Report: Bobby Valentine to Become Next Red Sox Manager

[MaineDem]

The search is finally over, and the Red Sox have themselves a new manager.

Bobby Valentine will be named the next Red Sox manager after a long search to replace Terry Francona, multiple reports indicate. The story was first reported by WCVB-TV's Mike Lynch on Twitter early Tuesday night.

According to ESPN.com's Gordon Edes, the Sox offered the job to Valentine while he was in Japan on personal business. According to Edes, Valentine immediately accepted the job, and he is expected to be in Boston on Wednesday.

http://www.nesn.com/2011/11/report-bobby-valentine-to-become-next-red-sox-manager.html

Could be worse, I guess. Bet he doesn't stay long.

[Kingofalldems]

1. SI Jon Heyman also reporting

See them in DC this year.

[Old and In the Way]

2. Hope it works.

Personally, I'd rather have seen the Sox clean house on a lot of the veterans and gone deep with their AAA/AA talent. I think Tony would have been the perfect manager with that strategy.

[HuckleB]

3. .

:rofl:

The Red Sox seem to be returning to the days of yore: The '70s and '80s.

[TZ]

4. one good thing about this

I don't have to be annoyed by his Sunday Night Baseball "commentary"....:rofl:

[HuckleB]

13. +1

[joeybee12]

5. We'll see...he and Francona are like night and day...

But, quite frankly, the way those guys were playing in september this year they needed someone exactly NOT like Francona to kick their butts.

[Chan790]

6. I'm less than thrilled.

You do realize why he was fired by the Mets? Newsday ran an expose that seven unnamed Mets were repeatedly caught smoking marijuana in the clubhouse during games during a season in which the Mets were expected to contend for the WS and finished dead-last. A season marked by one of the all-time largest single-month collapses of a MLB team.

Why does this not inspire confidence?

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20021001&slug=webvalentine01 (I couldn't find a source from NY, it's hard to find 9 year old sports coverage online.)

[joeybee12]

7. Well, next year would have sucked with Francona...it was clear that

by 2009 he didn't have it anymore...so anything decent will be an improvement.

[TZ]

8. .

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=8852885&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_8852885&v=3

:rofl:

[joeybee12]

10. Can't view it at work...crom you, I'm SURE it's nasty!!!!

[Chan790]

12. It's the Valentine "mustache" incident.

I watched it on TV when it happened. My brothers are both Mets fans.

[joeybee12]

14. Now I saw it...that's great!

[Upton]

9. According to a least one SF Giants beat writer..

some of the Giants players would smoke pot regularly after games. Now, this was in a book about the WS winning 2010 Giants...so it sure as hell didn't hurt them any.

The Red Sox will be fine, no matter who the manager is. All they have to do is get their pitching situation straightened out..for that's what let them down last Sept..

[Chan790]

11. See I don't care one way or the other if people smoke...

but one of the major reasons the media ran Tito Francona out of town was because Lester, Lackey and Beckett would go to the clubhouse in the late innings of non-start days and have a beer & this scandalized the local media; they attributed the entire September collapse on it. (The actual cause of the collapse had nothing to do with beer and everything to do with pitching: lack-of-depth, dead-arms and injuries. All the talent and hitting in the world can't do crap for you if you can't figure out how to consistently get 27 outs day-in-and-out.)

Could you imagine the hissy fit those same jackasses would through over pot?

[KamaAina]

16. You mean besides Lincecum?

:smoke:

:-)

[hughee99]

15. Yes, he lost the Mets job for basically the same reason

Francona was fired. I don't know if he learned any lessons from that, but if he had, they may be helpful.

In any case, I'm not excited about Valentine. The only people who really seem excited about him is the local press, and that's because he's a quotable guy, not a baseball genius.

In the end, the Sox have a good enough team they could make him look like a genius, and also have the potential to get him run out of town on a rail (although if this happens again next year, it's going to be Larry Luchino's head people are calling for, not just Valentine's). I suspect their epic collapse will be enough of a motivator for some players that Valentine won't have to harp on it too much.

[El Supremo]

17. They didn't have a cap big enough for his head. >>