Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Bobby Valentine was not just a terrible manager in Boston; he was epically terrible.
His one season as manager of the Boston Red Sox will go down in the history books as one of the biggest circuses in MLB history. From the moment he arrived there was problem after problem, and the team finished with a 69-93 record for one of the worst finishes in franchise history.
This is exactly the reason why he was the best thing that has happened to the Red Sox since they traded for Pedro Martinez.
If you’re a Red Sox fan or just enjoy train wrecks in general, then I don’t need to rehash all of the theatrics that came along with the 2012 Red Sox. Needless to say, it was an experiment that was destined to fail. The hire of Valentine as skipper of the ball club was done not to make the team better, but to give the fans a face they were familiar with in order to keep gate sales up.
Right on cue, it all blew up. There was near anarchy in the clubhouse as the players attempted some sort of coup d’etat. It all came to an infamous tipping point when ownership decided that the primary offenders were Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. After they were unloaded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a plethora of young prospects, Valentine was finally fired at the end of the season.
If the Red Sox had a good manager last year, they would’ve been close to a .500 team. They wouldn’t have made the playoffs, but it wouldn’t have forced them to “blow it all up” as they did last year.
The Red Sox would still be saddled with the overweight, oft-injured, clubhouse toxin in Beckett. They’d still have to deal with Crawford whining, underperforming and getting injured. Daniel Nava wouldn’t have gotten his time to shine. Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino wouldn’t be here, and Clay Buchholz and John Lackey wouldn’t be nearly as productive with Beckett around.
…and it’s all thanks to Bobby V. Thanks for being such a complete train wreck, Bobby. There’s no way the team would have the best record in the America League right now if you weren’t so terrible at your job.
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