Feud Over: Ortiz Says Beef With Price Is In The Past
BOSTON (CBS) -- Red Sox fans don't need to worry about any lingering ill will between David Ortiz and their new ace, David Price.
Their beef has been squashed. The hatchet is buried. The proverbial slate is clean.
What a difference a uniform can make.
"No problems. All that's in the past. Now he is my partner. When a person joins your cause, you must leave the past in the past," Ortiz said Wednesday on a radio interview with 102.5 FM in the Dominican Republic -- via ESPN. "We need pitching and David Price is a great pitcher and has showed that for years. I hope he will help us."
The Sox DH and starting pitcher have had a bumpy history over the last few years, with Price taking exception to Ortiz's slow trot around the bases after he took him deep during the 2013 ALDS. Ortiz played that off as the pitcher blowing off some steam after a rough outing, but it carried over into the 2014 season when Price plunked the slugger on the first pitch of his at-bat.
Ortiz wasn't as forgiving after that pitch, saying Price had declared war and no longer had the veteran's respect.
Now that Price will be helping Boston try to end a two-year playoff absence, agreeing to a seven-year, $217 million contract (pending a physical) with the Sox, Big Papi is ready to let bygones be bygones and welcome the new ace to town with open arms.
And Price will probably have a much different reaction to those slow trots around the bases (imagine how slow they'll be in Ortiz's final season in the majors) now that he'll be watching them from the Boston dugout.
