A powerful statement from Ortiz

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Among Mo Vaughn's more memorable utterances in his years with the Red Sox was one that came during one of his numerous contract squabbles with John Harrington, the former Sox owner who along with his wife, Maureen, was John W. Henry's guest for yesterday's 9-4 Sox exercise against the Toronto Blue Jays. "Gentlemen," Vaughn said to a gathering of professional scribblers, "the price is going up every day."

David Ortiz, a bigger and, we dare say, cuddlier version of Vaughn, has yet to deliver a similar message to Theo and the Trio, at least not for public consumption.

But even if Ortiz bought a billboard on the outfield wall at City of Palms Park, he could not make his point more emphatically than he has with his bat this spring. Ortiz, who would have liked some long-term security from the Sox but settled for a one-year deal that will pay him a shade under $5 million if he meets his incentives, hit his major league-leading sixth home run of the practice schedule yesterday, a solo shot in the fourth inning off an impressionable 21-year-old Jays kid named Brandon League, who was most assuredly out of his against Ortiz.

Ortiz, who is eligible for free agency after the season but is well down a list of Sox priorities headed by Pedro Martinez, Nomar Garciaparra, and Jason Varitek, appears bent on proving that his 31-homer, 101-RBI performance last season -- at a bargain price of $1.25 million -- was not just yesterday's news.

Man on a mission? Ortiz blinked, noncomprehending, at the question. Kevin Millar, who hit his first home run of the spring yesterday ("Manny and I are saving ours," he said), didn't hesitate to respond.

"It's hard not to say that," Millar said. "This guy is unbelievable right now. He's going off the field, foul pole to foul pole. He's swinging the bat, man. He's having a monster spring."

Ortiz had a nice spring last season, too, then went into cold storage when the Sox headed north, his at-bats limited to 52 in April and 51 in May, until the first base/DH logjam was solved when Shea Hillenbrand was traded to Arizona and Jeremy Giambi proved he couldn't play.

After that, Ortiz was MVP material. He followed the two home runs he hit in the season's first two months with 29 in the final four months, including 11 in August, the most by any Sox player in a month since Garciaparra hit 11 in July of 1998.

Crack Sox PR man Glenn Geffner devotes an entire section of Ortiz's bio in the media guide to a section titled "Heroics," recounting Ortiz's greatest hits of 2003, the most memorable perhaps being the walkoff home run over the Monster against Baltimore's Kurt Ainsworth Sept. 23, an inning after Todd Walker had hit a two-out, three-run home run to tie the score in the bottom of the ninth.

"He's as tough as they come, as a lefthanded bat right now," said Millar, who had three hits yesterday. "There's only a few guys in the league from the left side who can do the damage he's doing. He's one of the biggest, strongest lefthanded hitters in the league. Why does he have to prove anything to anybody?"

Ortiz will say he's just getting ready for the season. He's not pointing at the owner's box and saying, "Whaddya think of me now?"

"They got to play it smart, too," Ortiz said, a congenial concession that the Sox have their reasons, too.

Not that he doesn't believe the smart thing would be to keep him. "It would be a good thing," he said.

It also would be a positive development, in his view, if he got to play a little more first base, too, as he did yesterday. Trot Nixon's back injury, which is expected to keep him out six weeks, is likely going to give Ortiz more time at the bag, with Millar shifting to right. But as much as Millar understands why Ortiz at 28 doesn't wish to be typecast as a DH -- he made just two appearances on the field after Aug. 10 -- he doesn't expect new manager Terry Francona to disturb the status quo.

"I don't think you're going to see us fixing anything that's not broke," Millar said. "Last year, Ortiz had a great year. He was fifth in the league in the MVP vote as a DH. The majority of the time he'll be at DH, when everybody is healthy. I'm sure I'll fill in for Trot in right and Ortiz will play some first base, but when everything goes back to basics, the big cat's our DH.

"Whether he wants to play first base more, he will, but I think Terry Francona knows that hey, this isn't broke, we're not going to fix it."

Ortiz said he hasn't been told how much he'll be playing at first this season. As for the possibility that the Sox will reopen negotiations on a long-term deal, Ortiz said: "I haven't heard a word."

But he's being heard, loud and long and clear.