Posted by Kevin O'Hara.
Bobby Valentine, believe it or not, is a perfect fit in Boston.
The biggest off-season move made by newly crowned General Manager of the Boston Red Sox, Ben Cherington, was not a pitcher to shore up the starting rotation, not a closer to fill the hole left by Jonathan Papelbon (although Andrew Bailey is a nice acquisition), or a right fielder to replace J.D. Drew (who has probably sold all his baseball equipment and will probably debut in the next episode of ‘Swamp People’), but rather a new manager who is two years removed from managing a baseball team (in Japan) and is ten years removed from his last MLB gig. Sounds like the Fenway Faithful have themselves something to be excited about avenging their historic regular season collapse in which they lost 18 of their last 24 games, huh? Actually…yes they should.
Terry Francona, the manager who led the Red Sox to two World Series championships, and someone whom Boston fans should forever be grateful for, has now switched spots with his replacement Valentine… although I’m not sure wrapping bubble gum in Redman is allowed on national television. Now, although fans in Boston should forever be grateful for the two World Series Championships that Francona was able to deliver, it just seemed as though his voice was no longer being heard in the locker room and as so for every manager in every sport…his time was up. Francona was notorious for being a player manager who lacked the fire that others like, say, Valentine possess. Francona was run out of Philadelphia for this exact reason, earning himself the nickname “Francoma”. He was fabulous in his first season during the historic 2004 campaign and remained effective up until 2007 when the Sox were in the winning circle again, but as time went on, the naysayers who believed Francona’s style was too soft and that the team needed more structure started to gain some more traction. A lot has been said about the whole chicken and beer fiasco last season, but what is more baffling than a team’s top three starters being less than 100% committed to their team in a pennant race is the fact that Francona didn’t see the culture of the clubhouse changing. Francona was letting the inmates run the prison and it showed at the end of the season.
Lets face it…although the Red Sox don’t have the payroll the Yankees have, John Henry and company have done everything in their power to become the Yankees in the fact that they have been throwing money at past their prime, ex-All-Stars, hoping that a championship team can be built because of the depth of their wallet. The number of awful signings made by the ownership group during their tenure is nauseating, but this off-season something was different. There were no big money contracts handed out this off-season, partially because the market was rather shallow unless you were in the market for a first baseman, but no matter the reason, the Sox did not just open up the checkbook again. A sign that the Sox are trying to return to their old ways of creating lasting, sustainable success through a strong farm system? Possibly, but even if this off-season was just an anomaly, it is refreshing, as a fan, to feel like the front office has a plan.
Back to Valentine… What could be seen as a negative of having Bobby V in Boston? Well, there is the fact that he hasn’t managed in the majors for ten years and his style could be seen as ancient in comparison to the modern day way of managing a game, but for once I feel like the old way is the right way. Around the league, people are buying into this idea of ‘Moneyball’ using sabermetrics to calculate your way through the game. Although there is something to be said about proven statistics, there is also something to be said about playing baseball the way it was supposed to be played. For instance, the art of bunting has almost become extinct because people around the league feel like it is giving an out away. They are conceding an out, but they are also moving a runner into scoring position and allowing a base hit to score the runner. Bunting is about manufacturing runs and you can have enough stats about the negatives associated with giving up outs, but at the end of the day those numbers don’t mean a thing if you don’t outscore the other team when the final out is recorded. Jacoby Ellsbury, one of the fastest players in the league could potentially bunt for a base hit 10-15 times a season, but refuses to do so. Valentine has said he believes in the basics of the game of baseball and bunting is a part of that and hopefully we will have a manager who actually manages his team by bunting, stealing bases, putting runners in motion, and not just playing Cribbage with Pedroia in the clubhouse while Josh, Jon, and John order take out.
If this team proved anything last season, it is that they have a ridiculous amount of potential, but also that they are a bunch of prima donnas. Adrian Gonzalez, one of the best players in the league and the owner of one of the most beautiful and effortless swings since Junior Griffey, needs to realize that he is a professional athlete and he needs to concede to the fact that he has games on Sunday if he is going to get paid millions of dollars. Josh Beckett, the supposed leader of the rotation, needs to realize that he is not as tough as he thinks he is and should focus more on regaining his 2007 form when he was fanning more Indians than were midges in fat Joba’s mouth. I think Bobby V will be able to tell these guys how it is. I think it may rub some of these players the wrong way since they are so used to Francona’s lackluster ways, but over the long run I think it will pay off. Bobby V is signed for two years, and in all honesty I think no matter how successful he is, that is all the time he will have here because of John Farrell’s contracting being up in Toronto at the same time, but I think two years is all he needs.
It's tough to really put substantial expectations on this years Red Sox team, but I can’t deny the immense amount of talent this team has. With a lineup of Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Youkilis, Ortiz, Ross, Crawford, Salty, and Punto-Aviles-Inglesias in whatever order, you know this team will score runs. No matter what this season has in store for Red Sox Nation, one thing is for certain, Bobby V will make it interesting
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