Bobby Valentine was Underrated

If you went anywhere near Facebook yesterday, you're well aware it was Valentine's Day. With the internet being the clever place it is, many people celebrated by posting or tweeting pictures or references of former manager Bobby Valentine. Unfortunately, many of those posts came with discussions of the "terrible" job he did in Boston. Saying they can't stand seeing his picture in a Sox uniform as if he was to blame for the bad season in 2012.

That's just not fair.

Did Valentine deserve some of the blame? Sure. How much? I'm not sure.

Some of the common media storylines say Valentine was practically a clubhouse cancer. He lost control of the team. Players wouldn't play for him. He was a punchline. Of course, the media was saying that from the day he was hired. For some reason, the second he was named as the next manager, the media went into overdrive. He was going to be nuts. They were drooling over the potential stories. They rarely touched on his successes (or even failures) as a manager. They were just excited to have a circus atmosphere in town. They were waiting for the easy stories. As the season progressed, it seemed like they had all the stories pre-written and were just releasing them as time went on. He was crazy. The players don't respect him. He doesn't know what going on with his clubhouse. He's lost control. The team just won't play for him. But, check out what the New York Times had to say halfway through that season. I assume that the NYT is probably pretty impartial in this case. And they were glowing over the fight the Red Sox had. A whole article about how anyone would forgive them for folding it up after all the injuries they had, but they keep battling back. They'd risen as a team to overcome so many obstacles. They pointed out that on July 7, the Sox were only a couple games out of the playoffs.

Sound like a guy who's lost control of the team to you? Yeah. Me neither.

What happened after that? Well the article mentions that the Sox just lost Pedroia to yet another injury a few day prior. A week or so later they lost Ortiz for, basically, the season. Will Middlebrooks would go down a month later. Then, you may remember, the Sox made a trade getting rid of what little talent that wasn't on the disabled list (and some talent that was). Of course, at that point what little chance the Sox had of winning went right on over to LA.

Valentine was criticized for saying the team he had in September was the worst one in the history of the game, or something like that. Maybe he shouldn't have said it out loud. But, was he wrong? I didn't hear anyone criticizing him on the merits of the comment. I mean look at this line-up for the September 23rd game against Baltimore. Podsednik-Ciriaco-Pedroia-Ross-Loney-Saltalamacchia-Valencia-Nava-Iglesias. Yeah. Exactly. So, with that roster, the team spiraled down to the last place finish at the end. Not sure I can really blame Valentine for that one.

So, once again the laziness of the media perpetuated a storyline that was easy, but not exactly accurate. The team, when he had a team, actually fought hard for Valentine. They didn't give up until their bodies did. Bobby Valentine didn't curse the team to finish last. He did a pretty good job when he had players to manage. And, even sometimes when he didn't.

After all, the Sox won that September 23rd game.

Managers Decision

What makes a good manager?

No, I'm not talking about a healthy upbringing and life experiences. I'm wondering how you know if a manager is good, or not.


Today, MLB gives its answer to who they feel is the best manager this year. But, I'm not sure how you know.

The obvious choice around these parts is John Farrell. Clearly, his job taking the Sox from last place to the World Championship shows how good he was. But, how much of it was him, and how much of it was his players? After all, last year's Red Sox didn't have Victorino on it. Or Mike Napoli. Or Johnny Gomes. It was missing David Ortiz most of the year. No John Lackey. No Koji. In fact, the team was rebuilt so well from last year, that Ben Cherington won GM of the year. So, how much credit do we give to the cook, and how much to the guy who buys the groceries?

Granted, in this case, one of the moves Cherington made was to hire Farrell. So, you could say he won the award, in part, because he hired the best manager. Maybe.

Bobby Valentine said recently that he'd like to think that if he was the manager this year, they would have won the championship too. Of course he said that, and he was rightly laughed at. Another case of Valentine self-promotion. But, really, how far off would he have been? Wasn't the whole theme this year that the team really liked each other? They liked playing baseball. They were fun to watch. Would Valentine change that? Everyone loves to point at the "everyone hates each other" line from last year, and point out how that changed this year. But, weren't at least half of the players this year on the team last year? So, John Farrell made other players like Pedroia? Or Saltalamacchia? John Farrell made Johnny Gomes love to play baseball?

What, exactly, did Farrell do?

I've never been in a baseball clubhouse. (Well, I've never been in a clubhouse when there were players in it.) So, I have no idea about the "clubhouse culture." But, I do know that the manager's office is set apart from the rest of the clubhouse. Makes me wonder what influence he had. I'm also reminded of a line Terry Francona used during an interview for the 2004 World Series DVD. He said he was dying for the team to get a "team identity" and that the goofy hair thing ended up being it. He didn't say he was trying to form an identity. He didn't instruct the players to get an identity. He was just hoping it would happen. Just like it wasn't Farrell that started the "beard" thing. In fact, he flatly refused to play along and grow one of his own. It was all on the players.

Now, you could say that Farrell allowed the beard thing to take over. Maybe another manager would have insisted his players stay clean shaven. Maybe he would have forbidden players from taking extra workouts, for fear that they would wear themselves out. Maybe that's what a good manager does. Knows when to step in, and when to back off. Is that it?

Is it in-game stuff? Hard to imagine that one manager really distinguishes himself in game management. Really, how often is there a decision that comes up that's a puzzler?

Maybe it's just one of those things that can't really be measured. Maybe Farrell just didn't blow it? Maybe he got out of the way when the players were bonding, and didn't really screw up the game management? Is it just about being the right fit for the team? Valentine somehow didn't fit last year. Maybe Buck Showalter wouldn't work. I have to assume that Joe Maddon and his ridiculous themed road trips would be laughed off the bus. So, maybe it's just being the right guy in the right place. Is that what it takes to be manager of the year?

Sure hope it is.

Should We Send Flowers?

So, the reports seem to be pretty certain that Bobby Valentine will be the next manager of the Boston Red Sox. How do I feel? Eh. Why not?

I don’t know what would get me crazy or fired up about a manager selection. I think Terry Francona really showed that past history isn’t that important. Before coming to Boston, Francona never won more than 77 games. In eight years in Boston, he never won less than 86. Do I think he suddenly learned everything he needed to know between gigs? Nope. I think it’s all about the situation. As long as you get a guy with a good baseball mind, and give him the horses, he should do just fine. For goodness sakes, even Grady Little and Jimy Williams took the Red Sox to the ALCS. You have to think Valentine is a leap and bound over those two. So, I say let’s see what happens.

One thought I found interesting was the idea that this may help the Sox with Daisuke Matsuzaka. Valentine has spent a lot of time in Japan. He understands the players over there, and they seem to respect him If Dice comes back this season, can Valentine get more out of him than others could? Does that make offering Dice a new contract seem reasonable? He’s still young, and if Valentine could get him back to form…could be a nice option as a fifth starter. Does this make the Sox more attractive for potential players coming over from Japan? Is this an attempt by management to hold on to Japanese fans lingering around from Dice-K’s tenure? Who knows?

Frankly, the worst thing I’ve ever heard about hiring Valentine is that he has a big ego. He might clash with Larry Lucchino. Maybe. Although, that happened with the former GM, but not before there was a title or two. Is Valentine going to manage for the next 15 years? No. Even if everything were perfect, I’d only see him as a one-contract type guy. And, that’s fine.

It’ll be a fun contract.