ended tonight when the club asked Bobby Valentine to be their next manager, according to multiple reports.
Valentine, 61, is in transit from Japan to the East Coast, so details of the contract have yet to be hammered out but no obstacles are expected to prevent Valentine from getting the job, with a press conference possibly slated for Thursday.
The team spent nearly two months searching for a replacement for Francona, who won two championships, and was relieved of his duties just after the team’s epic and historic September collapse.
By choosing the high-energy, colorful and highly opinionated Valentine, the Red Sox are going with the more polarizing choice than the final candidate in the race, the laid-back and low-key Gene Lamont. Both are experienced baseball men, but Valentine clearly will command more attention and undoubtedly grab a great many headlines during his stint here.
Known for a firm grasp on the inside game of baseball, as well as a penchant for being outspoken and unconventional — he once donned a fake moustache and snuck back into the Mets dugout after being ejected — Valentine stayed out of public scrutiny in the initial round of interviews conducted by new general manager Ben Cherington.
A friend of president and CEO Larry Lucchino, Valentine will also likely have to deal with grumbling from some quarters that he is Lucchino’s pick rather than Cherington’s. Both the general manager and manager can be expected to work hard at dispensing with that perception immediately. Cherington, a first-time GM and long-time Red Sox, and Valentine, a long-time manager and first-time Red Sox, have a mutual interest to forge a working relationship every bit as fruitful as the one that former GM Theo Epstein and Francona had for nearly all of Francona’s eight seasons here.
Valentine, 61, has most recently been an analyst for ESPN, which first reported the story. Before that, he last managed for the Chiba Lotte Marines for six seasons. He had a previous one-year stint with the Marines, sandwiched between his big-league managerial stints. He spent eight seasons with the Rangers from 1985 to 1992, then seven years with the Mets from 1996 to 2002. He brought the Mets to the World Series in 2000. His major-league record is 1,117-1072, with three-second place finishes, no division titles.
Valentine, 61, is in transit from Japan to the East Coast, so details of the contract have yet to be hammered out but no obstacles are expected to prevent Valentine from getting the job, with a press conference possibly slated for Thursday.
The team spent nearly two months searching for a replacement for Francona, who won two championships, and was relieved of his duties just after the team’s epic and historic September collapse.
By choosing the high-energy, colorful and highly opinionated Valentine, the Red Sox are going with the more polarizing choice than the final candidate in the race, the laid-back and low-key Gene Lamont. Both are experienced baseball men, but Valentine clearly will command more attention and undoubtedly grab a great many headlines during his stint here.
Known for a firm grasp on the inside game of baseball, as well as a penchant for being outspoken and unconventional — he once donned a fake moustache and snuck back into the Mets dugout after being ejected — Valentine stayed out of public scrutiny in the initial round of interviews conducted by new general manager Ben Cherington.
A friend of president and CEO Larry Lucchino, Valentine will also likely have to deal with grumbling from some quarters that he is Lucchino’s pick rather than Cherington’s. Both the general manager and manager can be expected to work hard at dispensing with that perception immediately. Cherington, a first-time GM and long-time Red Sox, and Valentine, a long-time manager and first-time Red Sox, have a mutual interest to forge a working relationship every bit as fruitful as the one that former GM Theo Epstein and Francona had for nearly all of Francona’s eight seasons here.
Valentine, 61, has most recently been an analyst for ESPN, which first reported the story. Before that, he last managed for the Chiba Lotte Marines for six seasons. He had a previous one-year stint with the Marines, sandwiched between his big-league managerial stints. He spent eight seasons with the Rangers from 1985 to 1992, then seven years with the Mets from 1996 to 2002. He brought the Mets to the World Series in 2000. His major-league record is 1,117-1072, with three-second place finishes, no division titles.
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