The slugger wants more time at first base for the Red Sox.

BOSTON (AP) – David Ortiz left little doubt about his hitting ability when he slugged 31 homers in his first season with the Boston Red Sox.

Now he wants to show he can be a good fielder, and he’d like to do it with Boston for a long time.

“I’m preparing myself because I want to play more at first base. I don’t want to be, at 28 years old, a DH full-time,” he said Wednesday after the team officially announced his one-year contract, avoiding salary arbitration. “I’m going to ask for more opportunity at first base.”

Last season, Ortiz appeared in 73 games as Boston’s DH and 45 at first base. Kevin Millar played the position for most of the year. But with Boston on the verge of signing Ellis Burks as a righty DH, that could make Ortiz more available to play the field.

So honing his first-base skills at spring training, which starts Feb. 20 in Fort Myers, Fla., may increase his opportunities.

“I always get my work in,” Ortiz said. “I know what it takes to be around the bag.”

Ortiz, speaking on a conference call from the Dominican Republic, had his best season last year, his first with Boston, and would like a longer deal.

“I would like to be (in Boston) for a while,” he said. “I just want to avoid arbitration for now and we’ll keep talking.”

The contract was agreed to last Friday and avoided a salary arbitration hearing. It is worth $4,587,500, compared to his $1.25 million salary last season. He had asked for $5 million in arbitration and had been offered $4.2 million. In addition to his salary, he could earn $50,000 bonuses for 525 and 600 plate appearances.

Ortiz finished fifth in the AL voting for MVP and was third in the league with a .592 slugging percentage. He hit .288 with 39 doubles and 101 RBIs in 128 games after signing as a free agent. He had spent all or parts of the previous six seasons with Minnesota.

The Red Sox had no official announcement on Burks, whose agent, Jim Turner, confirmed Wednesday that his client took a physical. Turner said he wanted to wait for the results before publicly discussing his client’s talks with the Red Sox.

Burks, 39, played six seasons in Boston after being selected as the team’s No. 1 draft pick in 1983. He was an All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder in 1990, three years after making his big league debut. He left the team as a free agent after the 1992 season, when the Red Sox declined to re-sign him because of concerns about his back.

Burks then played with the Chicago White Sox, Colorado, San Francisco and Cleveland. His season with Cleveland ended in June last year because of a nerve condition in his right elbow that required surgery. He became a free agent after the Indians declined to exercise a $5 million option.

On Wednesday, the Red Sox also named former major-league infielder Dale Sveum as their third-base coach, replacing Mike Cubbage.

AP-ES-02-04-04 1601EST