David Ortiz tormented the Yankees for years, and now that he’s in retirement, the retired Red Sox slugger believes his old rival has a hard time with its departed superstars.
Ortiz, who is working as an analyst for FOX in the World Series alongside Alex Rodriguez, doesn’t like the way both Rodriguez and Derek Jeter have been treated by the Yankees now that they’re no longer with the team.
“Things didn’t end up the way things should be,” Ortiz told Sports Illustrated of how Rodriguez’s status with the Yankees ended.
“To be honest with you, there’s a problem between that organization and its players, I believe. I don’t even think Jeter is happy with them, you know what I’m saying?”
Rodriguez last played in August 2016, when he and the Yankees agreed he would be released and paid the $27 million owed on his contract. He’s spent the last year and a half as a special adviser to team owner Hal Steinbrenner.
Jeter retired in 2014 and returned to Yankee Stadium in May of last season to have his No. 2 retired. Since then, he’s become a part owner of the Marlins.
“Now you would be like, ‘Hold on, Derek Jeter is not happy with the Yankees? What’s going on?’” Ortiz said. “Somebody needs to figure out what’s going on. I’ve been thinking: ‘Wait a minute, how come the legends are not happy once they get out of town?’ I don’t know. But I’m happy with the Red Sox. I’ll tell you that.”
Ortiz retired following the 2016 season in which he played well and opted on his own to call it quits.
Rodriguez had a much more difficult relationship with the Yankees, highlighted by his association with Biogenesis and the ensuing legal battle he threatened against parts of the organization- but GM Brian Cashman said the rift is gone.
“There was that temporary horrible time that we were all dealing with,” Cashman told the magazine. “But for the most part the relationship was really good. He performed at a high level. … Even when he walked through that fire that we all had to walk through, when the dust settled he swung back around and made amends. There’s forgiveness and acceptance, for the most part, for most parties.”
As for Jeter, he was hurt by the team’s treatment of him during contract negotiations prior to the 2011 season, and that was never forgotten. When he announced his retirement on his Facebook page before his last season, the only member of the organization he gave advanced warning to was Steinbrenner.
And unlike Ortiz in Boston, neither went out on a high note.
Jeter had a rough final season, when it was a battle to stay at the top of the lineup, and Rodriguez was pushed aside when the Yankees decided to go ahead with their youth movement.