The deposed manager said Ortiz shut it down with the playoffs out of reach.
Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, right, talks with, from left, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and first base coach Alex Ochoa in the dugout before a game in August. After the season, Valentine said Ortiz shut down his season with the team giving up the playoff chase, to which Ortiz said the former manager must have "mental issues,''BOSTON - On the day his new, two-year contract was announced, David Ortiz at first sidestepped questions about former Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine, who said on "Costas Tonight'' that Ortiz stopped playing in 2012 because his team was out of the race.
That was not the end of it.
"No, 1, never bite the hand that feeds you, because in the end that will come back to bite you,'' Ortiz told ESPNDeportes.com.
"I was one of those players that always showed support for him. In fact, I held a couple of player meetings.''
"No. 2, the day I returned from the disabled list, I told him I was not sure what percentage health-wise I was in, but that I could not be out there without trying to help. When I told him that, I put my career on hold to help him and the team.''
Sidelined by an Achilles strain in July, Ortiz played one game, on Aug. 24, and had two hits.
He said Monday he was in "an incredible amount of pain.'' After the game, his comeback was ended and he did not play again.
There the story rested until Valentine, who was fired the day after the season ended, said on "Costas Tonight'' that Ortiz decided not to play after the Aug. 25 trade - the day after Ortiz' brief return - which sent Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and two other players to the Dodgers.
Valentine's take in the Oct. 23 interview was that Ortiz decided the team had given up on a playoff run and that playing in discomfort was therefore not worth it.
Ortiz said Valentine sent him a text message after the interview, saying the media was trying to change the meaning of his words - even though his words were on TV.
"I said to myself, this guy must have some mental issues or needs medicine or something. I said, I am dealing with someone crazy and I am not going to drive myself crazy, so it is better if I leave it alone.''
Comments by Ortiz about Valentine in the general press conference were brief. He did leave the impression that had Valentine been brought back, he might not have been sitting at Fenway Park Monday, proud to return himself.
During the season, Ortiz was one of the few players, and by far the most prominent, to publicly give Valentine the benefit of the doubt. He did not attend a July 26 meeting with players and ownership in New York, in which most of the team was there and complaints about the manager - described in some media as a mutiny session - were voiced.