Written by So, the Boston Red Sox, supposedly one of the model organizations in all of baseball, are naming who as their new manager? Bobby Valentine? Wow.
I don’t know if this is a good move or a bad move. It seems that after 60 days of searching for a replacement for Terry Francona, the Red Sox would have found their Plan A, top tiered choice; or just not fired Francona. This potential move also shows that new GM Ben Cherington is just a little more of a GM than you and I. I mean I could give myself the title of Red Sox GM and this 60 day search that seems as well guided as the S.S. Minnow still would have happened. What is the 2012 season going to look like?
Clearly ownership calls all the shots, except for maybe the nitty-gritty work that they don’t want to soil their hands with. I guess that’s why they still employ an actual Baseball Operations department in the organization. If the Red Sox owners made their wealth in baseball and not in other walks of life then I would say have at it. Seriously though, this is looking more and more like a giant-sized strategy game for the ownership group to play with.
The Red Sox had one of the most talented teams in baseball in 2011. They obviously struggled to start the season, and fell completely off the table in September. Something had to be done. The Sox should still have plenty of talent in 2012. I wonder who in the clubhouse, or even in the front office, will actually show some quality leadership going forward. I am just not sure who would want to be involved with this organization based on the last several months.
Not too many years ago I was in Port St. Lucie to see a Mets spring training game. I often would travel to various locations in Florida just to catch more baseball games. Anyway, Valentine was the manager of the Mets at the time. On this day, I watched the Mets play the Orioles, and seriously, the most memorable thing about that game was watching Bobby Valentine interact with everyone. You would have thought he was running for office or something. It appeared to me at the time, and even more now, that he thought it was all about him. I don’t know anything about him as a person or as a manager really, I just know what I observed on my own that day for 3 plus hours.
I guess time will tell if this is a good move or not. Players ultimately need to step up and be professionals, not teenagers looking for any chance they can to get away with something. Maybe the new manager will help with those issues, maybe the new guy will push them further into their own destruction. Either way, it could be quite amusing to hear the sound bytes coming out of Fort Myers in the spring.