The Red Sox and David Ortiz averted a potential salary arbitration hearing by agreeing to a one-year deal for 2012 worth $14.575 million. That is actually the midpoint between the salary being offered by the Sox ($12.65 million) and the number being sought by Ortiz ($16.5 milion).
$14.575 million for a DH, that's a lot of dough. Funny the Sox could've had Edwin Jackson and Ryan Madson for that amount of money, and it is interesting to think about what would've had the bigger impact. Let's all just sit back and pray he can stay healthy and the Red Sox can squeeze one more year of 30-100 from Ortiz. I have said before I wasn't overly pumped about him coming back because I thought it would be nice to be able to use the DH like most other teams do, to rest players. Guys like Youk would heavily benefit from getting some time off there, and the problem with Ortiz is that he can't play anywhere else.