Pick a problem that can happen to a manager? Clubhouse drama, media confrontations, public disputes, players in revolt, injuries piling up, and losing like the team was back in the early 1960s. Bobby Valentine was brought in to restore order and lost the team, the fans, the management, the media, and his job.
The season with Valentine is most noted by the Nick Punto trade where Boston managed to jettison three fat contracts and three players who displayed as much intensity as a librarian convention. A tossing in of the competitive towel – a surrender to the most obvious numbers game that clearly showed the season was over. I will give “Bobby V.” credit on two counts: He never lost his sense of humor and his honesty.
I wonder if Valentine had been given a different hand before the season started he would have been more successful? If the Punto trade had taken place in March? If veterans had been a bit more accepting in Valentine’s flamboyant style? A noted opposite of the self-deprecating Francona.
Valentine was no novice to the managerial ranks having been at the helm of both the Mets and Rangers, but not without incident. Bobby V also speaks somewhat fluent Japanese from two terms as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan and one season of winning the Japanese series for which Valentine promptly issued a challenger for a series with the American winner. Two terms because the first ended after a year of hostility with management. Big surprise.