Quick Poll-- Will Bobby Valentine be Named Red Sox Manager?

[a700hitter]

I think it is looking like the Cherrington interview may be a mere formality.

[SCM33]

I hope not.

 

Think beer and chicken are bad? Ask the 2002 Mets front office how Bobby Valentine handled that club and how it worked out for them.

[Elktonnick]

I hope not.

 

Think beer and chicken are bad? Ask the 2002 Mets front office how Bobby Valentine handled that club and how it worked out for them.

 

Wasn't that wack job Steve Philips theGM of the Mets in 2002 who fired Bobby V. Philips probably will go down in baseall history as the most incompetent GM in post WW2 baseball history.

 

Here is a summary of Bobby V's Japanese resume

 

"In 2004, Valentine began his second stint as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines. On October 17, 2005, he led the Marines to their first Pacific League pennant in 31 years after emerging victorious in a close playoff with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Nine days later on October 26, the Marines won the Japan Series in a four game sweep of the Hanshin Tigers for the first time since 1974. On October 27, 2005, Valentine issued a challenge to the World Series champion Chicago White Sox on behalf of the Chiba Lotte Marines. Valentine called for a seven-game World Series to be played between the American and Japanese championship teams. Unlike the World Baseball Classic, a competition featuring sixteen national all-star teams, a World Series-styled tournament between the winners of both the American and Japanese championships has never been played.

 

Following their Japan Series championship, the Marines won the inaugural Asia Series by defeating the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization in November 2005. In 2008, Valentine was the subject of the ESPN Films documentary "The Zen of Bobby V." The film followed Valentine and his 2007 Chiba Lotte Marines team. "The Zen of Bobby V." was an official selection at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. The Marines decided to let Valentine go after the 2009 season after an extensive smear campaign led by Korean-Japanese club president Ryuzo Setoyama, which ironically backfired & resulted in an overflow of support for Valentine by local fans. In the end, Valentine was fired, even though a petition to extend his contract was presented to the organization with 112,000 signatures. Japan Times Article"

[a700hitter]

I hope not.

 

Think beer and chicken are bad? Ask the 2002 Mets front office how Bobby Valentine handled that club and how it worked out for them.

For purposes of this poll, I am asking whether you think Valentine will be named manager, not whether you want him to be manager.

[iortiz]

I think that they will make him a formal offer. If he accepts that offer, he will be our next manager.

[SCM33]

For purposes of this poll' date=' I am asking whether you think Valentine will be named manager, not whether you want him to be manager.[/quote']

 

I said no in spite

[a700hitter]

I said no in spite

But you think it is going to happen?

[SCM33]

But you think it is going to happen?

 

most likely

[SoxSport]

If you want to read a hilarious article, read the one in Yahoo sports--MLB--on Cherington interviewing Valentine. This has to be done tongue in cheek.

 

Sorry my windows 7 --the latest in Microsoft technology--doesn't have a copy and paste that works.

[Elktonnick]

If you want to read a hilarious article, read the one in Yahoo sports--MLB--on Cherington interviewing Valentine. This has to be done tongue in cheek.

 

Sorry my windows 7 --the latest in Microsoft technology--doesn't have a copy and paste that works.

 

Here's the article

 

Bobby Valentine and Ben Cherington will meet all day Monday to discuss the Boston Red Sox’s managerial job. They will trade philosophies, assess personnel and feel out each other’s personalities. Then Cherington, Boston’s new general manager, will return to ownership with his verdict.

 

If Cherington approves, sources said Sunday, Valentine in all likelihood will be the Red Sox’s next manager.

 

If he doesn’t, we’ll learn just how much the Red Sox’s oft-criticized ownership values the opinion of the highest-ranking person in its baseball-operations department – a tug of war over power that pervaded Theo Epstein’s time as GM and looks to be changing no time soon.

 

 

 

More From Jeff Passan.

 

Strike of '94 shook some sense into baseball Nov 18, 2011

Will Yu Darvish cross the Pacific to pitch? Nov 15, 2011

.

 

 

 

 

Bobby Valentine managed in Japan for six years before the bubble burst.

(Getty Images)

 

Ownership, after all, already has met with Valentine and thought him a compelling enough candidate that the interview with Cherington, first reported by Yahoo! Sports, was a fait accompli. In the Red Sox’s structure of authority, what John Henry, Tom Werner and especially Larry Lucchino say is gospel. And when they liked the 61-year-old Valentine, he shot to the top of their ever-changing list.

 

The Red Sox’s seeming schizophrenia – four of the five candidates they have interviewed came without appreciable major league managing experience, and Valentine would arrive with 15 seasons plus another six in Japan – does nothing to dispel the notion of Cherington as a figurehead. This is not fair to him. Longtime colleagues as well as executives from other teams and agents believe him to be eminently capable of running the team. Epstein’s departure only emboldened Lucchino’s grasp on the larger pieces of Boston’s day-to-day operations.

 

His fondness of Valentine comes as no surprise. At the annual gala for Craig Breslow’s(notes) Strike 3 Foundation, which Valentine emceed Saturday night, those in attendance openly talked about how he would fit as Terry Francona’s replacement – and whether Fenway Park is large enough to fit Valentine and Lucchino’s egos.

 

Valentine’s reputation as a bright game manager and astute handler of clubhouses remains strong enough that even though his last major league job ended in 2002, his candidacy with Boston isn’t looked upon with the raised eyebrows that accompanied Dan Duquette’s hiring as Baltimore GM after a decade away from the game.

 

Since his 2009 return from Japan, where he was ousted as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines in a power play despite the protestation of more than 100,000 of the team’s fans, Valentine has interviewed with the Baltimore Orioles, Florida Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers. The flirtations – which got especially heavy with the Marlins – yielded nothing, so Valentine has bided his time working as an analyst for ESPN and, since January, acting as director of public safety in his hometown of Stamford, Conn.

 

The Red Sox’s job makes far more sense for him than the others did. Even after one of the worst collapses in baseball history, they return a roster loaded with enough high-impact players to win the loaded American League East Division. Having managed the New York Mets, Valentine understands the rigors of a large media market and the accompanying pressure.

 

 

[Related: Dale Sveum has the mental makeup the Cubs sought]

 

 

Whether Valentine is right for the Red Sox is the more pertinent question. He’s certainly the flashiest candidate. If the Red Sox do want to go retread – something Epstein shunned in his new job with the Chicago Cubs as he hired Dale Sveum, one of the Red Sox’s original interview candidates – Valentine inspires plenty more confidence than the other option they’ve spoken with, Gene Lamont.

 

Valentine would win in Boston. Frankly, it would take a dolt not to with the talent Boston has amassed. How he wins, and how much he wins, would determine whether he is indeed the right person for the job. Because the fear one executive outlined Sunday – a rightful fear – is that with Valentine practically hand-picked by Lucchino, it could marginalize Cherington. What Bobby V. wants, Lucchino could deliver.

 

Perhaps Valentine, having run the Marines from top to bottom for half a decade under incredible restraints, would arrive with greater respect for a GM’s job and facilitate things through Cherington. The mutual admiration and respect between Francona and Epstein provided the bedrock for Boston’s two championships since 2002. The manager-GM relationship matters, especially in such a big-budget, high-tension environment.

 

Skipping that level could torpedo the partnership from the get-go, which makes Monday a touchstone moment for Boston. Should Cherington and Valentine get along, it could be the first piece of the foundation that yields another partnership and steadies the balance of power in the Red Sox hierarchy.

 

And if not, well, it will give us an even more honest look at the Red Sox than the ugliness that leaked out of Francona’s firing and Epstein’s departure. Ownership could listen to Cherington and affirm that he is indeed the one in charge. Or Henry and Werner and Lucchino could do what they want because they’re the ones who write the checks.

 

The tug of war is starting. A mud pit awaits. As is always the case with the Red Sox, someone is bound to get dirty.

[SoxSport]

Here's the article

 

Bobby Valentine and Ben Cherington will meet all day Monday to discuss the Boston Red Sox’s managerial job. They will trade philosophies, assess personnel and feel out each other’s personalities. Then Cherington, Boston’s new general manager, will return to ownership with his verdict.

 

If Cherington approves, sources said Sunday, Valentine in all likelihood will be the Red Sox’s next manager.

If he doesn’t, we’ll learn just how much the Red Sox’s oft-criticized ownership values the opinion of the highest-ranking person in its baseball-operations department – a tug of war over power that pervaded Theo Epstein’s time as GM and looks to be changing no time soon.

 

 

 

.

 

thanks, Elkton.

 

The thing I found amusing was "If Cherington approves..."

 

The tone is it's Cherington's call.

 

Epstein would be amused,too, reading this article. He would call up Hoyer and thank him for giving the OK to hire Sveum.

[a700hitter]

I expected that the responses to this poll would be predominantly "yes", but i am a bit surprised that it is unanimous. There is 1 "no" but that was SCM being wishful. He also thinks it will be Bobby V. I thought some people might have suspected that the FO was employing the misdirection tactic that they have used in the past. I guess the Sveum thing was embarrassing and this Bobby V thing is too far down the road. It's one thing to leak a story, but this is a formal interview and the owners have already interviewed him. I don't think they would jerk Bobby V around. It seems that the interview with Ben is a formality and it is a done deal. I suspect the announcement could be in the next day or two.

[jung]

I know folks have expressed concerns that BC will be marginalized based on a Valentine hiring or as much as anything because of the way Bobby V is being hired. I think that horse has already left the barn. In the space of a few weeks time it appears to me that upper management has already marginalized BC to the point of absurdity. I would be shocked if he ever makes it back from the abyss.

 

If the Sox fail to corral Valentine, whoever they do get, BC will feel like he is boxed because it has become so obvious that if you want something done, you need to go to LL. Ultimately I have to believe player agents will only give BC a passing glance on the way to LL's office. "How ya' doing BC. Hay, can you bring me a cup a' coffee".

[MNSoxChief102]

I voted yes, because the more I read, the more I think it's going to happen. That said, I hope to God it doesn't. I f***ing hate Valentine... don't even like watching Sunday Night baseball anymore because of him. Half the time I mute the volume on my TV and tap into the WEEI broadcast online instead.

 

If Valentine is our next manager I'm sure I'll get over my dislike sooner or later, provided we win consistently, and challenge for a title, but it's going to be tough.

[SoxFanForsyth]

I voted yes, because the more I read, the more I think it's going to happen. That said, I hope to God it doesn't. I f***ing hate Valentine... don't even like watching Sunday Night baseball anymore because of him. Half the time I mute the volume on my TV and tap into the WEEI broadcast online instead.

 

If Valentine is our next manager I'm sure I'll get over my dislike sooner or later, provided we win consistently, and challenge for a title, but it's going to be tough.

 

I agree with the hate for Valentine on Sunday Night Baseball, but I was talking to one of my buddies and told him the same thing - just because he's an annoying analyst, that doesn't mean he's going to be a bad manager. I think the leadership and respect he would bring could help this team tremendously.

[VA Sox Fan]

Valentine to meet with reporters after interview

 

Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff November 21, 2011 11:03 AM

 

 

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

 

Not only is Bobby Valentine a candidate to become manager of the Red Sox, he's apparently going through the same process the others did.

 

Valentine is meeting with Ben Cherington today and at 5:30 p.m. is scheduled to meet with reporters at Fenway Park. So check back later for more on that.

 

Knowing Valentine, it's hard to believe he would come this far down the path unless he really wanted the job. And the Red Sox must feel the same way. If they hire anybody but Valentine at this point, it would be a surprise.

 

But given how this process has gone, perhaps nothing should be a surprise.

[FredLynn]

Valentine or someone like him is EXACTLY what this team needs right now. Hiring him will serve a purpose: it will change the clubhouse and team philosophy. You can bet there will be no video games and beer in the clubhouse during games; you can bet that the team will be more fundamentally sound that it has been in years; and you can bet that the full offensive arsenal will be used trying to win games. I don't think he is a long term solution because eventually he will grate on people too much. In 2-3 years we can hire another "player's manager" because by then the guys in the dugout will have the proper attitude towards the game. Thats when we will become a relevant team again.

[wyo-sox]

I have heard folks saying Bobby V. would be good for 4 or 5 years but not a long term solution. Aside from Terry Francona- seems like 5 years is pretty long term to manage n Boston isn't it?

[example1]

I have heard folks saying Bobby V. would be good for 4 or 5 years but not a long term solution. Aside from Terry Francona- seems like 5 years is pretty long term to manage n Boston isn't it?

 

Can't that really only end one of two ways?

 

I mean, either Valentine retires or he is fired. If we are all assuming that there will be a day 4-5 years from now where we are wishing our manager gone (again) then maybe this isn't the right guy. I was hoping for a bit longer than that before thinking that it is inevitable.

 

I'm thinking about Luvello at this point...

[SoxSport]

Could be the bench coach might be Lamont or Lovullo, though I've seen Lee Mazilli mentioned.

Alomar is already a bench coach, so it would make sense to rule him out.

[WhiskeyBreath]

Valentine or someone like him is EXACTLY what this team needs right now. Hiring him will serve a purpose: it will change the clubhouse and team philosophy. You can bet there will be no video games and beer in the clubhouse during games; you can bet that the team will be more fundamentally sound that it has been in years; and you can bet that the full offensive arsenal will be used trying to win games. I don't think he is a long term solution because eventually he will grate on people too much. In 2-3 years we can hire another "player's manager" because by then the guys in the dugout will have the proper attitude towards the game. Thats when we will become a relevant team again.

 

Yeah, instead of chicken and beer it will be marijuana and card playing under Valentines watch.

[example1]

There is something likeable about Valentine. I have no doubt he will be entertaining for a few years. Also, since he hasn't won a WS I can see the Sox banking on him having plenty of fire left to do it right and get a WS. I just hope this guy isn't a perpetual loser. He sounds like on on TV sometimes...

[SoxSport]

I think they're lucky a guy like Valentine is available. It took them long enough to realize they need a veteran to manage this team. Valentine is not only a veteran, he's also smart.

[example1]

I think they're lucky a guy like Valentine is available. It took them long enough to realize they need a veteran to manage this team. Valentine is not only a veteran' date=' [b']he's also smart[/b].

 

Is he? I just don't know enough about him. He seems clever, at times, a bit impulsive.

 

It would be very interesting to see how it would work for him combined with all of the baseball analysis that the organization does.

 

I don't get the sense of him being overly smart. Of course, I never got that sense from Francona either; or Girardi, or Ron Washington, or really a whole number of managers. Smart in the traditional sense doesn't really matter. Really, he has to be able to evaluate and utilize baseball talent to win baseball games. That's about it.

[User Name]

I am a die hard Red Sox fan of course, but I usually watch a lot of Mets games due to being in their market and spending a fair share of time with my grandpa, a Mets fan. He has nothing but positive things to say about Bobby V, and although I was a bit young then, I always did like him and those Mets teams.

[SoxFanForsyth]

The more I hear of Valentines quotes during his press interview, and how he was weaned into the sabermetrics of baseball with his management of the Rangers, the more I'm interested in bringing him in.

 

A quick question I had about him, though. He managed in Japan for what, like 9 years? He knows how the Japanese pitchers work (i.e. less of a pitch count, more of a battle). It will be very curious to see if that translates well once DiceK comes back. If Valentine lets him go out there and just pitch, and not throw to a 110 pitch count, but let him get up into the 130's and 140's like he's used to, I wonder if DiceK will be more comfortable and will go out and pitch like he did in Japan. Also - I wonder, if Valentine is indeed the manager, if that has any impact on Cherington's perception of Yu Darvish.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Is he? I just don't know enough about him. He seems clever, at times, a bit impulsive.

 

It would be very interesting to see how it would work for him combined with all of the baseball analysis that the organization does.

 

I don't get the sense of him being overly smart. Of course, I never got that sense from Francona either; or Girardi, or Ron Washington, or really a whole number of managers. Smart in the traditional sense doesn't really matter. Really, he has to be able to evaluate and utilize baseball talent to win baseball games. That's about it.

 

I think he's smart in the sense that he will use all of his resources appropriately. He'll study the spray charts and utilize the shift when he needs to. He'll incorporate sabermetrics when he needs to, and play old school baseball when he needs to. If we're in a 2-1 game, he'll try to manufacture a run in the late innings rather than waiting for the 3-run HR. I think he's a lot like Joe Maddon in that way - not so arrogant that he won't ask a bench coach or a stat guy what they think.

 

That's what I hope, anyway.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Can't that really only end one of two ways?

 

I mean, either Valentine retires or he is fired. If we are all assuming that there will be a day 4-5 years from now where we are wishing our manager gone (again) then maybe this isn't the right guy. I was hoping for a bit longer than that before thinking that it is inevitable.

 

I'm thinking about Luvello at this point...

 

Well, you gotta think - At this point the manager we need to straighten out this team is not the same manager we'll need for the long term.

 

Right now, we need a stern voice who is going to come in and demand respect and get every ounce of blood and sweat from these players. Get some discipline back in the clubhouse because as of right now, it's overrun by immaturity and undisciplined players. That doesn't mean it can't be a fun clubhouse, look at 2004 - fun clubhouse but disciplined, hard working team.

 

After we get the disciplined, hard working mentality back, then we can revert back to a players manager who will let these guys self-discipline. Ultimately, that's the best manager to have - someone who lets the players manage themselves in terms of workouts and conditioning. But right now, that manager isn't going to work.

 

That's what I think they're talking about when they say "Valentine is good for 4-5 years", he's a disciplinarian.

[a700hitter]

Valentine is very smart-- one of the rare baseball managers with an IQ in the triple digits, and he knows every fine point of the game. Due to hi intellectual superiority in the game, he has been very egotistical. He can start to wear on the players, especially the veterans, very quicky. I don't know how well the egos in the Boston press will take to him once they realize that he has little use for them and he becomes condescending. There's no question of his intelligence. Some people hear him speak and think his diction indicates low intelligence. That's a mistake.

[VA Sox Fan]

What the Red Sox would get with Bobby Valentine as manager

 

Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff November 22, 2011 09:02 AM

 

 

(Editor's note: Peter Abraham covered the Mets from 2000-05, first as a backup beat writer and then the beat writer for The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y.)

 

By Peter Abraham, Globe Staff

 

If Bobby Valentine becomes the next manager of the Red Sox, you're going to want to stay up and watch the postgame show on NESN. Trust me, it'll be entertaining.

 

I've been lucky enough to cover baseball for the last 12 years and Valentine was the first manager I worked with on a regular basis. During those years, I learned more about baseball than at any other time in my career.

 

Bobby questioned why the rosters were expanded in September and not in April. It made no sense to him that in the most critical month of the season, teams had uneven numbers of players in uniform. When you think about it, he's right.

 

He banned his players from sliding into first unless it was to avoid a tag. As he pointed out, if sliding was the fastest way to get there, why don't Olympic sprinters slide across the finish line?

 

Bobby had the first baseman play a few feet off the bag with a runner on, the idea being that he could still get the tag down on a pickoff while covering more ground. He wasn't afraid to change the lineup or rearrange the bullpen. He embraced players from Japan, Korea and other nations, delighting in asking reporters from those countries about baseball in their homeland.

 

Bobby talked about military history. He talked about knowing President George W. Bush (who had fired him in Texas) and when the terrorists attacked New York on Sept. 11, he literally worked all night at Shea Stadium day after day, loading trucks and directing traffic to help rescue workers.

 

Bobby owned a bunch of restaurants and he claimed he invented the wrap. He told us once he invented the autograph show, dragging Nolan Ryan to some hall in Texas to sign for charity.

 

His father in law is Ralph Branca. Bobby was such a good high school halfback in Connecticut that he was recruited to USC to replace O.J. Simpson. I thought that had to be a fib until I called somebody I knew in Connecticut.

 

"Yep, best player I've ever seen," the guy told me. "Fast as could be."

 

Bobby went to speak at the University of Pennsylvania one off day and blasted the team and the front office. Why? Just because. That was a story for a week.

 

He once got ejected and came back to the dugout wearing a disguise only to get ejected again. He played in the majors when he was 19. He was an accomplished downhill skier and he seemed to know everything about collies. He loves those kind of dogs.

 

Bobby criticized Roberto Alomar for bunting too often. If Mike Piazza had a big game, he would shoo us out of his office by saying, "Go talk to the big guy." He always had a funny story about something.

 

It wasn't all fun. Bobby didn't get along with GM Steve Phillips and it got ugly for a while. They back-stabbed each other through the media and those writers who sided with Phillips were shut out. There are writers in New York, otherwise nice reasonable men, who would run a train over Bobby if they could.

 

One crazy night Bobby startled the media corps by saying somebody was spreading a story that he wanted to be fired. He started crying, it was a confusing mess.

 

When he finally got fired in 2002, the Mets held their press conference once day and Bobby held his own the next at a restaurant he owned across the street from the stadium. The Mets almost hired him back once and I bet if Fred Wilpon had his way, he would do it tomorrow.

 

If Valentine comes to Boston, he will embrace everything about Fenway Park and the fans. But he'll challenge the players, too. He won't just assume somebody is good, he'll make them prove it. He won't do what's easy, he'll do what he thinks is right.

 

If somebody screws up, he'll say it. If somebody in the media writes something he disagrees with, he'll question them about it. He's not a turn the other cheek kind of person.

 

Bobby is 61 now and my belief is that he wants to try it one more time and to get to another World Series before he walks away from the dugout for good. The Red Sox are the perfect vehicle for him. It's close to home, it's a major market and it's a team built to win.

 

Plus he can needle the Yankees. He loves needling the Yankees.

 

Bobby is a young 61, I think. He'll like working with the 30-somethings in baseball operations. He will be the best thing that ever happened to Jose Iglesias. He will get Dice-K back to a point where he wins big games at the end of the season. He'll love Daniel Bard and he'll give Carl Crawford so much confidence that CC will think he's Superman.

 

He'll also rub some players the wrong way and Ben Cherington might find himself unable to sleep nights wondering what he did to deserve this. Nothing is guaranteed.

 

The alternative is Gene Lamont with perhaps Torey Lovullo in tow as a manager in waiting.

 

Lamont seems like a nice man and I'm sure he'd do a fine job. But the Red Sox have finished in third place for two years in a row now. They need shaking up and Bobby Valentine is a professional shaker-upper.

 

Tough call for the rookie GM. Because once you let Bobby V out of the box, there's no getting him back in. You just hang on.