It didn't involve Aaron Boone, Bill Buckner or Bucky Dent, but Wednesday may still go down as one of the worst days in Boston Red Sox history.
To recap: Almost every member of the team was flamed ?�possibly by management ? in�a controversial Boston Globe article, the two-time World Series GM�bolted to Chicago and longtime DH David Ortiz capped it all off by saying he's thinking of bolting to another team via free agency.
Maybe even the New York Yankees.
Wait a minute. Big Papi? On the Yankees?
Yup. In a sitdown interview with ESPN's Colleen Dominguez, Ortiz said that "there's too much drama" surrounding the Red Sox and that he doesn't know "if I want to be part of this drama for next year."
Though he didn't directly say he wants to land with Boston's biggest rival, Ortiz did laud the pinstripes. It seems he admires the way the Yankees have�not completely imploded after their season ended in the ALDS last week.
"It's great from what I hear," Ortiz said of the Yankees. "It's a good situation to be involved in. Who doesn't want to be involved in a great situation where everything goes the right way?
"They lost just like we did, they just went to the first round of the playoffs. I ain't heard nobody coming out killing everybody just because they lost."
Well, that would explain why Papi was�hugging all those Yankees fans last summer.
Also, I'm wondering if A.J. Burnett and Alex Rodriguez would agree with Ortiz's "no drama" assessment of life in the Big Apple.
[Related: Red Sox castoff Theo Epstein will do wonders for the Cubs]
Overall, Ortiz had a great 2011 season, hitting .309/.398/.554 with 29 homers and 96 RBIs. But he melted along with his team in September as his power disappeared. He hit only one home run over the 26 games he played in the month.
Ortiz, who will turn 36 in November, made $12.5 million in the final year of his contract with Boston and will likely draw interest from other teams in search of a good DH. But the suitors probably wouldn't include the Yankees as Jesus Montero and A-Rod already have that position spoken for in 2012.
But it's kind of funny to imagine that Ortiz believes there's only one other team he can land on if he wants to part ways with the Red Sox. Nine seasons in Boston presumably have a tendency to narrow that worldview.
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