Ortiz: 'Don't want to be part of this drama'

Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, in an interview with ESPN, said that the histrionics surrounding the Red Sox have become so overwhelming that he is unsure whether he wants to return to the team with whom he has spent the last nine seasons. With revelations about the Sox' dysfunctional clubhouse culture mounting, the decision for Terry Francona to leave after eight years as Sox manager and GM Theo Epstein likely following him out the door, Ortiz -- a free agent this offseason -- said that his desire to return to the Sox has diminished.

"There's too much drama, man," Ortiz said in the interview. "There's too much drama. I have been thinking about a lot of things. I don't know if I want to be part of this drama for next year."

Ortiz, 35, hit .309 with a .398 OBP, .554 slugging mark, .953 OPS, 29 homers and 96 RBI in 146 games in 2011. Now, for the first time since he signed with the Sox prior to the 2003 season. And Ortiz, who played under a $12.5 million team option in 2011, suggested that he would at least consider playing for the Yankees if they were to approach him, based on his respect for Boston's chief rival.

"That's something I gotta think about," Ortiz told ESPN. "[The Yankees are] a good situation to be involved in. Who doesn't want to be involved in a great situation where everything goes the right way? ... They lost just like we did, they just went to the first round of the playoffs. I ain't heard nobody coming out killing everybody just because they lost."

Ortiz added that the portrayal of clubhouse chaos, including the idea that starting pitchers were drinking beer, eating fried chicken and playing video games during games on their off-days, had been distorted. He suggested that other Sox teams, including the championship editions of 2004 and 2007, had similar transgressions occurring.

"We had that when we won the World Series in 2004," he said. "We had that when we won the World Series in 2007. Beer in the clubhouse, it's always been there. Video games, that's always been there; guys eating fried chicken, that's always been there."

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