BOSTON-. The member of the Hall of Fame and Dominican legend David Ortiz saw to his former team, the Boston Red Sox, fall to the bottom of their division two years in a row and in three of their last four seasons.
But he believes that his former teammate Craig Breslow, who was recently hired as the team’s chief sports executive, can turn the team around by moving it away from the analytical direction it was heading on.
“Yesterday I heard that he is trying to slowly stop the analytical side and return to the old style of play,” Ortiz said Friday in a video conference with The Associated Press for his golf tournament — the 15th David Ortiz Celebrity Golf Classic — in Marco Island , Florida.
“I think it’s a good starting point, I think the game has become all analytical and at the end of the day, this has a limit,” acknowledged the Dominican player, who retired in 2016. “You need people with heart, spirit, people who have been in a situation that can guide young people and teach them how to deal with certain situations.”
Ortiz pointed to the last World Series and the postseason as proof that having experience and veteran managers pays off, referring to the now retired Dusty Baker (Houston) and Bruce Bochy, World Series champion with the Texas Rangers, as well as Torey Lovullo from Arizona.
“You see these guys playing for old-school managers and they all have a different idea of the game — they learn from the dinosaurs,” Ortiz added.
Ortiz, who recently turned 48 and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022, believes that the fact that Breslow played in a city like Boston will help him in his new role.
“All these little details that a general manager who hasn’t been in a clubhouse doesn’t know, he knows,” Ortiz said. “I’m confident Breslow will do things right as general manager because he’s been in this situation before.”
The David Ortiz Celebrity Golf Classic tournament raises funds to provide critical pediatric health care to children in New England and his native Dominican Republic.
FOUNTAIN: AP
