I know I promised you a Patriot’s recap but given the blowout, I decided to move on to bigger and more important things like the Red Sox managerial search.
So you’re Ben Cherington, you’re new on the job. You knew going into the managerial search you had your guy in mind in Dale Sveum. Now all you had to do was sell your boss, Uncle Larry, on him as the manager. But Uncle Larry goes behind your back, talks to his close buddy and basically assures him the job all the while letting Ben go through the motions for his guy Sveum.
The Sox pay for Sveum to fly out to the GM meetings, they put him up in a hotel, then they give him a second interview with no job offer. Meanwhile, Theo says, “Thanks for getting him the the GM meetings, I’ll take it from here.” Swoops in with a contract offer the Sox didn’t even make and like that Sveum was off the market.
Speaking of Sveum, there was an excellent article by Gordon Edes chronicling his path to the Cubs bench as manager. CLICK HERE to read it.
So now your Ben Cherington, you have to be sitting there just dumbstruck. After all, you were witness to Theo getting screwed over by Uncle Larry at every turn. Did you somehow think that it would be different when you were handed the reigns? Think again. This is Lucchino’s team for better or worse and John Henry has all but said he’s not involved in the day-to-day and that it’s Larry’s baby.
So we find out that Bobby Valentine is Uncle Larry’s close friend and choice to manage the team. He’s all but got the job. Heck, he’s ready to move his stuff into his office and call a pres conference. But Uncle Larry’s spin machine brain starts racing. If I announce Bobby Valentine as the manager of the Sox while Ben is in the DR, it’s going to look like I did this behind his back.
So we get a little article “anonymously” leaked to the spin puppies at ESPN saying that any talks with Bobby V would have to wait until Cherington was in this country. Oh, yeah, I’m buying right into that.
So yesterday they had their obligatory interview with Cherington in the mix. That’s followed by the spin puppies at ESPN telling us what a great manager Valentine is and that he took the Mets with a bunch of no name players to the World Series. Also that he won championships in Japan etc.
Look, stop it.
We’re not as dumb as you think we are Uncle Larry. Stop treating us like it. We know you’re the anonymous source pretty much ten times out of ten. If you want to say something to the press, man up and attach your name to it. If Valntine if your guy, come out and say that. Don’t undermine Cherington who’s had a chance to do nothing on the job yet. Just say, I’m Ben’s boss, I made the call, this is who I wanted. You’re the president, it’s your call over his if you want it to be.
The official announcement is expected in a few days. Expect a press conference where Cherington is sitting there smiling and expect a quote to the likes of “Bobby was always our guy, we just didn’t think he was interested/we could get him.” Those words will come from Cherington’s mouth to try and save face. Too late. Like my buddy Shaun said yesterday, if your an agent why on Earth are you going to deal with Cherngton now. You know Uncle Larry is the boss and if Cherington isn’t giving you what you want, you can just get it from Uncle Larry.
So trouble in Red Sox Nation? You betcha. And that trouble will continue to exist until John Henry’s corpse decides to sever ties with Lucchino who is an absolute cancer to this organization.
