The Boston Red Sox team store on Yawkey Way has David Price No. 24 T-shirts and David Ortiz "Big Papi 34 Final Season" Tees and hats featured prominently on a table up front.

A WEEI advertisement promoting the Boston Red Sox 2016 season tells listeners of how announcers Joe Castiglione and Tim Neverett will provide all the play-by-play as Ortiz finishes his career here and Price begins his Red Sox career.

For the Red Sox, NESN and WEEI, Price's arrival and Ortiz's season-long farewell should be effective marketing tools. But the most effective marketing tool of all in sports is a winning team. If this ball club wins, the fans will tune in.

And here during his final season, the 40-year-old Ortiz remains as crucial to whether the Red Sox will make the playoffs as he was at 28 in 2004, the year Boston ended that 86-year curse. He arguably still remains the most important member of the batting order.

Don't expect Ortiz to fade off like Derek Jeter did in 2014. The Yankees captain's .617 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) was 200 points lower than his career mark.

Ortiz should still be near the top of his game. After a slow start in 2015, the DH slugged 37 homers, drove in 108 runs and batted .273 with a .360 on-base percentage, .553 slugging percentage and .913 OPS.

Ortiz has knocked in 100 runs each of the past three seasons and he needs around that same production again this year. And the Red Sox can't afford for him to have another slow start like he did in 2015.

Yes, Ortiz finished with superb stats in '15. But he was as responsible as Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval, Rick Porcello and everyone else, for the Red Sox's poor first half in 2015.

Boston played itself into a deep hole in the AL East standings during May, going 10-19 (.345 winning percentage). Opponents outscored Boston 124-82.

During that miserable May that sunk the Sox, Ortiz batted only .214 with a .287 on-base percentage, .337 slugging percentage, .624 OPS, two homers, seven RBIs and just four runs. He was as much of a non-factor as pretty much everyone else on the roster.

A Jan. 12 MassLive.com column highlighted the importance of manager John Farrell's team playing well early in the season after two last-place finishes.

With Ortiz being the cleanup hitter in a batting order that might have some weaknesses, he needs to be pretty sharp from Opening Day onward.

Is that unfair to ask of a 40-year-old retiring DH? Maybe, but he's always been the lineup's centerpiece and Boston needs him to be that centerpiece one final time.

The 2016 Red Sox have the potential to boast a dangerous offense but the batting order does have some potential weaknesses.

Boston posted the best batting average (.275) of all American League clubs after the All-Star break in 2015 and it led the AL in hits (709) during the second half and delivered the third most extra-base hits (248).

The Red Sox have two of the more exciting young hitters in the majors -- Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts (potential sleeper MVP candidates) -- who will be hitting ahead of Ortiz.

So the lineup certainly can be a force. But then there's also Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez who posted on-base percentages below .300 during '15 and Jackie Bradley Jr. and Rusney Castillo who still remain unproven.

Ortiz will receive plenty of RBI opportunities with Betts, Dustin Pedroia and Bogaerts hitting ahead of him. He needs to produce especially if the bottom half of the order does struggle.

Ortiz's power production also is crucial. This lineup doesn't include too many home run threats.

Betts and Bradley have pop and Bogaerts should hit more homers this year. Ramirez of course has power but questions linger over whether he can remain healthy enough to stay on the field and whether his defense at first base could ultimately cause him to receive less playing time. Ramirez will be playing first base for the first time in his career.

And so at 40-years-old, Ortiz still is as needed by this team as much as ever.

The reason Ortiz struggled early last year was because he couldn't hit left-handed pitching. That's the same reason he struggled during the first couple months of 2009 and the first month of 2010.

Back then, it looked like Ortiz's career was nearing an end. But he worked hard between 2010 and 2011 to improve his approach against southpaws.

He slashed .222/.275/.324/.599 in 200 plate appearances against lefties in 2010, then .329/.423/.566/.989 in 201 plate appearances against lefties in 2011.

2010: .222/.275/.324/.599 vs. LHP

2011: .329/.423/.566/.989 vs. LHP

2012: .320/.377/.608/.985 vs. LHP

2013: .260/.315/.418/.733 vs. LHP

2014: .275/.349/.544/.893 vs. LHP

2015: .231/.277/.426/.703 vs. LHP

As you can see, the stats dropped against southpaws last year. Ortiz slashed just .114/.111/.157/.268 in his first 70 at-bats against lefthanders during 2015.

Manager John Farrell sat Ortiz during some games in June against lefties. Before a game in Baltimore against lefty Wei-Yin Chen, a frustrated Ortiz, not in the lineup, said, "Something you've got to ask to the manager. I'm not the manager here. I'm just a player. And I do what I get to be told."

So what if Ortiz struggles against lefties at the start of this season again? What if he gets off to another poor start here in his farewell season?

It certainly had to have been frustrating for him to sit last year because he was playing for contract incentives. The money he will earn here in 2016 was determined by his number of plate appearances in 2015. He ended up reaching the 600 plate appearances that will allow him to earn $16 million in 2016.

He's not playing to vest options in his contract anymore. And so if he does struggle vs. lefties or if struggles in general, he might be more willing to sit. In that case, Ramirez could DH against southpaws if Ortiz continues to see a decline in his production against lefties.

In Ramirez's 11 games and 47 plate appearances as the DH last year, he compiled a 1.001 OPS.

Red Sox principal owner John Henry doesn't want to see Ortiz's career end with the Sox failing to make the playoffs for the third straight season.

"Given his track record in the postseason, it would be a disaster," that's a strong word, I guess, a big disaster -- it would be terrible if he doesn't end his career in the postseason," Henry said recently.

For the Red Sox to make the playoffs though, they still need a 40-year-old, motivated, healthy Ortiz there to prevent the disaster.