OAKLAND, Calif. — The ears of Red Sox owners John Henry and Tom Werner have been burning, to the point where they like to avoid the subject of whether Bobby Valentine will return as their manager altogether, after their late-July defense of him.
Werner said in Peter Abraham’s story in Saturday’s Globe that he didn’t want to discuss Valentine’s future, but that, “he’s doing a good job.” But in avoiding the topic, he gave more fuel to the “Fire Valentine” campaign.
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And would anyone of the stature of a LaRussa, Torre, or Cox want to go anywhere near this toxic organization? Who wants to work for bosses who will throw you under the bus at the first sign of dysfunction? Bobby V. is done here, that's obvious. But don't hold your breath for a big-name replacement as long as Henry, Werner, and Lucchino are in charge.
Ever consider Varitec as the next manager...hmmm...then again, he may be too smart to subject themself to a job where your evaluation comittee includes over emotional fans with the attention span of rabid dogs and a media that is either overfeeding the players egos and fans expectations when they win or are throwinging gasoline on the fire when they lose...where's the spirit of Manny when we need it the most...the Red Sox may be losing but really, so what, there are more important things in life (pardon the heresy)...the pendulum swings, have faith...
Nick,
If they do fire Valentine, please stay out of the Manager Sweepstakes. If I recall properly one of the biggest boosters for hiring Bobby V was a gent named Cafardo. This was the same person who as recently as a few weeks ago was telling us not to blame management. This was the same person who totally missed "chicken and beergate" last year, and left it to a Globe colleague to break the big story. Of course they have quit. Some of us are old enough to remember the pre Sweet Caroline Red Sox and remember a couple thousand folks at Fenway watching them play out the string year after year in September. This team resembles those abysmal teams. If Valentine isn't dismissed the day after this season ends it will be a travesty. Please, Nick, you have been around a long time you surely know when a manager is inept, and has lost the respect of his players. Don't be looking for the Pulitzer any time soon. Let the house cleaning continue.
Valentine took a team with good players, and he ran them into the ground. The Sox won 90 games last year, and they would have won more if they did not have a series of injuries at the end of the season. We have seen many players performance drop because Valentine was the manager, and then there performance improved as soon as they were put under a different manager. Youkilis has had a great season since he was traded to Chicago. Beckett is pitching great since he was traded to the Dodgers. Lester's performance has dropped under Valentine. I have never seen anyone do a worse job.
The dropped pop-up Saturday is reminiscent of the Sox teams under Johnny Pesky and Billy Herman. Those problems do not occur under a well-managed team.
Varitek would be a good choice as manager. He's smart, and he is someone who has done things to earn the players' respect.
All a die hard Red Sox fan needs to do is to look where Baltimore is in the standings to feel remorse. They don't forget that it was Dan Duquette whose key players were the center of the teams that Theo used to win those championships. The firing of Dan by the Troika management was the beginning of the talent depletion that we see today. It took awhile for itseffect to be felt. Forget your clubhouse access and perks and do a story on the resurrection of Dan Duquette if you have the backbone.
I have a lot of respect for Bobby V. I think he has been doing the best he can with the hand he has been dealt. He surely doesn't deserve the punishment he has taken in Boston. I'll bet that he can't wait to get out of Boston. He has too much class for this bunch of money grabing idiots. (ownership) He also has a lot more class than a lot of the Red Sox fans. Boston has been long known for it's lack of class. Get out if you can Bobby, they don't deserve you!
We all understand your support for Bobby V who you've said is the 4th best manager in baseball. However even you have to realize that this isn't working out and that he is the wrong guy for the job. It isn't the "suddenly" depleted roster. Crawford and Middlebrooks weren't factors for weeks and Beckett and Adrian weren't performing like last year. The fact is that he isn't a leader and cannot connect with this generation of players.
Apparently Henry has said today that Bobby V is finishing out the year. GOOD! Only thing more tiresome than this teams' losing is the media's attempted lynching of Bobby V. I and other fans who don't need talk radio to form our opinions are quite happy Sox management is holding firm.