As you may know from either knowing me, or reading this blog, I'm a huge Yankees fan. And baseball is by far my favorite sport. So you may be wondering, why is the blog named after a Mets manager?
Well, it's for the same reason that I'm excited for Bobby Valentine's new position as manager of my most hated team in all sports, the Boston Red Sox. The man is a good manager who is also comedy gold, but he doesn't have what it takes to win against the Yankees or consistently contend for the division crown.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not lambasting the Red Sox for picking my mustachioed friend as their manager; one could easily make an argument that he was the best available candidate and has experience managing in a big media market. However, I don't see Valentine's tenure with the Sox as being nearly as successful as Tito Francona's was. Francona had the benefit of a then-revolutionary GM in Theo Epstein and an absolutely loaded lineup featuring Manny Ramirez at his juiced-up best. Bobby V won't get the benefit of either of those. But Francona had something else that Valentine doesn't: the ability to beat the Yankees when it counts and win the division title multiple times.
Valentine's record with the Mets against the crosstown rival Yankees was anything but stellar: 12-18. His Amazin' Mets in 2000 were very nearly swept by the Yankees in the World Series, and only ended up winning one game in the series loss. As any Yankees or Mets fan can tell you, the Subway Series games are often just as intense as games against the Red Sox or Phillies/Braves. Not winning these games was not solely a product of the Mets' talent level, but an indication that Valentine had difficulty winning key rivalry games against elite opposition. This also came up in the games the Mets played against their main divisional competition at the time, the Atlanta Braves. During Valentine's tenure as Mets manager (1996-2002), his teams went 41-59 against the Braves and only made the playoffs twice. The Braves won the division every single year that Valentine was with the Mets. This doesn't bode well for the Red Sox. Valentine is entering a division that is perennially the best and most competitive in baseball, one that the Red Sox have only won once since 1996. The Sox completed the most epic collapse in the history of baseball last September, and the division is only going to get harder this year; the Yankees and Rays will be in the playoff hunt again and don't sleep on the Blue Jays, as GM Alex Anthopoulos is absolutely fleecing teams in trades and building a quality contender in the Great White North.
I think Valentine will be loved by Red Sox fans, as he is a funny guy who doesn't pull punches when it comes to his team (see the infamous Whartongate incident for an example), but much to the Nation's chagrin, he will engender the same feelings among Yankees fans for entirely different reasons. Let's just say that it'll be a fun couple of years with the master of disguise back in the managerial ranks.
-Cote
The Red Sox fired Terry Francona and replaced him with Bobby Valentine. It's an awful move by the Sox and a huge step down. Maybe he was the best candidate available. You think they should have looked into the candidate pool before firing Francona? It's the result of a team and fanbase that overreacted to a disastrous final month and the Sox will suffer as a result.
ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly with you, Gibbs. He will be reasonably successful, but I don't see more than one division crown or any WS trips. It's gonna be hard for them to miss the playoffs with the extra wild-card though. One other thing that I think hurts Bobby V is that he is moving to the AL. Valentine was always one of the best when it came to feeling out pinch hitters versus pitchers, and in the AL, there aren't nearly as many managerial moves made on the field.
ReplyDelete