Red Sox Legend David Ortiz Was Extremely Blunt About Boston's Ongoing Rebuild

The Hall of Famer is not feeling optimistic on Opening Day

Jul 22, 2023; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Hall of Famer David Ortiz during the Parade of Legends. / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Red Sox appeared as if they would finally use this winter to get back on track following two back-to-back finishes in the American League East.

Ownership fired former Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom. The luxury tax was reset and there were plenty of marquee free agents on the board. When Craig Breslow supplanted Bloom, he talked about bringing in multiple starting pitching upgrades as well as an impact right-handed bat with positional versatility.

I don't even have to go over Red Sox part-owner Tom Werner's "full throttle" comment. Instead, Boston further entrenched itself into a years-long rebuild with no destination in sight.

Hall of Famer and Red Sox legend David Ortiz did not use his advisory role to hype up those in power and pretend everything was all fine and well when asked about how the team was looking in spring training last week.

"We've been rebuilding," Ortiz told Joey Copponi and I while appearing on the ITM Podcast. "I think organizations go through that at some point and sometimes it's hard for people to understand that's part of baseball. It is (about) how you get the young talent the opportunity to get very familiar with the major leagues so at some point their talent gets to be exploited and all of a sudden you have a superstar right there.

"The organization normally at some point had to go through that and I think that's what we are going through right now."

It's worth noting that Copponi simply asked about spring training and that Ortiz used that question to speak open and honestly about the current direction of the club -- which at times seems unclear.

Like the rest of us, Ortiz does not appear thrilled with the current state of the franchise -- and how could he? However, the all-time designated hitter is trusting the process and hoping that the young core develops as promised.

In 1975, Miller Lite sparked a debate that lasted for decades: what’s the best thing about Miller Lite? Tastes Great or Less Filling? Iconic stars disagreed for years in some of the most iconic ads of all time, but the debate was never settled. Ortiz was able to sit down with us as part of this rebooted campaign, which also features superstars such as JJ Watt, Jorge Posada, Reggie Miller and Mia Hamm.

The Hall of Fame slugger was all about the Great Taste.

Listen To The Full Interview Here: Ep. 192: David Ortiz