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.

What’s Taking So Long?

Why haven’t the Sox done anything yet?

Mind you, this isn’t a complaint, exactly. As long as they have everybody they need ready to go on Opening Day, I’m a happy camper. I’m actually just curious as to what is taking so long to get things done.

Take the manager hunt, for instance. From what we’re told, the field has been narrowed to Bobby Valentine and Gene Lamont. OK. Now what? I understand that the process takes a while. You need to interview several candidates. You need to research. There are schedules to work around. Things get in the way. I understand. But, now? Now that you just need to pick one, what’s going on behind closed doors? The story I heard somewhere is that the ownership group wants Valentine, but Benny Boy wants Lamont. If that’s the case, though, why doesn’t ownership simply tell Ben to hire Valentine? Are they giving him a certain amount of time to change their mind? How does he do that, exactly? Do they both not have the same information? I find it hard to believe that the four of them are sitting in a boardroom somewhere discussing this 8 hours a day. I’m not picturing the big three sitting at a table while Cherington makes a passionate PowerPoint presentation showing the wonders of Lamont. So, what is it? Is it the old, “let’s sleep on it” while you wait for the other guy to give up? Is there something else gong on? Are they waiting for the new Astros owner to fire Brad Mills? Are they working on a trade for a starter so they can send Buchholz to the Jays? Are they trying to work a three-team compensation swap with the Jays and Cubs? Are they waiting for Francona to suddenly decide he wants to manage again? What’s going on?

Again, I’m not concerned or upset. I have no doubt that whichever manager they pick, even random guy off the street, will be able to write Ellsbury-Crawford-Pedroia-Gonzalez-Youkilis-Ortiz into the line-us as well as anyone else. I also don’t buy the concern that the manager hunt is taking their time away from making other movies. Like I said, I’m pretty sure nobody is giving or watching 8-hour PowerPoints. I’m sure they’re just waiting a bit for Ortiz to realize how poor the market really is for a 36-year old DH before they resign him. I’m guessing Tim Wakefield’s not going anywhere if they decide they want him back. I’d hope that trying to juggle a couple trades with a manager hunt is well within Cherington’s range of abilities. Otherwise, July 31 is going to be an eye opener. So, I’m perfectly happy to sit back and await their final decisions.

I just wonder what’s really going on.

Emperors and Idiots, By Mike Vaccaro

The Red Sox and the Yankees. The Rivalry. 100 years of baseball animosity. This book covers it all. From the early years when the Sox clearly had the upper hand. Through the middle of the 20^th century when the Yankees took the advantage. Right on through the 2004 season when the Yankees showed themselves as the biggest chokers in the history of sports. Vaccaro attempts to cover it all as impartially as possible. Many books have been written from one side or the other. This one attempts to split the line right down the middle and simply retell the stories.

Vaccaro does a very good job of that. While reading this book, it’s easy to forget that he’s a writer for a NY newspaper. That’s saying something. The only problem with the book? It’s fewer than 400 pages, and tries to cover 100 years worth of history. It can’t be done. It can’t be done in the sort of detail one might like. For instance, Vaccaro’s other book The First Fall Classic was about the same length, and talked about one World Series. So, when you need to skim over history like that, you stick to the basics. Many of the stories were familiar to me. Which, I suppose, is a credit to Vaccaro that I still enjoyed the book. He didn’t use a chronological retelling, and made it work. He shifted back and forth through history telling similar stories that happened over the years. It really showed how the rivalry was really one big story. It was a great read.

Rating: 3 bases.

In Thanksgiving…

On this day of giving thanks, I would like to thank five bloggers who have given this blog something very important. Hits. According to my stats tracker, these five non-google websites have referred the most hits my way. Without them, this little spot wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is now. If, you know, I can call it popular at all.

Night Owl Cards – Night Owl is my largest referral service by almost a factor of two. I can’t thank him enough. Night Owl is a wonderful and creative writer with a blog that I read whenever I can.

Can’t Have Too Many Cards – I couldn't agree more! Another fantastic site that gets my frequent attention. Great writing on great topics make this site a must read.

Core Contrarian – A Great stop for a quick read. It’s like a page-a-day calendar for card nerds, and should definitely be a daily read of yours.

Sports Cards Blogroll – This is a wonderful service provided to bloggers. Basically any blog that involved sports cards is listed here so anyone can keep up to date. A fantastic site.

Nachos Grande – A great blog by a Reds fan and card collector. He includes box breaks, and product reviews in his multitude of blog topics. A great read.

So a big hearty thank you to all of these sites. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Baseball Writers Should be Ashamed of Themselves

I was a huge fan of The West Wing. (If you never saw the show, you should really go find yourself the DVDs of it.) It was a great look at how the White House might have looked behind the scenes. One show in particular dealt with the confirmation of a Vice President nominee by the Senate. As the day of the vote neared, it looked like it would be 99-1 in favor. The Deputy White House Chief of Staff was going ballistic. Everyone wondered why. It was going to be a landslide victory. It couldn’t have been more emphatic. Why was this guy so concerned about not getting one vote? The answer? Because it would only be the one vote. The one would be the darling of all the newscasts. The one guy who has a contrary opinion. Not a single talk show would mention the 99 people who voted in favor. They would all lead with an exclusive interview with the one guy who voted against. That wouldn’t do. Either they had to convince him to vote in favor, or convince five other people to vote against.

I was reminded of that when I was hearing about the AL MVP. I have no idea who voted for Justin Verlander. I have no idea who voted for Jacoby Ellsbury. But, I know who left them off their ballots. I know which guy was the one vote against. He’s the one who got on the radio, and TV. He’s the one with his name in the paper. Heck, it’s been over ten years, and I still know who left Pedro off their ballot in 1999. I couldn’t tell you the name of a single person who voted in any of the awards since then…except the guy who left Pedroia off his ballot in 2008.

That’s what it’s come to. These writers want their names in the articles, not just on top of them. They want to be the story, not report on the story. Goodness, one of the guys yesterday actually released that he would discuss the fact that he voted the way he voted at a certain time. Unbelievable.

I know it’s a constant argument of mine. Whenever you ask for votes, you run the risk of this. The fans louse up All-Star voting. The writers can’t be professional enough to handle voting on awards. The coaches and players can’t seem to figure out what a gold glove really is. It’s shameful.

The BBWAA really needs to take some action. Anybody who violates rules and doesn’t consider a player because he’s a pitcher should be removed from voting. Anyone who leaves the winner or the runner up off his ballot should be suspended from voting. Clearly he lacks good judgment. Anyone who gives a vote of any kind to a hometown player who doesn’t get a similar vote from someone else should be suspended from voting. Clearly they can’t be impartial. Otherwise, these awards won’t mean anything anymore.

If they ever did.