David Ortiz sounds like a man preparing himself -- mentally, at least -- for a departure from Boston.
"Time will tell," he told CSN's Jessica Moran in a one-on-one interview when asked if he'll be back with the Red Sox next year.
"If I come back, I come back. Be happy to be here. If I don't, everybody's gotta move on."
Ortiz returned for 2011 when the Red Sox exercised the 12.5 million option on his contract. This is the final year of the deal he signed in 2007, but he told Moran he's used to playing on an about-to-expire pact.
"I played under a one-year contract last year. You know what I'm saying?" he said, referring to the fact that the 2011 option wasn't a mutual option but belonged solely to the Red Sox. "Having an option that isn't yours, it's like playing under a one-year contract."
But he said it's not going to concern him.
"Everybody's happy. I'm happy. I'm just going to play like I normally do. Gonna go hard . . . and . . . whatever happens, happens."
Boston Red Sox
One thing he's not so laissez-faire about, however, is platooning at DH. Ortiz batted only .222 against left-handers last year, with 2 home runs and 24 RBI in 185 at-bats -- compared to .2973078 in 333 at-bats against righties -- and that was his highest batting average against lefties in three years. He hit .221 against them in 2008 and .212 against them in 2009.
But he's adamant that he wants to be in the lineup every day.
"Well, I showed the whole planet last year that I'm not a platoon player," he said, referring, apparently, to the fact that he hit .286 with 31 home runs and 98 RBI after May 1. "I just get worse when I have to be a platoon player. But we'll see. I'm working on my stuff; I know I have to get better, like anyone else, at some things, and I hope everybody understands that."