Ortiz swings by

CANTON - Theo Epstein has since said the words weren't meant as a shot across the bow, but they sure came across that way. At the Red Sox' season-ending press conference, the general manager directed the following at David Ortiz: ``If he's going to be the DH on this team, we need him to be a force.'' Yesterday during a promotional stop at Reebok headquarters, Ortiz offered his reaction. ``He's right,'' Ortiz said. ``I've got to be a force. He's right about that. It's all good. Come out next year and do my thing. That's it.'' Suffice it to say, this is a huge offseason for Ortiz, and he knows it. Though his final numbers - 28 home runs and 99 RBI - were more than respectable, they were short of what the designated hitter and the Red Sox had come to expect. Ortiz is entering the final year of a four-year, $52 million deal that will pay him $12.5 million for 2010. The club holds a $12.5 million option for 2011, but it's a safe bet the Sox won't exercise it if he repeats last year's performance. ``Everybody is used to seeing me hitting 40 homers with 140 RBI,'' Ortiz said. ``But I tell you, anybody will take 30 and 100. If I hit two more homers and get one more RBI next year than I did this year, what are people going to say? ``The numbers are always going to be there. And if you don't sign with somebody, someone else will sign you. That's how it goes.'' That said, Ortiz made it clear he hopes to remain with the Red Sox next year and beyond. ``I want to finish my career here,'' he said. ``I think I still have another three or four good years in me. It's not like I'm going to play until I'm 50, but I know I can still swing the bat. All I know is last year I had the worst two months of my career and still almost ended up at 30 and 100.'' The Red Sox want Ortiz to come to spring training in exceptional shape. The lefty slugger doesn't plan to overhaul his workout routine beyond picking up a bat a bit earlier than he did last year when he was recovering from wrist surgery. ``That's the only difference,'' he said. ``I'm going to start hitting sooner. Last year I couldn't swing until the end of January. But I'm fine. I'm going to do what I always do. I'm going to work out and hit in the Dominican (Republic) and get physically strong. ``Just leave it up to Big Papi. We'll be fine.'' The wrist gave Ortiz major problems in 2008, when it was a battle just to swing. He felt it was completely healed last year, but looks forward to further strengthening it this winter. ``I think it will be even stronger,'' he said. Ortiz, whose 2009 campaign also included having to answer to his name being linked to the Mitchell Report regarding performance-enhancing drugs, turns 34 on Nov. 18. He knows many are ready to write him off as over the hill on the assumption that his career is going to fade quickly. But Ortiz has no doubt elite Baseball remains inside him. ``People always talk about you getting older and things like that,'' he said. ``Time will tell. You have to do it while you can still play. Everybody's going to look to me if things don't go well. I know that. It's always been that way. Why that is, I don't know. But that's how it's going to be. So you've just got to figure out.'' Ortiz believes he'll get there and once again be that force the Red Sox need. ``Oh, I will,'' he said. ``I will.'' - jtomase@bostonherald.com