David Ortiz is a Boston Red Sox legend and a primary reason the franchise broke the storied Curse of the Bambino with World Series titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013, but to hear Theo Epstein tell it, the slugger wanted out in 2003.
The Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations, who was the Red Sox general manager at the time, revealed Ortiz requested a trade in 2003 as he was battling for playing time with Shea Hillenbrand. The comments came when Epstein appeared on Executive Access, via MLB.com:
"David Ortiz hit all of two home runs in the first [two months] of the 2003 season and in mid-May had his agent come and ask me for a trade to somewhere he could play more regularly.