Bobby Valentine Back to Managing?

Classic.

Former manager of multiple teams both in the MLB and Japan, Bobby Valentine will be starting a new job as the athletic director of Sacred Heart University in July.  In April, though -- as this commercial suggests -- he will be reporting to a new team.

The fantasy baseball team he manages on CBSSports.com.  Its a great set-up for a commercial, I just think his delivery could've been a little bit better when it came to the Boston situation.  But holding a beer while in the office is classic, overshadowed only by the black t-shirt, sunglasses and mustache he wore after being ejected from a Mets game in 1999.

Ozzie Guillen vs Bobby Valentine - Who's Worse?

Two of the games strangest managers are finally out of work.  Bobby Valentine and Ozzie Guillen have been dismissed by the Red Sox and Marlins, respectively, with Guillen's exit coming Tuesday afternoon, as reported by the Marlins organization.

Both skippers led their squads to identical 69-93 records during the 2012 campaign, leaving fans in complete disbelief as to how their teams could have ended up at the bottom of the totem pole.  The Red Sox headed into last season as one of the best teams on paper.  With Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz at the top of the rotation, backed by the bats of Adrian Gonzalez, Jacoby Ellsbury and Kevin Youkilis, the Red Sox were poised to be in the playoff mix once again.  More injuries than you could keep track of, Valentine practically running Youkilis out of town, an inexplicably dismal pitching record and a blockbuster trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers sealed the coffin shut on any chances of October baseball in Beantown.

For the Marlins, Ozzie was one of their many offseason acquisitions before the 2012 season.  Heath Bell, Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle headlined the new wave of Marlins, joining Hanley Ramirez, Giancarlo Stanton and a healthy Josh Johnson under Guillen's command.  They weren't decimated by injuries, not by any means, they just couldn't handle the hype.  A new stadium and new look were all in the works for years, and when it came to be Miami's time to shine, they completely fell apart, led by Bell's horrid closing performance.  The club has since traded away Ramirez, Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez.  While the latter two don't mind the collapse -- they're playing for the World Series on the Detroit Tigers after a midseason trade -- Marlins fans and front office alike are left completely baffled as to what went wrong.

Ultimately, the team is only as strong as their weakest link, whether that link is on or off the field.  In these two cases, the managers clearly weren't able to hold the chain together.  But Bobby V takes the cake for not being able to even establish that chain.  Early in the season, he and Youkilis would butt heads not only behind the scenes, but in front of the media.  Bobby V and bullpen coach Gary Tuck were said to go extended lengths of time without communicating with each other; the Sox ex-pitching coach Bob McClure would be the one to handle the bullpen phone.

In Miami, the organization has had its fair share of controversy, and has since sent those problems packing, like Bell and Ramirez.  Bobby V wasn't the only one who was careless around the media -- remember when he praised Fidel Castro and was suspended for five games?  Both guys are great baseball minds, there is no doubt about that.  But when push comes to shove, Bobby Valentine was just too much of a headache in Boston to even want to disperse the blame around the rest of the club. 

It's Official

Well, that was a fun season, wasn't it?

After WBZ-TV Boston reported Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine was on his way out the door, official releases started flying about a half hour later.

ESPN, MLB, NESN and the Red Sox organization has made it official, Valentine is out as manager, and general manager Ben Cherington will be leading the search for a replacement.  The organization will owe him $2.5 million for the year left on his contract, which is a small price to pay for what Red Sox Nation suffered through this season.

So begins a wild offseason in Beantown.

CBS Boston Reporting Bobby Valentine Will be Fired Before the Weekend

"The Price is Right" ended and I wasn't quick enough to get to the remote to change the channel, but today, that turned out to work in my favor.

WBZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston, MA, is reporting that Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine arrived at Fenway Park early Thursday morning and is either meeting with now, or scheduled to meet with Red Sox brass including general manager Ben Cherington.  The reports indicate that these will be his exit meetings, and his termination is imminent.

I'm still not entirely sure where these reports are coming from.  Jon Heyman of CBS Sports is reporting with information from "people familiar with the situation."  I think all of Boston is familiar with the situation by now, but there has been no solid proof to support these claims.  I guess if enough people wish hard enough, right?

Heyman had a text conversation with Cherington in which Cherington responded to the idea of Valentine hitting the bricks by saying "No comment."

After watching how the season ended last night, its clear that Bobby Valentine was not the biggest problem this season, but he was absolutely not the solution.  Being around the game for that long, Valentine has become one of the best minds in the game, but this experiment just didn't pan out.

WBZ has a reporter outside of Fenway Park to await official word.  Stay tuned to Three If By Strike for any breaking developments.

Bobby Valentine Throwing Haymakers

Well, not really.  But he did threaten to.

In a recent interview with Glenn Ordway, host of "The Big Show" on WEEI in Boston, Ordway asked Bobby Valentine if he had checked out this season.  This comes just a few days after Bobby V had told WEEI this season was "miserable," but he would still like to come back for another go-around.

So has Valentine checked out?  Let's ask him.

"What an embarrassing thing to say. If I were there right now, I'd punch you right in the mouth. Ha, ha. How's that sound? Sound that like I checked out? What an embarrassing thing. Why would somebody even, that's stuff that a comic strip person would write.

"If someone's here, watching me go out at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, working with the young players, watching me put in the right relief pitchers to get a win, putting on a hit-and-run when it was necessary, talking to the guys after the game in the food room -- how could someone in real life say that?"

And boom goes the dynamite.  Sounds to me like he took some real offense to that, which is good to see.  Its always good to see signs of life, even if the team's heart rate is down to about 18 beats per minute.

The Red Sox have Thursday off, then pull into station Friday night, fresh off of a nine game road trip in which they went 1-8.  They are on pace for their worst season since 1992, something that I am personally unfamiliar with, since I started following the team when I was six in '96.  Let's just get this over with, already.

The whole audio is classic, and shows Bobby V's true colors, but for the quote above, fast forward to 2:55.

Seems Crazy, But Red Sox Just Need to Play Baseball

"The media's always been a big blow-up factor for those guys. You've got so many eyes with cameras and ears listening, it's ridiculous. Everything's going to get captured. So you've got to be careful what you say. And as for playing, it just seems like since the September fallout, they haven't really figured out what it takes to get back on track. And when they do, something derails them."  -Josh Reddick on Boston

With all that has gone on since the infamous July 26th meeting, it doesn't seem like anyone is really being careful about what they say -- players, coaches or the front office.

There's a tremendous amount of 'he said, he said' going on within the Red Sox organization these days.  Well, its really been going on all season long, ever since the collapse and since the Bobby Valentine hiring.  Then came reports that Kevin Youkilis was such a detriment to the team that he had to be shipped off and once he was, balance would be restored.

Well, that didn't work.

Soon after, the reports shifted to the front office and how general manager Ben Cherington was sitting idly by at the trade deadline, all but completely abandoning the team when moves needed to be made to shore up an injury-riddled team.  But now, all eyes (and ears) are inside the Red Sox dugout.

That July 26th meeting allegedly came to be when Adrian Gonzalez sacrificed himself to be the mouthpiece for a disgruntled ball club.  A text message was sent to ownership, and John Henry called the meeting in which, according to anonymous sources, dealt heavily with the players' frustrations with Valentine. 

After rumors from the meeting started to swirl concerning several players calling for Valentine's head, Dustin Pedroia came out and told the media that Valentine was not to blame, rather the team's poor play was the biggest reason for their frustration.  Pedroia went even further to say that had never met the author of the article about the Red Sox private meeting, Jeff Passan, which proved nothing about what really went on behind closed doors, and only made Pedroia seem like he had a guilty conscious.

No one in Boston knows how to just shut up and play baseball anymore.  As a fan, I know that poor play is a huge problem.  Injuries have made the road even bumpier, and Valentine's questionable relationships with players and coaches have been a pain in the ass.  But do we need to hear it every single day?

Does Henry need to come out in an e-mail and say this is a failed season?  I don't think so.  I certainly understand that a little realism is necessary since we can no longer sit back and say, "well, its only June, plenty of baseball left," but giving up all hope is a little ridiculous.  The September collapse was unbearable last year, but the 2012 collapse is proving to be just as arduous and even more drawn out.

The team just needs to put their heads down and do what they can to at least salvage their name.  Josh Beckett's head is already down, but all he's doing is taking his $15 million and putting on a uniform, he's not trying to win.  There are plenty of players here who want to win, but they just need to get away from the cameras and worry about what's happening on the field.

Boston is a very tough market to play in, and understandably so, given the success this team has had in the past decade and the worldwide fan base that has declared itself an independent nation.  The Red Sox really have their hands tied going down the stretch here, though.  It would make no sense to fire Valentine, and the ownership isn't going anywhere, either.  They can't dump Beckett without flushing millions upon millions down with him.  All the Red Sox need to just play decent baseball for the rest of the year to avoid going below .500 for the first time since 1997.

Is that too much to ask?

Red Sox Don't Know What They Are, Existentialism Runs Rampant In Clubhouse

 "I don't know that a team necessarily has a personality, but I don't think this team has totally figured out what they are because there have been so many changing parts," Bobby Valentine said. "I don't know how they're looking at themselves. It must be a moving target."

It's June.  Figure it out.  You're a baseball team with the second highest payroll in the game, and you can't win to save your life.  I'd be happy if just one aspect of their game was solid, but on any given night, they're passable at best. 

Kevin Youkilis and Josh Beckett are absolute cancers to the team.  The team is 14-19, which seems to be a trend with every last place team in the league.  This team needs to take some time and figure this out.  How can you expect to go out there 100% if your team can't figure out their own identity.  I understand injuries have thrown a few wrenches into the mix, but look at Toronto.  In their last 5 games they've had 3 starting pitchers go down with injuries - and they're still a game better than us.

"To their credit, we've learned to deal with it," Valentine said. "Sometimes guys start making excuses and using that as a crutch. I haven't heard any of that. It's more like what we were referring to earlier. It's part of the group's mentality and personality, whatever it is. They overcome stuff."

Overcome a sub-.500 record then we'll talk.

Franklin Morales Is Getting a Start? Is This a Joke?

 I'll give you the good news first.

Josh Beckett has been scratched from Sunday's start with shoulder inflammation.  His 4.14 ERA will have to wait another week to get even worse.

The bad news?  Rather than call someone up from the minors, Bobby Valentine has chosen to give reliever Franklin Morales the nod.  His ERA is just over 3, which is miraculous for this pitching staff.

Where's the white flag?  Can somebody take the Magic 8-Ball away from Bobby V so he actually thinks when making these decisions?  That's not to say I'm anti-Valentine, but this move seems like he just drew names out of a hat.

Not like the Sox will be on ESPN for the game Sunday night, no chance at being embarrassed on national TV...

We're Back...

                                                         Photo: legendsrevealed.com

It's been almost a year since my last blog, which is a problem in and of itself...  But the bigger problem is why I had to start this blog.

I have a thesis paper due in just over 24 hours, and I have to report to Fenway Park at 6:05 p.m. where hopefully I'll avoid the 5th Boston Massacre.  The 4th is the reason I'm back to blogging.

Last night the Sox carried a nine run lead into the sixth inning.  They held an eight run lead going into the seventh.  That's as much as I'll say.

This blog will be much of the same from The 7 Day Weekend -- little bit of baseball, little bit of hockey, little bit of Boston.  Anything you want to hear, see or read, it'll be here.  Thanks for reading guys.  And I apologize in advance for how many times I'll be using that picture of Bobby Valentine.