Krause: Ortiz, Wilfork two veterans with different situations

We have two veterans of the Boston sports scene this week who seem to be going in different directions.On one hand, we have David Ortiz, whom the Red Sox just rewarded with a contract extension. On the other, we have Vince Wilfork of the Patriots, who has been asked to take a pay cut to make his salary “cap friendly,” as the term goes.Big Pap is staying. Wilfork wants to leave.Regarding Ortiz, if it were any other 38-year-old designated hitter with heel issues, biting the bullet and letting him walk despite his almost mythical reputation would probably be the preferable – if difficult – way to go.But Sox owner John Henry is right about Ortiz. He’s still the face of the Red Sox. Papi carried the team on his back all through the post-season and in the annals of historic clutch performances, his has to rate among the very best ever.In the new world of professional sports, most of the time you’re paid for what you’re going to do. Sometimes, however, you need to be rewarded for what you’ve done. It might not be often, but this is one time it’s warranted.All the Red Sox had to do last year was not be terrible. Even if they played competitive ball and won 80-something games, we’d have been thrilled.Instead, the Red Sox won the World Series. They have Ortiz to thank for that. And now they have.The situation is less of a slam-dunk with Wilfork. Ortiz was fortunate in that he could deal with the Red Sox from a position of strength, but his advantage came from a career that has now spanned three championships … and no one other than Tom Brady – at least among the current athletes – can make that claim. And, like Brady, Ortiz has had a big hand in all of them.Wilfork does not have that cachet. He is a prime example of today’s new reality in professional sports. The man has given everything he’s had to the Patriots. For more than a few years, he’s been the team’s second most indispensable player after Brady.He’s been a good soldier … a solid leader both on the field and off. And if there’s been a big play on defense in the last few years, chances are he’s been the reason.No Wilfork, no Super Bowl in 2011-12. His performance in the AFC championship game that year was inspirational.On a more comical note, it was Wilfork who snowplowed his man right into Mark Sanchez on Thanksgiving night 2012, resulting in the “butt-fumble” that has caused so much merriment all over the country.But sadly for Vince, he tore his Achilles tendon last September, and the jury’s out on whether he can even play again, let alone play at the level that made him so indispensable.Whatever the team says he weighs, it’s fair to add about 30 pounds to it. Wiki says he ways 325 pounds, but don’t believe it. He weighs much more than that. He’s also going to be 33 in November … and in football years, especially for 350-pound (still being conservative here) defensive lineman, that might as well be 50.So here he is, in the last year of his contract, and the team comes to him looking for salary cap relief. Wilfork didn’t take to kindly to the proposal and asked to be released. The other day, he cleaned out his locker.Nobody says this is fair. It’s not exactly a secret that Bill Belichick is pretty bloodless when it comes to these things. If your value has diminished, you have two choices … accept the new “value” or part ways. It happened with Richard Seymour, and it could happen to Wilfork is he’s not careful. Some might even say that Seymour was let go so the Patriots could afford to pay Wilfork. It was an either-or.Wilfork would do well to remember that.It would be very nice if someone sat down with Wilfork and explained these realities to him, because it would be a shame if he and the team parted acrimoniously. He’s probably too young to retire the way Troy Brown and Tedy Bruschi did. Both were exceptionally intelligent and perceptive guys who saw the handwriting on the wall and didn’t want to leave an area where they’d built up such a following. They retired instead