Boston Red Sox Make Colossal Mistake in Hiring Bobby Valentine: A Fan’s Take

I couldn’t disagree more with the assessment made by Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown in his latest article that the Boston Red Sox “got it right” in hiring Bobby Valentine as their new manager. As I stated in a piece you can read here, I believe the franchise that calls Fenway Park its home would have been smart to pass on the 61-year-old mercurial manager from Stamford, Conn.

Apparently, not everyone agrees with my view. Yahoo! Contributor Network member Andrew Mindzak writes in his latest article he believes Valentine will “get the job done” trying to fill the shoes of former Red Sox manager Terry Francona–whom Brown says was “the best manager the Red Sox ever had.” But I think he’s going to find Bobby’s feet far too small for those shoes–and made of clay.

While Brown is correct in some things about Valentine–who is definitely somewhat smart and charismatic, and knows how to run a clubhouse–the facts say Bobby is anything but as smart as he seems to think he is, has just enough charisma to get hired but not drive a team to succeed when it counts, and has had clubhouses implode on him over his career. Simply put, Valentine is mostly hype. Style over substance to the Nth degree, and that is anything but what the Boston franchise really needed to get back on track.

However, as a fan of the Miami Marlins (formerly the Florida Marlins), I don’t really have much of a stake in the outcome. I definitely would prefer the Red Sox come out on top of their division over the New York Yankees because of my absolute loathing of the Bronx Bombers, but in the end it rarely ends up having any bearing on my own favorite club.

Still, I think Boston has made a colossal mistake in hiring a guy who over 15 seasons leading major league clubs–eight with the Texas Rangers and seven with the New York Mets–has compiled a win-loss record of 1117-1072, has never won a division title, and has only led one of those teams (the 2000 wild card Mets) to a World Series, where they were thoroughly dismantled 4-1 by the Yankees.

I think the Red Sox would have been better off going after some young, talented and brilliant baseball mind who could shake things up in a far more meaningful way at Fenway. Instead, they got someone who will definitely cause commotion, but almost certainly won’t get them anywhere in the end.

I was completely thrilled, as I note in my article linked above, when the Marlins passed on Valentine a couple of years ago, and I’m guessing Red Sox fans in the future are going to be lamenting the the fact Boston didn’t do the same.

Play Ball!

More from Yahoo! Contributor Network:

Even Without Pujols Miami Marlins Could Build a Consistent Winner

Detroit Tigers’ Justin Verlander Winning AL MVP Sets a Great Precedent

Loria Proves to Be Marketing Genius with New Marlins Logo and Gear

Commissioner Selig and MLB Tell Fans “A Change is Gonna Come”

Marlins and Miami Could Be Baseball World’s New Mecca

All stats and information taken from personal notes and verified at Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, and Yahoo! Sports.

Read more by Daniel Barber aka Hotnuke at TFS Sports.

*Daniel Barber has rooted for all Miami teams since he was a child or since their inception having been born right above Miami.

Sources:

MLB.com

Baseball-Reference.com


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