The former manager's comments served no good purpose, whatever their substance.
Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, second from right, never got close with his players, and his comments this week about David Ortiz help show why.Nobody seems to know how to make a graceful exit anymore.
The latest to slam the door on his way out is Bobby Valentine, who left even his defenders and apologists in an awkward spot by taking a shot at David Ortiz, who the deposed Red Sox manager says quit on his team.
Here is what Bobby said on "Costas Tonight,'' which aired Tuesday:
"David Ortiz came back after spending about six weeks on the disabled list and we thought it was only going to be a week. He got two hits the first two times up, drove in a couple runs; we were off to the races. Then he realized that this trade meant that we’re not going to run this race and we’re not even going to finish the race properly and he decided not to play anymore. I think at that time it was all downhill from there."
The trade in question was the blockbuster with the Dodgers that sent Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, injured Carl Crawford and utility man Nick Punto to LA. It was being finalized on Aug. 24, the night Ortiz played his only game of Boston's last 72.
Returning from an Achilles strain suffered in mid-July, Ortiz slammed two hits in a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. Gonzalez had been pulled from the lineup just before the game, when the details of the trade were being worked out.
After the game, Valentine said Ortiz had felt the injury again as he ran out one of his hits. The next day, the trade was done. So was the 2012 Red Sox season.
Ortiz did not play again. Valentine's comments are telling us he could have played, but saw the trade as a surrender flag for 2012 (which it was), and decided to quit on his team.
That's a strong charge. The best rebuttal to it is that by sitting out the rest of the season, Ortiz lowered whatever free agent interest he might attract.
Teams are now left to take his word that he will be healthy by spring training. The appeal for an aging slugger who missed the last 11 weeks with an injury, as opposed to one who was hurt but made it back, would seem severely compromised.
Valentine is also painting a rosier-than-thou picture of where the Red Sox stood on Aug. 24. They were 60-66 after Ortiz' one-game return.
They went 9-27 thereafter. Let's say Ortiz was worth six wins in the last 36 games, which I think is foolishly high - but we'll use it to make a point.
That means Boston would not have finished 69-93 with Ortiz. The Red Sox would have been 75-87. Break out the bubbly.
Let's take a different approach. Let's say that given the coincidence of the timeline, with the trade and Big Papi's shutdown happening almost simultaneously, that Valentine is right.
I'm not saying he is. This is a direct slap at David Ortiz' character, and I have neither the desire nor the information to walk down that road.
But even if Valentine thinks it's true, what's the point of saying it now?
If the point is for Bobby V to absolve himself from blame for an awful finish to a bad season, he needn't bother. Most people don't blame him directly for the collapse of club whose roster belonged in Pawtucket, even if those same people feel a managing change had to be made for the sake of a fresh start.
Valentine is also biting one of the few hands that fed him. Ortiz was just about the only player who ever defended the manager, albeit in a lukewarm manner.
At various times, Big Papi said the team needed more talent, that Valentine was doing the best he could to win and that the manager's identity didn't matter as much as people thought.
Ortiz did not attend the mutiny session of 17 players in New York on July 26, reportedly because he felt the players were more responsible for the sluggish record than anybody else.
Given how nobody else said a peep on Valentine's behalf, and let him swing in the wind by himself, that's practically a rousing endorsement. This is the player that Valentine has chosen to besmirch now.
The 62-year-old Valentine knows he will never manage in the major leagues again. It would therefore seem he has nothing to lose by spouting off now.
That's not true. He is losing some of the credibility given him by those who feel his reputation for being someone his own players can't trust was either unfair or at the very least exaggerated.
Here, he is doing exactly what his critics say he does. Don't blame me, he is saying. Blame that guy over there.
This won't exonerate Valentine from blame. It will add to the suspicion that more of the club's problems were his fault than we have wanted to believe.
I can understand why Valentine feels he was never given a fair chance. Some players tuned him out before they met him, management's backing was inconsistent and the roster deteriorated.
The Aug. 25 trade is widely viewed as the club's best move of the season, for it conceded the team's glaring need for an overhaul. That overhaul did not help Valentine win games in September, though.
Fired within 15 hours of his team's final game, Valentine left with a gracious message that suggested he was taking the high road. This' week's remarks represent a huge step back for a man whose career will not be affected by slamming the door on his way out, but whose image as the problem and not the victim is bound to be nourished.
I don't know if Ortiz shut it down because of the trade or not. I do know some things are best left unsaid, even on "Costas Tonight.''
I also know Bobby Valentine's strength has never been to leave things unsaid. That is why he is so entertaining, but it also might explain why players don't trust him and why every few years, he gets fired.