Analyitics

Friday, November 18, 2011

Next Up: Bobby Valentine?

I'm not sure I understand the hype over Bobby Valentine. The way people talk about him, you'd think he was up there with Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox.  In reality, he's a career .510 manager who happened to have two pretty good years with the Mets, sandwiched between five pretty mediocre years, and, oh, yeah, eight drab years with the Texas Rangers before that.  The bottom line?  In fifteen years as an MLB manager, he made it to the post-season exactly twice. 

Nevertheless, Red Sox owners seem to be enamored of his "experience and cachet," and he may just be the  (current) frontrunner for the team's next manager.

Maybe what they really like is the fact that he claims to have invented the wrap sandwich.  If he can get the boys in the clubhouse to eat wraps instead of fried chicken, we might just have a chance next year. 

Related posts:
What's Going on at Fenway?

4 comments:

  1. Agree with this 100%. Doesn't make sense to me. Plus, from what I hear, it sounds like his overbearing personality wouldn't go over that well in Boston.

    I've got a bad feeling about this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The latest rumor: the Red Sox are considering hiring Omar Minaya, the former GM of the Mets, as a special assistant to Ben Cherington.

    What in the world is going on?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Charrington is getting used to the idea of Valentine: "...according to one of several people in baseball canvassed by Cherington for a report on Valentine, he is actually intrigued by Valentine and not opposed to hiring him."

    I agree with hardballtalk.com's sentiment: "I still can’t shake the idea that the front office imposing Valentine on Cherington like this is bad news. Maybe this happened way more with Theo Epstein’s major decisions than we realize, but it just seems unhealthy for Cherington’s first real decision as general manager to be taken away from him like this."

    ReplyDelete