It turns out that for years he’s worked out with Angel Presinal, who has recently acquired the reputation of baseball’s biggest steroid-provider.

Asked whether he knew about any involvement Presinal had with steroids, Ortiz said, “Those are things that are at another level.

“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to know what can cause you problems and you have to deal with that.”

Um….sure. Whatever that means.

It’s interesting to look at Ortiz’s statistics: In his first 1325 major-league at-bats, Oritz hit 89 home runs, about one every 14.9 at-bats. The most he ever hit in a season came in 2003, when he hit 31.

In 2004, that changed. In 582 at-bats that season, he hit 41 home runs, or about one every 14.2 at-bats. In 601 at-bats in 2005, he hit 47 home runs, or one every 12.8 at-bats.

In 558 at-bats in 2006, he hit 54 home runs, or one every 10.3 at-bats.

You see where this is going?

Suddenly, in 2007, only 35 home runs in 549 at-bats, or one home run per 15.7 at-bats. And then in 2008, just 23 home runs in 416 at-bats, or one home run every 18.1 at-bats.

If you plotted Ortiz’s home-run production on a graph, it’d look like a long, gradual line at about a 30-degree angle, then a sudden, short spike at about a 75-degree angle, then a plummet.

Again: I like Ortiz. But given how many times Alex Rodriguez will hear “A-Roid” chants at Fenway Park this season, it’s important that Sox fans admit the role steroids played in their team’s success.

By the way, Globe reporter Nick Carfado asks Ortiz if he knew Presinal, if he has to be careful who he associates with, and so on.

But he never asks Ortiz if he ever steroids….