Red Sox Hire Bobby Valentine
In case you haven’t heard, former Mets utilityman Bobby Valentine has been chosen by the Boston Red Sox to be their manager in 2012.
Valentine also managed the Mets at one point — if memory serves correctly, he was in the dugout the last time the Mets went to the World Series.
Personally, I’m thrilled to see Bobby V. back in MLB as a skipper, and believe he’s a good fit for Boston right now. His love for the spotlight will take pressure off the Red Sox players, and his hands-on, disciplinarian approach is the right contrast to follow the laid-back Terry Francona. The question is how long before Bobby rubs the Boston media the wrong way — a few months? a year? He’ll surely butt heads with a few of the current Bosox players; I’m betting on John Lackey to be the first to lock horns with Bobby V. But jeez louise, if Valentine could lead a team like the 2000 Mets to 94 wins and a World Series, what will he do with REAL talent? If nothing else, it will be interesting to watch.
What say you? Will you be following Bobby Valentine’s exploits in Boston? Rooting for, or against? Do you wish he was back in Flushing? Why or why not?
Also he stepped up big time after 9/11. I wish him well.
Life is interesting.
In fact I was listening to Phillips on his radio show on XM this morning and he was talking about how much he likes Bobby V now and how much of an ass he was back then. He even admitted to blaming Valentine for everything because Valentine was good at handling it and he was easy to blame! Steve Phillips, still ruining my day a decade later…
Bobby also gets a bad rap because he stands up to huge egos. He is most beloved by the middling and fringe good players. He tends to bring them up a notch, raising them above their natural ability would dictate. The stars don’t get as much out of him. Honestly, that is completely overrated anyway. They are stars because they don’t need a coach to coach them up. I think it just draws the true nature of the player out: Mike Piazza loved Bobby, while Glavine apparently did not. I’d much rather have a guy like Piazza on my team from a personality stand point. And Glavine never played for Bobby, he was speaking strictly about the antics he perceived from across the field. Pretty silly statement.