BOSTON -- How much better would you feel about the Red Sox's chances next season if someone told you general manager Ben Cherington could sign a player who brought to the table the following credentials:

• In the past three seasons (2010-2012), he trailed only Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Jose Bautista and Josh Hamilton in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS).

• In the past three seasons, he trailed only Cabrera, Votto, Bautista, Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun in OPS+, which measures OPS adjusted to a player's home park.

• In the past three seasons, he trailed only Cabrera, Bautista, Hamilton, Votto and Braun in slugging percentage.

• In the past three seasons, he trailed only Bautista, Giancarlo Stanton, Cabrera and Hamilton in isolated power (ISO), which measures the percentage of extra-base hits a player has.

The Red Sox are betting that David Ortiz's production won't be slowed much by age or injury. Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

Now, how much better do you feel to know that Cherington has already signed that player, and for a salary less than the average salary of the game's top 125 players?

His name is David Ortiz, and yes, the two-year, $26 million contract the Red Sox gave him Friday to remain with the club is greater than what the free-agent market has historically rewarded designated hitters. But maybe it's about time to acknowledge that Ortiz, especially after the way he hit in 2012 before going down with a strained Achilles tendon, does not match the profile of the typical aging designated hitter.

And with so few big bats on the open market this winter, this might have been the year another club decided to bet big that Ortiz would continue to be a very productive hitter for a couple more seasons. The kind of hitter that could mean playing deep into October.

The Red Sox obviously were unwilling to take that chance, striking a deal with Ortiz's agent, Fernando Cuza, before Ortiz could shop his wares elsewhere.

Did they overpay? You could point to the fact that the Sox offered Ortiz two years for $18 million when he was a year younger and make that argument. Plenty of people have, just as plenty of people have said that Ortiz wouldn't have come close to $26 million on the open market.

But a stronger argument can be made that Ortiz is a special case. He has an intrinsic worth to the franchise that makes him more valuable to Boston than any other team, and he might be one of those rare players, like fellow DHs Edgar Martinez and Paul Molitor, who can sustain performance even in the twilight of his career.

Ortiz turns 37 later this month. He will be just short of his 39th birthday when this deal expires. He is coming off a major injury, one that caused him to decide to stop playing in late August after the megadeal with the Dodgers, according to the skewed vision of fired manager Bobby Valentine.