Ortiz: All respect for Valentine 'gone'

Speaking on WEEI's Hot Stove show Thursday night, David Ortiz said he still has had no communication with Bobby Valentine since the former Red Sox manager's comments to Bob Costas. 

In the interview with Costas, Valentine suggested the designated hitter shut himself down during the 2012 season not because of Achilles tendon soreness, but due to the team trading away Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto, thereby choosing to plan for the future instead of prioritizing '12.

"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," Valentine said in the interview on "Costas Tonight" on NBC Sports Network. "I think at that time it was all downhill from there."

Thursday night, Ortiz -- who played in one game after injuring his Achilles July 14 -- reiterated his disdain for the comments.

"Not really," the DH said when asked if he has communicated with Valentine. "I'm the kind of guy, I don't like to waste my time. I try and invest my time that in the long run is going to be some benefit. For Bobby, I gave everything I had as a player. Once I saw him coming out with his comments, I'm not going to lie to you, I was hurting. I was hurting, because you don't do people like that.

"I'm not Mr. Perfect. I'm human like everyone else, but I try and take a lot of responsibility in what I do. I'm not just a guy who goes out there and hit. As one of the older players, one of the guys who has been here longer, I carry a lot of responsibility. I know we have a lot of guys around looking at me thinking, 'What's next?' I know that, so I have to represent that one way or another, and Bobby knows that. Everybody in the organization knows that. So once I saw him coming out making comments like that, the little amount of respect for him was gone."

Ortiz sounded upbeat when discussing Valentine's successor, new Red Sox manager John Farrell.

"John, he's familiar with our organization. He was here when things were going pretty well, so I don't think he's too far away from knowing what we need to do to get things better around here," Ortiz said. "He has an inside track when it comes down to that. That's something Bobby wasn't familiar with. He has good communication with a lot of guys who are still on the team, and he knows our pitching staff, which we need a lot of help to bring those guys back to where they used to be.

"There are a lot of things that John can accomplish as the manager of the Red Sox right now. Another thing I saw was guys who were big parts of the organization are going to be back in. Tek [Jason Varitek], Pedro [Martinez], those guys, they're going to be around doing things. There a lot of good things happening and I think in the long run we're going to be in better shape."

To listen to the interview, click here. [1] For more Red Sox news, go to the team page at weei.com/redsox [2].