Ortiz: 'I Thought I Was Done' With Red Sox
FORT MYERS, Fla. (CBS) – At one point during the offseason, David Ortiz did not think he was going to end up back in Boston for the 2012 season.
"I'm not going to lie to you. At one point I thought I was done here,'' Ortiz told reporters down at the Red Sox spring training facilities in Fort Myers, Fla. on Wednesday.
"At one point I was like, 'OK I guess I'm not a priority here.' That's the way it looked like to me at one point," he said. "My agent, they explained to me what was going on, and this team was looking for a GM and manager. It took them some time to put together, and after they went to the players, which I think was a little of a crazy time to do so."
Ortiz said the Red Sox did make him a two-year contract offer, but the deal was "out of range." But Ortiz said he was happy to take the one-year, $14.75 million deal from the Sox and avoid salary arbitration.
"I want to have a multi-year contract because this is where I want to be," he said. "I've been in a multi-year before. It's not like I shut it down or anything. My best year was when I had long-term because I didn't have to worry about a contract. The only thing I had to worry about was playing baseball. People sometimes get the wrong idea about things I say. I don't care. I got 15 years in the big leagues and I think I earned every single penny that I have."
Ortiz also said he was happy to avoid an arbitration hearing, but he was prepared for one just in case.
"Pretty much got your group who works on that and they let you know how it's going to be," he explained. "They told me not to wear my earrings in front of the judge. I was like, 'Did I kill someone or something? What did I do that I'm not allowed to wear them in front of a judge?' They were like, 'You don't want to have that much bling bling coming in and this and that, start on the wrong foot.'
"I was like, 'What? I sleep with my earrings on?'"
