According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the Red Sox and David Ortiz are finalizing a new two-year, $26 million deal to keep the slugger in Boston through 2014. Additional incentives could push the value of the deal to $30 million.
Ortiz, 36, was limited to 90 games in 2012 -- and just one after July 16 -- due to a right Achilles strain. However, when on the field, he was a force, hitting .318 with a .415 OBP, .611 slugging mark and 1.026 OPS along with 23 homers.
On Friday, the Sox made a one-year, $13.3 million qualifying offer to Ortiz, ensuring that should he leave via free agency, the team would get draft pick compensation under the terms of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, the two sides remained free to negotiate, and arrived at an agreement just hours after the qualifying offer was made.
"We have a guy who's been here for a long time and he's been an important part of the team and a guy we want to keep," Sox GM Ben Cherington said on the Red Sox Hot Stove Show on Thursday. "It's just a matter of trying to find a deal that works for him and works for us."
Evidently, that has occurred, meaning that the Sox will retain the man who has been a Red Sox lineup centerpiece for the last 10 years.
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