Red Sox enter spring with questions, hoping Valentine's the answer
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| There's a new attitude in Red Sox land as pitchers and catchers officially report to camp. (AP) |
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Bobby Valentine's influence is already felt here at brand spanking new Jet Blue Stadium, where they served only wraps yesterday, perhaps as an ode to their new manager, who some say is the inventor of the wrap at his Stamford, Conn., restaurant (OK, he is the one who claims that). Whether that's true or not, Valentine is here to reinvent himself, and more importantly, reinvent the storied Red Sox franchise that would have been better to sticking to wraps last year but branched out to chicken and beer in the clubhouse during games amid their disgraceful and unprecedented collapse.
In typical Valentine fashion, he dropped an intriguing hint about a new rule to come about drinking in the clubhouse. Valentine volunteered that he knew what he was going to do about clubhouse drinking, but didn't reveal what that was. "I've decided. I'm not going to say," he said. Valentine imparted plenty though, offering that reliever Bobby Jenks was a long way off (many months), that they would take it slow with Aaron Cook, that Daisuke Matsuzaka was behind Rich Hill among their Tommy John surgery projects and a lot more than that.
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Valentine isn't just a culture change around here, he is going to represent a culture shock for many of the players who were used to Tito Francona. Francona was beloved for protecting the players forever, right up until the point where they ran over him so badly even they knew they needed a change. Well, this is that change. They're got Valentine, a brilliant baseball guy who knows baseball talent and strategy and isn't afraid to let you know it. He also knows more baseball than any 10 of them combined and really can light up a stadium or certainly a room (unlike Art Howe, the man who succeeded him in New York, and was said to have won the job by owner Fred Wilpon by lighting up the room, an impossibility).
Valentine, with 15 years of big league experience but none for nearly a decade, takes a job that is inherently one of the toughest in sports and is further complicated this year by the glaring lack of a proven No. 4 or 5 starter or even a bona fide shortstop. That was Marco Scutaro, a guy Valentine loved when he was just the Mets' 25th man, whom they traded for payroll "flexibility." Well, since Roy Oswalt didn't take Boston's offer of about $6 million for one year in a proposal that isn't still formally on the table, they still have that great flexibility. But along with that, they have questions, and plenty of them. Red Sox people were sitting around the other day and reminiscing about the fact they've only entered spring training a couple times in the past decade with a spot to fill. Well, this year, they have many to fill, and they see their chief rivals, the Yankees and Rays, looking as strong as ever.
"They're set, those pr----," Valentine said, with his 500-watt smile, about the Yankees and Rays. "We've got a lot of catching up to do to get equal in the minds of everyone, probably even some of our players."
Valentine used the words' "interesting" and "different" to describe the Red Sox's unprecedented roster uncertainty. But he clarified that characterization, saying, "It's not different for me. It's different for them."
For Valentine, at a young 61, it feels just right. He never had the perfect teams in Texas or New York, or even in Chiba Lotte, Japan or the minors. In New York, he managed to get to the 2000 World Series with an outfield that consisted of journeymen Jay Payton, Benny Agbayani, Timo Perez and Derek Bell. In Japan, he was expected to finish third the year the Marines won the Japan League title. He noted that the team that won the East Division last year (the Yankees) went to spring with questions in their Nos. 4 and 5 starting slots, as well, questions that were answered by Freddy Garcia and Bartolo Colon. He wouldn't have it any other way.
For Valentine, Fort Myers is actually a little bit of heaven right now, just the way he envisioned it when he took a pay cut estimated to be about a half-million a year to leave his cushy ESPN announcing gig and sign a two-year Red Sox contract whose terms have never been disclosed (Valentine wouldn't comment on his salary, though suffice it to say, he's not where he should be, which is among baseball's highest-paid managers).
"It's perfect," he declared. "Great talent. Great ownership. A 100-year-old facility. For me, it's perfect, a great team and the best fandom."
If it's not the best, it's certainly the most interested/involved. Red Sox fans are everywhere here and in Boston. There is no getting away from them. And Valentine knows that will be something to confront, and maybe at times even something to avoid.
"I don't know if I'll mind it after a loss," he decided. "After two losses, I probably won't go out."
That's a funny thing to say, but in reality Valentine relishes the interplay with fans and media. The intrepid and involved Red Sox media already has noticed a difference between Valentine and his predecessor. Francona seemed always to be searching for the most vanilla answer he could find, even if it bordered on BS. That served the Red Sox well at times, and Valentine's shocking candor has gotten him in trouble at times, too, with players, with agents, and even with a few in the media who never learned to sit back and just enjoy the pearls. Red Sox GM Ben Cherington suggested he wasn't bracing for the worst, noting that people change over time. Cherington's review is all positive so far (it's only been three days of course), and he said, "Bobby's going to put his imprint on spring training, and do it in a way where he's respectful of the guys."
If Cherington needed a bit of a nudge to lean toward hiring Valentine, that's OK now. "The truth is, I didn't know Bobby Valentine when the process started," Cherington said. "Ownership knew him a little bit, not great, but enough to make the introduction." It's been a bit of a touchy subject because the perception is that it was team president Larry Lucchino's idea. "At no time did they tell me who to hire, and at no time did I make a recommendation that was overturned," Cherington said.
In any case, Valentine is a big switch from Francona, he's even a bigger change from Dale Sveum or Gene Lamont, the other two candidates Cherington brought to ownership. One Boston media person noted two differences between Valentine and Francona already: no curse words, and no discussion of whether he needed to go to the bathroom. Valentine says things no one expects from a major-league manager. It's almost like he's searching for the most interesting thing to say, which ought to be a real switch in New England, which is also used to Bill Belichick as well as Francona.
He was asked if he's picked up anything "enlightening" from Bill James yet, and he seemed to feel genuinely bad that he could not immediately find a great example. "There's been a lot of information that's been cool. Enlightening? I'm not sure," he said before recalling something a moment later. Valentine said he heard Kevin Youkilis, who all agree was a Red Sox who didn't look like himself at times last year, was "three balls to the minus to his right, five balls to the minus to his left and two balls to the plus coming." And Valentine decided, "I was little enlightened by that."
The reality is, with Valentine here now, Boston has entered a whole new era of enlightenment.
