Solving the Ortiz problem

Three was once the magic number Not so long ago, the Red Sox’s Big Three Dominicans were among the best in baseball. Today Pedro is unemployed, Manny’s the latest poster child for steroids, and David Ortiz is being out-homered by the likes of Carlos Zambrano. Ask your average baseball fan what happened to Papi and they’ll offer explanations ranging from age to quitting steroids to developing an acute case of Roberto-Alomaritis, all essentially boiling down to, “He’s done.” Ask a Boston fan and they’ll cite a long swing, a lingering wrist injury, cheating on fastballs, becoming distracted by who Jacob is and how he got to the island in the first place, and pretty much anything other than “He’s done.” Stars don’t...