as primarily a designated hitter, plays only half of the game. But he is transcendent at this one thing he does. And this is where the anti-Ortiz argument breaks down. Everything else being equal, yes, you would take the player who capably plays a position over the DH. But between Ortiz and A-Rod, everything else was not actually equal.
This season, Ortiz leads the AL in home runs and RBIs. Beyond that, his work in clutch situations is somewhere between indisputable and legendary. This separates him to at least a certain extent from Rodriguez, or at least it should have in the last election.
Now, with all due respect to the other worthy candidates -- Jermaine Dye of the White Sox must be mentioned in this context -- Ortiz is not only the Most Valuable Player, he is also the most indispensable player.
He was also that last season, but in the MVP balloting, he finished a close second. The voting perhaps reflected his one-way status. But ultimately it did not reflect another central factor: Ortiz was more valuable to the Red Sox than Rodriguez was to the Yankees.
This year, Ortiz should win this award. Of course, the season isn't over and winning the award would probably require that he return in full health and normal productivity to the Boston lineup for much of September. You don't have to be a Red Sox fan to hope that this happens.
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