Earlier today, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reported that Red Sox players met with owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino in late July to voice their displeasure with manager Bobby Valentine. Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia were said to be among the most vocal in the meeting and GM Ben Cherington confirmed that the pow-wow took place. Here's the latest out of Fenway..
- Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter) opines that the trade of Kelly Shoppach in order to give Valentine favorite Ryan Lavarnway more playing time can't be a bad sign for Bobby V. Boston will receive a player to be named later from the Mets in exchange for the backstop.
- Valentine told reporters, including Tim Britton of The Providence Journal, that he is glad to have the reported unrest behind him. "Wow. Is that what was said really? That's what Dustin and Adrian said? It did say that? I didn't hear that. I'm glad that July is over because they're still playing for me," said the skipper.
- The Red Sox players haven't kept an open mind about Valentine ever since his remarks about Kevin Youkilis back in April, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. In an interview, Valentine said that he didn't think the veteran was "as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason.”
A quote from Breaking Bad
“You’re (Valentine) a time bomb. Tick, tick, tick.”
It’s only a matter of time till the FO let’s him go.
Just some quotes from fans when Bobby V got hired
“This is awesome news. He was my favorite from the start. Can’t wait for 2012” – @Redsoxn8tion
“I’m going to go ahead and be unpopular here and say this is quite possibly a very good idea. ”
@sourbob
“Congrats to the Red Sox. I think Bobby V will be a great manager for them. Bout time somebody hired him again.”
@madman2TX
“Great hire! Smart and a good evealuator of young talent, just what the Sox need”
@Cyyoung
Note, just Google “Red Sox Hire Bobby Valentine MLBTR”
I hate this team. I can’t believe what a train wreck things are and the worst is that they are locked in to pieces for multiple years to come.
I’m a Boston fan and I’m hoping that they just blow up the team, coaching staff, and front office and start fresh. They’re the most hateable Boston team since the soulless bunch from 2000.
I’d love me some Pedroia
I’d gladly accept fair prospect value for anyone on the team save for Middlebrooks, Lavarnway, and current prospects. That’d be more than enough to clear payroll and build a solid team for 2014 on.
Only problem is there is no way to move Beckett, Lackey or Crawford. That’s over $50M right there.
I think that a team would conceivably take a flyer on Beckett and I’m sure the Sox could rid themselves of Crawford if they paid a chunk of his contract.
Problem with that, is Pedroia and Gonzalez are cornerstone pieces that on just about every team out there they would be upgrades on, so why would Boston want to move them when both are still in productive seasons and signed for not extravagant amounts and for the next several seasons?
I could see many others being more than available.. Ells, Salty, most of the pitching staff, even Middlebrooks while his value is high if he had not broken his wrist. Lester even, but Pedroia and Gonzalez are still top 3-5 at their respective positions in the game and any team Boston has in the near future that will be competitive will be needing those. They have no 1b in the system and 2b is iffy. Sure, they could move (or try to) a Cecchinni type, but how that would work could be scary. Coyle has not done well.
Moving the 2 best players on the team in pedroia and Gonzalez just does not make any sense, but getting rid of Ellsbury, Salty would. Those people they have guys who can step in short term, as well as long term already.
Same with Middlebrooks. 3b they might have a hole in the short term, but Cecchini should be ready in a couple of years and imagine the team would immediately move Bogaerts to 3b if he was moved and get him ready with so many other SS prospects behind him.
Gonzalez is making $21 MM/year through 2016 and then $21.5 MM/year in 2017 and 2018. Moving him would add a lot of payroll and positional flexibility and would net a few very good prospects. 1B has the highest marginal WAR cost on the market; it’d be smarter to invest that money elsewhere, as productive first basemen aren’t hard to come by.
Pedroia is a cornerstone, but he’d bring a king’s ransom back in prospects. He’s one of the few veterans I’d love to keep, but they shouldn’t turn down a good deal for him if one is offered.
I think what you are suggesting Devern is a total rebuild. That is something the “good people” of Boston and especially the media would never stand for.
I see your point now on doing a total blow up of the team and even when Boston did something akin to that.. Moving Freddy Lynn, Butch Hobson, Rick Burleson and letting Fisk walk they even went and got established (or some young people) people back in Carney Lansford, Mark Clear and older vet, Frank Tananna. A total blowup, followed by a rebuild with youngsters has not been done in Boston since 1965 and man… I honestly can’t see that being repeated. Partial? Yeah, they have retooled a couple of times, that 80-81, after Morgan came onboard with his “kids” and I think they need to do it again, but the typical front running fan base (no us, but the typical, know nothing yahoo) that likes to just go to a game, gets drunk and act like a dolt would cease attending, buying NESN, buying a shirt.. Blah, blah..
It’s why think Cherrington has his work cut out for him figuring out which pieces to move, based on which prospects are ready and allowing them to play now, as he now has enabled Lavarnway the chance. Next he will have to figure out which piece he can move based on who he also has ready and there are only a limited few.. SS perhaps if he can get much to anything out of Aviles and I still think Ellsbury will continually be in play, even though Kalish has struggled. Bringing back Pods was a decent emergency move that could have signaled a possible move in the distant works.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Salty does not follow Shoppach on the waiver wire, even my personal favorite Ross as much as would like to see him around next season.
They have to make these moves based on what they have available at the MiLB level, or on what they get back in return and is ready, but IMHO? I would think they should target pitching, pitching and more pitching in any deal(s)
HAHAHA. Jimy Williams.. Don Zimmer with hair… That guy TRULY had no clue.
No idea why Duquette kept him around so long and one of the reasons The Duke got shuffled out the door, other than ownership change was Williams.
Williams hasn’t got to worry about any more MLB jobs after butchering it up in Boston so badly.
Sooooo I said before the season started that Rays> Red Sox in every possible form. I was mocked with how the Rays where a fluke last year yada yada. Guess what? Rays> Red Sox next year AGAIN. RAYS HAVE A MORE TALENTED ORGANIZATION( players FO personal). Not only next year but i can see the Rays being atop the division the next 8-10+ years. The RS will have an aging Pedroia(resigned), Lester, Crawford and Agone.
Now RS fans will tell me that this seasons failure is due to BV(scapegoat) and injuries(everyone has them). Then they will state they had the best team this year without those issues and will win the WS next year. Lol
Valentine has always been a cancer as a manager, always will be.
I’ll say this about Valentine:
1) Was his signing right at the time: Yes. The alternative choices were sketchy at best at Valentine was supposed to provide a better narrative at the beginning of the season.
2) Is he the best bet for next season: No. Too many players are having off years to just blame bad luck. At some point you have to look at the coaching staff.
This reminds me an awful lot of the NY Mets circa 2007………….
Calm down! This is a gap year…Cherington knew exactly what he was doing when he hired Bobby V. He would alien all the players with Bobby V to help them rediscover the greatness of Francona…and then he brings back Francona for 2013!
Valentine will be back. The plan has always been 2 years until their real target (Farrell) is available. If needed they can dump him mid next yr and have an interim coach until JF is off his contract
They are not getting Farrell, that dream is gone. Why would he leave Toronto? Brad Mills is a way more realistic target for the Sox and he would have a style more similar to Francona then Valentine
What a bunch of babies.
Really can’t blame Bobby V, everyone has been injured, clubhouse was a mess, Pedroia is loyal to Terry Francona. The Youkilis decision was the right one, and also the Shoppach.
I think Bobby has done a great job with everything he was placed in to. He couldn’t hire his own staff or anything. If the players don’t like him, then at the end of the season he has to get dumped, and certain Sox players need to get moved. This is a talented bunch of guys, but a few of them can and are becoming detrimental to the team.
Get rid of the trouble making players and rebuild. They got Francona fired and now they are trying to do the same thing to Bobby.
This should have been expected. As a Mets fan, this is just like the 2007 hangover in 2008. After the collapse, the team was competitive, but had a lot of players grumbling about Willie Randolph. He was fired midway through 2008, and Jerry Manuel, the “gangsta,” couldn’t save us. The players played a bit better, but the bullpen was god awful. An injury to Wagner led to depleting the farm system and killing the payroll, and the Mets haven’t had a winning record since. Sorry Boston fans, but this might take a while.