David Ortiz is headed to the All-Star Game, again, to publicly embarrass the Twins, again, and the celebration of his last season has attracted attention to one of the biggest mistakes in Minnesota sports history, again.
Ortiz is tearing up big-league pitching, again, and leading a playoff contender, again, and Twins General Manager Terry Ryan is falling on his sword, again.
I was sat in a dugout in the Dominican Republic with Ortiz shortly after he learned the Twins had released him in December 2002. He was devastated. That night, he hit a home run in Santo Domingo. He has been hitting them for teams other than the Twins ever since.
Ryan's decision to release Ortiz became symbolic of Twins' failures real and concocted. They asked their power hitters to give themselves up to advance runners and hit the ball the other way. They couldn't develop power hitters. They believed in small ball. They were tough on young players.
Twins fans angered by their failures this decade have kept the angst alive.
Here's my question for those who treat Ortiz as a persecuted saint and the Twins' bosses as stumblebums:
Why doesn't anyone ever get mad at Ortiz?
The Twins made a terrible mistake. But why is Ortiz given a pass?