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Highlights from David Ortiz’ press conference 11.05.12 at 4:54 pm ET
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David Ortiz' new deal could be worth up to $30 million. (AP)

Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz said Monday that he knew the team was going to give him the multi-year deal he had been seeking when his last contract expired. Ortiz said the front office communicated well with him this season, making him “more confident walking into the offseason knowing that I was going to be back.”

“I don’t think there was any doubt,” Ortiz said when asked about getting two years. “They approached me pretty well. Our negotiations this year were easier than ever. They knew what they were looking for. … It wasn’t even a going back and forth type of situation. It was pretty much ‘this is it’ and I agreed with it.”

Ortiz also said that the right achilles tendon injury that kept him out through the end of last season is doing better.

“It’s good,” he said. “I’m moving forward pretty good. I already started doing leg exercises and stuff, and I’m feeling good.”

Here are some other highlights from Monday’s press conference with Ortiz and general manager Ben Cherington:

ORTIZ ON PEOPLE QUESTIONING THE CONTRACT

“There’s one thing I’m going to make clear right here. I get prepared to play, and I like to see the pain on the opposition. I like to win. I’m the kind of guy who the season is never over for me. I still work and I’m still putting myself together right now when everybody is vacationing.

“I love winning. I love performing well. Sometime things don’t work out the way you expect, but my concern, and this is the way I’ve always seen my career, the harder you work, the payoff is going to show up at some point. That’s always been my goal.”

CHERINGTON ON HOW THE INJURY IMPACTED NEGOTIATIONS

“As with any player, you’ve got to get to the bottom of the health and figure out what sort of risk is involved there, but our benefit is that we know David so well. No. 1, we know how hard he’s going to work to put himself in the best position to play and be healthy. Since we worked with him so well, we know what happened with the Achilles this year, and we feel in working with David to identify some things that we can do proactively to help him, and he’s feeling a lot better now.

“It’s not a concern moving forward any more than it would be for any player. As we approached this, we looked at the body of work, the track record and he’s been incredibly productive and durable over the course of his career. He’s been one of the more consistent and durable and productive players in the game over a long span of time, so that gave us the comfort to do a two-year deal, which was important to David.”

CHERINGTON ON THE DIRECTION OF THE TEAM AFTER THE DODGERS TRADE

“I don’t think there would have been any question about our desire to bring back David no matter what the roster looked like. I think that after the trade, as David mentioned, I had a conversation with him about the direction that we wanted to go and the team that we wanted to have here. We wanted to build a team that David’s a part of that we could all be proud of, that fans could be proud of that accomplishes the things that we care about and does it in a way that we believe in and care about.

“That’s a work in progress. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’ll work as hard as we can this winter. There’s other things that we need to do this winter to add to the roster and continue along with that path, build from within and bring in players … but that job is not in related in any direct way to whether we wanted David back. We would have wanted david back no matter where the roster was.”

ORTIZ ON BOBBY VALENTINE SAYING HE CHOSE NOT TO PLAY

“About the Bobby situation, you guys already know I try not add too much to [that]. I know like you guys know that it was something that made me feel uncomfortable. I’ve been here for the past 10 years and you guys know pretty much how I go about my business. The most important thing is that you guys are face-to-face with us every day and you guys already know how important it is to myself to be on the field and represent this organization the way that I do. I don’t really need to add any things to that.”

ORTIZ ON WHAT ELSE NEEDS TO BE DONE THIS OFFSEASON

“When it comes down to a winning ball club, there’s a lot of pieces that you’ve got to put together. Who’s better than our front office to know that? The past 10 years, we’ve won a couple of World Series. The reason why we have people watching the game from the outside is so they can see what we can’t from the inside.”

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  • Bob_Ryan

    F you you piece of Sh–. You should have given the Patriots an opportunity to match. You’re a scumbag & hope you blow your knee out on the first play of the season.

    • Ty

      He did give the Patriots an opportunity to match, and the Patriots didn’t even counteroffer what the Broncos had offered him.  Kraft gave him a call personally, but there was no offer.  So yeah, he’s not a scumbag, and you’re overreacting.

    • whitey

      He did give them an opportunity to match you loser!!!!  Get a life!!!

    • Raydouce1

      Thanks Ryan,
      Yol Man

    • ……………

      you sound like a moron when you say the exact opposite of what actually happened….unless all the reports were wrong.

  • Epag

    typical patriots…..yeah uh wes one more thing……could you um possibly grab your ankles too. 

  • Epag

    typical patriots…..yeah uh wes one more thing……could you um possibly grab your ankles too. 

  • Matteson5150

    How are some of y’all still being pissy towards Wes? The Pats low balled him! They even signed his replacement before he signed with Denver. Wes got an offer and gave the Pats a chance to match it…if your pissed at anyone, be pissed with Bill. Wes has been nothing but classy.

    • brandonruns

      Yeah, I’m definitely fairly disillusioned with the management of the team right now. Brady has described Welker as “the best player on the team” and “the heart and soul of the team.” This seems like a huge lack of loyalty towards such an important piece of the team. I don’t know how much longer Brady is gonna be willing to put up with this. And, eventually, I can see the Pats having a problem getting excellent players in there when other teams seem to treat their players more fairly. How can a team bring in people to play for less money than they can make with other teams but not have mutual loyalty? C’mon, now!

  • Maineleeben

    Welker is trader! Brady and the Pats made him! When everyone thought he too slow and small the Pats gave him a chance!! He was out with an injury for a year the Pats still stuck with him. All I can say I still remember his dropped passes that cost the Pats a Superbowl!!! Thanks for your loyalty Mr. Welker!

    • You Are Dumb

      *traitor

  • Kman1020

    We will never know the why and wherefore unless either Wes or Bill write a book and discuss it there. I’m glad he was classy and did not throw anyone under the bus. I am not happy he is gone, I will miss him terribly, but the Pats will move on. They better go out and get some guys on defense and I’m sure that is what Tom is telling them now. 

  • Kman1020

    We will never know the why and wherefore unless either Wes or Bill write a book and discuss it there. I’m glad he was classy and did not throw anyone under the bus. I am not happy he is gone, I will miss him terribly, but the Pats will move on. They better go out and get some guys on defense and I’m sure that is what Tom is telling them now. 

  • Tippybrownround

    Gonna miss ya Wes,i always wore my jersey when you guys were playing.My 7 year old grandson also wore his,he is very upset that you are not a PATRIOT anymore.We both wish you the best at Denver…

     

  • Tippybrownround

    Gonna miss ya Wes,i always wore my jersey when you guys were playing.My 7 year old grandson also wore his,he is very upset that you are not a PATRIOT anymore.We both wish you the best at Denver…

     

  • Donalmcl27

    In Bill We………………..

  • pats fan

    evidently no one remembers how good he was with miami with a lousy qb- how many yards will he get next year against our suck secondary

  • Clhsr

    I hate to admit it but this may put PM and the broncos into the sb. I don’t think it was by mistake that WW mentioned his new qb and good recievers. The wrs will spread and extent the field and he will probably be open more and take less punishment. I can’t stand PM but I wish WW success and good health.

  • Gibroni

    BB/Kraft and Mcdipshit..were you born stupid or do you work at it?  You let a HOF walk in his prime..you deserve each other.

    • Old Time Hockey

      32 ISN’T PRIME YEARS

    • nhsoxfan

      25-30 is prime for an NFL player.  Wes is 31.  This isn’t baseball.

  • Boston_Sports

    Wes new he was done with the Pats. I wish him well except when he plays the Pats this year at Foxboro or in the playoffs. A true warrior who gave it his all. The NFL is a business from both sides, this was a business decision. Its that simple.

  • ziggy61

    Nice catch……………….Oh, wait!!!!!!

  • Raydouce1

    Surprise, Surprise  best thing yet for our favorite and yours Bill. B.
     Do what is needed for SuperBowl but leave the main director PISSedI ning (who knows)I know the lenght of your arm is not requied in March ,, either is the odds of win

  • Anonymous

    Leaving Tom, was that his only true friend on the team?

  • bguy

    Even though BB is a very good coach, he’s also a bit of a control freak. “My way or the highway” type of guy. There is a definite “revenge” streak in BB. So, the Patriots are now commiting a potential $31 million, $10 guaranteed rather than $12 million for a player who will probably be inferior. Rubbing a players face in the ground for not accepting the Pat’s contract offer last year and thus costing additional cap dollars. Do you think Brady wishes he didn’t do the discount extension NOW? Robert Kraft’s statement about loving to have Wes stay a Patriot was SO disingenous. GO BRONCOS! I hope Wes scores the winning TD against our future HOF coach to knock them out of the playoffs.

  • DDXmas

    Wes Welker is one of the sole reasons the Pats Offense was so productive if not the reason. They tried to limit his involvement early this season and the offense ended up relying on him in the end – again. No one can replace him and you cannot cover him. This is a bad football move.

  • Gary Solomon

    Best of luck Wes, and thank you for your tremendous contributions to our team during your time here. You are a really special talent and your work ethic has inspired many young people to work hard towards achieving greatness. Danny Woodhead and you have demonstrated very clearly, for even the thickest numbskull, that hard work and heart will enable success, more so than physical stature or other raw ingredients.

    Thanks again, I’m sure Payton Manning is fully aware of what you can do, and is as excited as I am sad to see you go there.

  • Anonymous

    Guy got paid at a very high level last year as a result of the franchise tag, got a little more money from the Broncos then the Pat’s thought he was worth. Think he was paid pretty fairly for his time with the Pat’s. Seems straight forward…don’t understand all the vitriol. Time will tell whether the Pat’s were wrong or right but other then that it should be regarded as a very good/fair relationship.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001480746330 Tiffany Reese
  • redsoxvegas

    As a Denver Bronco fan I am so excited to know that at least Manning will be able to help Welker finally get his ring. Had 2 shots in NE but he didn’t win it. Third time will be the charm.

  • Fenway1951

    Welkers comments demonstrate that he is a class act.He is a unique talent and Im afraid the Pats have blown it with this move. Amendola is not Wes Welker

  • Richardtete

    blah blah blah
    I liked Welker, but looking forward to the future. This is the reality of sports today. If anything, you should all be p***ed off at Welker for leaving after you purchased Welker’s jersey and Brady’s restructured contract.
    I’m not worried.

  • manny

    for all those people that think he came back to the pats for a counter offer, he did not come back and thats is why the pats could not counter,

  • manny

    if you don’t know the facts, them let me present the truth of the infromation to you, he wanted 8 to 9 million ,when talks began, the pats, asked to test the market off wes goes, danny. a, comes into the picture, from sat , to truesday where, the pats were not going to risk, loosing, both so they signed danny, tuesday, wes got offer for 2 years 12 mill, but did not go back to the pats knowing, in advance that the had danny locked up, wes was the greedy, person here, he should have taken 2 years 16 before , that the pats offered, early in the past, don;t blame this on the pats , they have a roster, to put together, and with all things concidered, wes being 32, and, they decided to go younger,

  • pats fan

    and how do you know mr gm

  • Anonymous

    Ummm so clearly you work for the Pats or Wes’s camp and know all this.

  • whitey

    Good riddance??  Really??  Why good riddance???  The guy got pushed out the door by a team that clearly did’nt want him, nor did they seem to appreciate his contributions to their team over the past 6 years!!  The guy blows his knee out in the last game of the season, and makes it back the next season, and you say good riddance???  The guy is one of the most ferarless, if not the most fearless slot receiver in the game!!  How many times did we see the guy get absolutelt tattoed going across the middle??  How many times did the guy lay on the field??  Hardly freaking ever, so you say good riddance??  What the heck did you want him to do??  He saw the writing on the wall when they tried to phase him out in the first few games last year, but injuries forced him into relevance, and what does he do??  He catched another 100+ damn balls!!!  Sir, GOOD RIDDANCE TO YOU!!!

  • Fab4ever

    And he took the deal….like Tessio said in The Godfather; “Tell Mike (Tommy) I always liked him. It was only business”….

  • whitey

    Another brilliant comment!!!  You sir ar an idiot!!!  Why should the guy sign for 5 million per year??  Why should a guy that was clearly mistreated give the team a hometown discount??  He did’nt owe the Pats crap!!!!  If anything, the Pats should have treated the guy like a valuable asset to their offense, and paid the man what he was worth!!  If the the ego maniac coach treated the guy with a little respect, he may have taken a short contract!!!

  • kozlodoev

    Except what Welker asked for in negotiations ($8 million per season) was more that he was actually worth ($6 million). The case in point is that when Welker asked for $8 million, the Pats turned around and signed Amendola for $6 million (at which point there was no going back)… or maybe they should have waited for Wes to do his little dance around the league, and for all alternatives to go off the market? Sure sounds like a great way to manage a team. In any case, a guy who (1) turns down an offer, (2) goes and lobbies for another team to sign him, and (3) ends up taking a comparable offer to the one he turned down clearly doesn’t want to be in New England.

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