Bobby Valentine Doomed In Boston

Word leaked out of Boston recently of a Red Sox player rebellion against Bobby Valentine’s managerial authority. In the old days, when Tom Yawkey was the owner, he responded to those types of complaints by axing the manager and going in a new direction. It’s not clear just how Boston’s upper management reacted to players initiating a complaint session about Valentine.

When the Red Sox folded their tents with a September collapse in 2011, costing the franchise an American League playoff berth on the last day of the season, all of New England went into mourning. Fans did everything but lower flags to half staff. Certainly visits to psychiatrists boomed and prescriptions for anti-anxiety medication mushroomed.

It took some time but ownership decided the best move going forward was to let go of manager Terry Francona and search for a replacement. At the time this seemed hasty to me. This is the guy who brought the team out of the wilderness and presided over two World Series championships. I thought he had built sufficient political capital to weather the hurricane. Apparently not. So out went Francona, bitterly.

In came Valentine, a drill sergeant by reputation who was supposed to change the tenor of an allegedly party-hard clubhouse. This is common practice in big-league baseball. If the previous managerial leadership was perceived as being too lenient, the next manager is a hard-nosed, no-nonsense guy. If the last manager was a Billy Martin-type, then the new manager is unlikely to be a law enforcement type.

But it hasn’t worked out. The Red Sox missed the playoffs in 2011 by an inch. They’re going to miss the playoffs in 2012 by a mile. That is the bottom line.

You have to feel somewhat sorry for Valentine because the Red Sox have endured an injury epidemic that rivals the 1918 killer flu epidemic that was one of the worst plagues in U.S. history. The Sox are up to about 25 guys, an entire roster’s worth, of players who have spent some time on the disabled list this summer. The lineup has changed constantly. The pitching rotation has been disrupted regularly. The best players on the team, from DH David Ortiz, and centerfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, have been sidelined for stretches.

The pre-season plan of counting on Andrew Bailey as the closer, with Mark Melancon as his backup, went poof in spring training. Bailey was KO’d and is just now throwing his first pitches for Boston. And Melancon was so bad in the early going that he was sent to the minors for a while because his earned run average was approaching triple digits.

Supposed ace Josh Beckett has had some injury problems, but a lot of ineffectiveness problems. Co-ace Jon Lester hasn’t had injury woes, but he has never pitched up to his usual standards this season.

When healthy, the Red Sox have remarkable hitting depth. Backups to the backups have been swinging away at plus-.300 levels. The reason that backups to the backups get a chance to play, of course, is because so many guys are getting wounded in action. Teams are never allowed to use injuries as an excuse, but boy, the Red Sox have hardly ever been the full-fledged Red Sox this year.

If Valentine had been able to overcome all of these obstacles and have the Red Sox in the running for a playoff spot up to the end of the season, then the case could be made that he had performed yeoman service and we’ll bring him back for 2013 when everyone is healthy again. But he hasn’t been able to do that. Whether deserved or not, Valentine seemingly has made enemies out of some of the players, in itself not fatal.

However, coming home with a losing record, as the Red Sox are likely to do, will be deemed unforgivable, regardless of circumstances. If the Sox not only miss the playoffs, but finish at sub-.500, nothing will save Valentine’s job. Come February he will be someone else’s Valentine and the Red Sox will be supervised by another new manager.