David Ortiz rips Bobby Valentine in his new memoir - MLB

Back in 2012, Bobby Valentine managed the Boston Red Sox. It was an utter disaster for tons of reasons, but one of the dumbest things Valentine did was get into a war with David Ortiz. A war in which Valentine accused Ortiz of quitting on the Red Sox. This despite the fact that Ortiz suffered a serious foot injury and tried to come back early to help the struggling Sox, only to hurt himself again.

After the season, Valentine gave that interview in which he accused Ortiz of quitting. A couple of days later he had the nerve to text Ortiz and say that it was all being overblown and distorted by the media despite the fact that Valentine was not misquoted. He was on camera saying those things. Ortiz’s response was to muse that Valentine had mental issues.

Oritz has a memoir coming out called “Papi: My Story.” As one would expect, Ortiz has some feelings about his former manager. Sports Illustrated is running an excerpt of it today and it’s worth a read. Personally I’d rather hear Papi’s natural, uncensored version of it than the version that has obviously been softened by his co-author, Michael Holley, but it’s good stuff all the same.

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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”