amfox1 wrote:

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Once the Red Sox make a decision to sign one of Oswalt or Jackson, which one they sign is irrelevant to the Ortiz decision, except to the extent they can sign one of Oswalt and Jackson cheaper than the other. The decision to sign another pitcher is the threshold decision.

Is a multi-year deal still a possibility for David Ortiz?

When he accepted arbitration, that sort of focuses the conversation much more on a one-year deal. That’s what we’re focused on right now. In this case, you hear the word arbitration, and sometimes that can carry an adversarial connotation to it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. In this case, we have a guy we care about a lot, who’s a great player, has been a great player, a great hitter, who we believe in moving forward. Obviously we wanted him back. That’s why we offered him arbitration. So really it’s a matter of figuring out what’s a fair number for 2012. One way or another, he’s going to be on our team, in the middle of our lineup. We’re really glad he’s here, and hope he’s here for a while.