The main reason the Boston Red Sox have marched their way to the World Series this season is that they made a number of significant changes during the offseason. After a 69-win campaign in 2012, the Red Sox admitted their Bobby Valentine experiment was an epic failure and set their sights on John Farrell. The former Toronto Blue Jays manager has been lauded as a franchise savior, but Bobby V. thinks he could have been the same.
During a recent interview with Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, Valentine praised the work that has been done by Farrell and Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington. He also reminded us that he is still delusional.
“I’d like to think that if I came back for my second year that, given the changes and improvements, I would have been able to do the same thing,” Valentine said. “Ben did a great job this offseason rebuilding the team. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it before…”
Does Bobby V. feel that he could have succeeded with this Red Sox team before David Ortiz accused him of needing medication, or is his theory contingent upon that having never happened? Valentine lost the respect of the players in the Red Sox clubhouse very quickly, and he wasn’t going to gain it back simply because the team got rid of Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.
Valentine proved to be nothing more than a distraction during his one season in Boston. Could he have won more than 69 games with the team’s 2013 roster? Most likely, but all we have heard about all season is the chemistry this team has. Bobby V. has proven on more than one occasion that he’s an expert at ruining stuff like that.
H/T CBS Boston
