David Ortiz Is Red Sox' Most Overrated Player, According To ESPN
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's August. Baseball season is long. Sometimes you need some zany ideas to liven up the lulls that are unavoidable over the course of a 162-game season.
But, well, that only partially explains a rather bizarre featured story that ran Wednesday on ESPN.com.
The story, authored by senior writer David Schoenfield, sought to identify the most overrated player on each of MLB's 30 teams.
"What does it mean to be overrated? It doesn't mean the player is necessarily bad, just not as great as the hype would indicate," Schoenfield wrote. "So in coming up with this list, I tried to weigh a general perception of how the player is viewed and how that contrasts with his actual on-field value."
The list includes some big names, such as Bryce Harper and Giancarlo Stanton, but the name that stands out the most is David Ortiz.
The 40-year-old DH has put together a retirement tour like no other, hitting doubles at a near-historic rate, driving in nearly a run per game, and setting himself up for another ho-hum 30-homer/100-RBI season. He's also hitting over .300 and sports an OPS over 1.000 for the first time since 2013.
Is it the best season of his career? No. But for a 40-year-old, it's ridiculous. And generally, his contributions have exceeded most people's expectations for a player at that age in this era.
But, according to Schoenfield, Ortiz is the most overrated player on the Red Sox. Perhaps there is a very logical explanation for this choice, you may be saying. Perhaps! Let's go straight to the source:
"Boston Red Sox -- David Ortiz, DH. Ortiz's career OPS+ and WAR: 140 and 53.7. Edgar Martinez's career OPS+ and WAR: 147 and 68.3. Just sayin'."
Uhh.
What?
Clearly, Schoenfield is apparently worried that Ortiz is going to get a call from the Hall before his beloved Edgar Martinez, which makes sense, considering he openly discusses his Mariners fandom in the same story.
But. Again. Huh?
An elaborate case need not be made to prove this claim to be foolish, but here's the short version:
Ortiz has hit 36 doubles. That's the most in all of baseball.
Ortiz has hit 25 home runs. That is the highest home run total of anyone on the Red Sox.
Ortiz leads all of Major League Baseball with a 1.013 OPS.
Ortiz leads all of Major League Baseball with a .615 slugging percentage.
Ortiz leads all of Major League Baseball with 62 extra-base hits.
Ortiz is good at baseball. He bats fourth for the highest-scoring offense in Major League Baseball. He leads that team in home runs and RBIs.
He's ... not overrated.
Ortiz's standing as a candidate to be named AL MVP in his final season should probably preclude him from being on such a list. Common sense would dictate that. Beyond that, though, Ortiz leading all of baseball in OPS probably should have clued Schoenfield in to his mistake, as he later used a low ranking in OPS to justify Albert Pujols' placement on the overrated list.
Alas, it's August. And you need to get the people talking about something. This was just a curious one.
The idea to write the story was, perhaps, a bit overrated.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.