Report: David Ortiz To Retire After 2016 Season
BOSTON (CBS) -- The end of an era is coming soon.
Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported Tuesday that the 2016 season will be the final one in the major leagues for David Ortiz.
Sources: David Ortiz will retire at end of 2016 season.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 17, 2015
Ortiz, who will turn 40 on Wednesday, did activate an option for the 2016 season by surpassing 600 plate appearances in 2015, and he could do the same for 2017 if he reaches 600 plate appearances in 2016. Yet he will potentially will be leaving between $11 million and $16 million on the table by retiring at the end of the 2016 season.
Ortiz has spent the past 13 years with the Red Sox, a period in which he's hit 445 home runs and helped win three World Series titles for a franchise that hadn't won since 1918. He earned ALCS MVP honors in 2004 for notching two walk-off hits and belting three home runs vs. the Yankees, and he was named World Series MVP in 2013, when he batted .688 against the Cardinals.
Remarkably, Ortiz has not slowed much with age. He batted .273 with a .913 OPS last season, while hitting 37 home runs and driving in 108 runs. In fact, he's topped the 30-homer, 100-RBI mark in each of the past three seasons, owning a .915 OPS in that time.
Last season, he reached the 500-homer milestone, and he has now hit 503 career homers.
The Red Sox' 2016 season will end with a weekend series Sept. 30-Oct. 2 against the Blue Jays at Fenway Park. The Red Sox haven't made the postseason in the past two seasons, but Ortiz's announcement will add further motivation for the team to return to the playoffs in 2016.