Looks like Big Papi will have a six-month farewell tour to close out his remarkable baseball career.

David Ortiz reportedly will retire after the 2016 season, his 14th as a member of the Boston Red Sox.

USA Today said Ortiz will announce his plans Wednesday, his 40th birthday. The news first was reported Tuesday by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Neither Ortiz nor the Red Sox has confirmed the reports.

Ortiz is coming off perhaps his best season since the prime of his career. He batted .273 in 2015 with 37 home runs and 108 RBI. Ortiz reached 500 career homers in September and topped 100 RBI for the ninth time, tying a team record held by Ted Williams.

He is the only man in nearly a century to have played on three Red Sox world championship teams – in 2004, 2007 and 2013. Ortiz was named the World Series MVP in 2013 after batting .688 with two home runs in Boston’s six-game victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

He joined the Red Sox in 2003 as a free agent after six nondescript years with the Minnesota Twins. Ortiz ranks third on Boston’s career home run list with 445, behind Williams (521) and Carl Yastrzemski (452).

A nine-time All-Star, he will earn $16 million in 2016. He was asked about retirement just before the end of last season.

“At some point it’s going to happen. When? I don’t know,” Ortiz told WEEI.com. “As you get older, your body breaks down easier than when you were younger. I’m fortunate because I’m almost 40 and I’m doing things normally. You get to this stage, you have to go day by day. You can’t promise people anything three years from now.”


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