Trevor Story: I'm a shortstop
Few people know what it takes to succeed in Boston better than David Ortiz, who helped lead the Red Sox to three World Series titles during his Hall of Fame career.
You would think that would be a brain that current Red Sox players would want to pick as long as Ortiz is willing to help. Apparently that’s not happening, though.
Appearing on Jared Carrabis’ “Baseball Is Dead” podcast, Ortiz said this year’s Red Sox team has “leadership problems” and that only one current player has reached out to him for any advice, even though he is still a “special assistant” in the organization.
“We are having leadership problems right now, the Red Sox,” Ortiz said. “I’m a guy that I work for the Red Sox. I’m a guy that I come around. I’m a guy that I’m very approachable. But this is a time that guys don’t want to sit down and have a conversation with me. Trevor Story was the only player that pulled me to the side being like, ‘Papi, what do you think about this? What do you think about that?’
“Whoever knows me, I’m a very accessible guy. If you’re gonna tell me that you haven’t had a conversation with me because you don’t know how I’m gonna react – everybody knows how I’m gonna react. Whoever approaches me trying to learn, trying to figure it out, trying to pick up on my brain, you know I’m gonna take my time to [expletive] help you and give you whatever information you need, because that’s how I am. Plus, the Red Sox are in my blood.”
That is certainly surprising to hear, but it’s also worth noting that this is the first year that the Red Sox don’t have a single player who played with Ortiz. With the likes of Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Christian Vazquez all departing in the last couple years, the longest-tenured Red Sox are now Rafael Devers and Chris Sale, both of whom made their Boston debuts in 2017, the year after Ortiz retired. It’s fair to say that players on this team aren’t going to have the kind of relationship with Ortiz that players in years past have.
Still, you would think that if a legend like Ortiz is available to help a last-place team in any way, someone other than the injured Story would at least be picking his brain.
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