Interesting theory on David Ortiz's decline

[Jack Straw]

Ortiz will not retire in the next 2 years he will be on a diffrent team but will not be out of Baseball.
I am guessing a team that needs a bat down the stretch will take a chance on him for low money.

 

[AndruwHRJones]

I think claiming steroids in this case is slanderous at best, and bringing up the age issue (although a possibility) shows a certain level of ignorance as well. Any 20-something year old baseball fan has been around long enough to remember guys like Mo Vaughn, Albert Belle, and Cecil Fielder, all of whom saw their power numbers and run production sky rocket in their mid to late 20's, and then crashed and burned by the age of 34. Not 37 or 38 as is suggested in the article. Look at just about any average ball player and it's fairly obvious that things start to break down at 31 or 32 years old. The David Ortiz situation is pretty much the same thing.

A guy like Ortiz with lots of body mass and average plate discipline thrives in his younger years when he can match up with 70% or better of the pitchers in the league, but struggles later on in his early to mid 30's when his natural hormone levels are experiencing a steep decline. By this point in his career, Ortiz's body mass is actually working against him, and the only way he could reverse the process is by taking steroids -- which means his decline in production is evidence that he is not (or did not) use PED's and is not currently doing so.

Conclusion: Ortiz's career stats correlate very well with a man of his size and skill level (as Bill James told the Red Sox so many years ago), and the natural decline he is experiencing along with the Red Sox nation is a sure sign that the Sox need to move on, and the Big Papi will be retiring in the next 12 to 24 months.

I don't think you can use the word slander with any steroid accusations in MLB these days. In this situation, his best friend on the team over the years gets busted this year for PED's and you think it is slanderous to think he may be using as well? As for your examples, they are very poor with the exception Fielder. Belle and Vaughn retired due to injuries and were productive up to the point they retired. Vaughn and Fielder were significantly more overweight than what Big Papi currently is. So I really don't agree with your thinking at all.

 

[xcantgobackx]

I'm not an Ortiz hater, even as a Yankee fan. But I think it's funny when my buddy calls him a 0 Tool Player. :lol:

 

[cbrandtw]

Two words................

Mo Vaughn

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Vaughn definitely seems to be an apt comparison.

Baseballreference.com:
Most Similar by Ages
24. Casey Kotchman (968) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
25. Mo Vaughn (971) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
26. Nick Johnson (968) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
27. Adam LaRoche (970) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
28. Tony Clark (947) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
29. Mo Vaughn (943) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
30. Mo Vaughn (937) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
31. Carlos Delgado (927) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
32. Jason Giambi (926) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

Two words................

Mo Vaughn

 

[chisox3706]

manny took his needles with him, end of story

lol

maybe he was into manny rubbing a topical-type cream on his lower extremities?

 

[nyyankeesfan.13722]

What I don't understand is how one year his slg. can go down .223. With Rice and Vaughn, correct me if I'm wrong, they had injuries and then after that their numbers went down and wasn't he injured last year. Along with that Manny is gone and he is probably not seeing as good of pitches. Probably not the cause for his massive decline but possibly some of it. And finally maybe he was juicing. Is it a coincidence that in his career he has only had over 150 games 3 times and that Pedro has also been injury prone lately which all could be the cause of steroids. I really don't know why he is so bad this year and really don't have a reason made up yet but it may be a combination of these.