Way back when, Bobby Valentine was considered the overwhelming favorite to replace Fredi Gonzalez in Florida. Something went wrong, and Valentine was dropped from consideration.
Recently - after his latest rejection by the Marlins - Bobby Valentine became the favorite to replace Daren Brown in Seattle. But Seattle, like Florida, appears to be setting its sights somewhere else.
In a sign the Mariners could be closing in on their managerial decision, Bobby Valentine was informed today that he was not getting the job, according to sources.
This news is interesting, given the poll I just put up. Though it's early, more than 40% of people responded that they'd like to see the M's hire Valentine. Of the names we've heard, his is definitely the most popular.
And I think that was probably his big advantage. Among John Gibbons, Lloyd McClendon, Cecil Cooper, Daren Brown, and Eric Wedge, there isn't a single guy who gets fans excited. Bobby Valentine - for whatever reason - gets fans excited. Very few people have weak opinions of Bobby Valentine. Some people can't stand him, and other people - lots of other people - are in love with him. Bobby Valentine is America's favorite non-manager manager.
So if the Mariners were looking to stir some emotion in an emotionless fan base, Valentine could've worked. At least for a little while. He's a name. A very visible name. He would've gotten people talking about the Mariners again. Cecil Cooper won't get people talking about the Mariners. Lloyd McClendon won't get people talking about the Mariners. They'll come up, but they won't be conversation-starters. Those'll be names mentioned or alluded to in passing. "The Mariners hired some no-name retread." "Sounds about right."
Bobby Valentine would've gotten people more excited than any other candidate whose name we've heard. The Mariners have evidently decided that that isn't enough, and that Valentine's overall package isn't as appealing as somebody else's. Maybe it's about money. Maybe it's about power, or philosophies. I don't know. But it's interesting, as it would've been easy for the team to go with the popular pick, given their situation. That they aren't suggests that they'll believe very strongly in the guy they end up hiring.
This is a lousy break for all the Valentine fanboys out there. As far as the actual team is concerned, I haven't a clue how much this will matter.
0 recs | 81 comments
He might have been endorsed by Sean White
Alexander Calloway - October 15, 2010
Would your "average fan" know who Bobby Valentine is?
wonder if it was also the “demand for control over personnel decisions” that reportedly scuttled the Florida job
msb - October 15, 2010
The best part about the vote is that its Bobby Valentine in a landslide.
Followed by “I have no opinion” and “Somebody else”
As far as actual human beings go, nobody was close to Bobby Valentine amongst this group of voters.
Kenneth Arthur - October 15, 2010
@Buster_ESPN: Heard this: Eric Wedge did very, very well in his interview with Seattle Mariners
msb - October 15, 2010
@Buster_ESPN Buster Olney Wedge would be a good fit in Seattle; he's experienced, he's prepared to help with the rebuilding of the team,and a good organizational guy.
msb - October 15, 2010
@Buster_ESPN Buster Olney In case you were wondering, I mostly just throw random crap out on Twitter in the hopes it will stick
Jeff Nusser - October 15, 2010
Bill Simmons did a very good piece on this whole trend of "heard this" reporting this week.
SethGrandpa - October 15, 2010
Did Buster Olney just refer to himself in the third person?
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
Do the Mariners know the wedge is now illegal on kick returns?
Sec 108 - October 15, 2010
I'm ok with this. I have nothing against Valentine, and voted no opinion on the poll, but I just don't care who manages, honestly.
Though, personality wise I do like Eric Wedge, and according to Olney’s twitter, Wedge did pretty well in his interview; I wonder if these two things are related.
@Buster_ESPN: Heard this: Eric Wedge did very, very well in his interview with Seattle Mariners
BrettJMiller - October 15, 2010
I voted for Wedge for what he "might have done" with Cleveland's rebuild.
Scruffy Lefty - October 15, 2010
You wonder if you liking Eric Wedge and him performing well on his interview are related?
abender20 - October 15, 2010
No, if hearing Valentine didn't get the job and Wedge did really really well on the same day are related.
BrettJMiller - October 15, 2010
Could it be the amount of 'control' he has been said to want over roster decisions?
If he wanted a large say in the player moves made by the team, I could see that conflicting with Z’s philosophy.
Limerickx - October 15, 2010
I'm fine with Wedge then.
I think he did a really good job with a rebuilding (low budget) Indians team, and we’re in a sinilar situation (although with a higher budget I think).
Thingray - October 15, 2010
Much higher budget.
Jeff Nusser - October 15, 2010
You mean like Mike Hargrove did about a decade earlier on that rebuild of the Indians?
eponymous_coward - October 15, 2010
So Milton Bradley's on the outs then.
JY - October 15, 2010
Sadface.
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
Well he does suck
Jeff Sullivan - October 15, 2010
Truth is a fucking bitch.
I’m not ready to handle this reality yet.
JY - October 15, 2010
Plus the smile......
And then I realize that was the only good thing that happened. Fuck.
the other side - October 15, 2010
Maybe he can join Mike Sweeney in Philadelphia.
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
Enough so he'll get cut before spring training?
If not, oh, this should be entertaining at some point.
eponymous_coward - October 15, 2010
I hope he still has the shirt.
c_dowley - October 15, 2010
Something to watch on non - Felix days.
the other side - October 15, 2010
well, hopefully, non Felix/non-Pineda days.
eponymous_coward - October 15, 2010
He really does. Such a bummer.
sanford_and_son - October 15, 2010
and because of the picture.
“…I got the heart but not the love
I got the stitches but not the glove
but hey, I’m big in Japan.
I’m big in Japan…”
JY - October 15, 2010
Tom Waits auto-rec.
Eyeball Kid - October 15, 2010
Bobby needs to stop starting off the interview with the joke about fucking the owner's daughter
Trenchtown - October 15, 2010
Sounds like Valentine wanted a good amount of control over the way things were run wherever he went
And since they just got through not having a great relationship with Wakamatsu regarding personnel decisions, my crazy theory is that didn’t sit too well.
OlSalty - October 15, 2010
My crazy theory is the Japanese don’t like him: Clandestine campaign led to Valentine’s demise, Resentment of Valentine’s power factored in downfall. (Articles written by the author of The Meaning of Ichiro, by the way). Apologies if this has already been discussed at length..
HamFighter! - October 15, 2010
Not the Japanese
Most of the people who ousted Bobby from his job in Japan were actually Korean or Zainichi Korean, actually.
Deanna - October 16, 2010
Somewhere in the far-off land of yesterday...
Mariners won’t rush to decision on new manager
JY - October 15, 2010
I have no idea who would be good and I just hope they make an intelligent decision.
ARock - October 15, 2010
I guess this is better than if say they had tried to hire Valentine and he had turned it down.
Personally, I had kind of written 2011 off in terms of contending, so I was content with hiring Bobby V just because he seemed like the most interesting candidate. But if Jack Z and co don’t think he’s the right fit then so be it.
FairWeatherFred - October 15, 2010
M's say no to Gibbons as well
Via Rosenthal
Fuckmikereilly - October 15, 2010
Wedge being the new manager is looking more and more likely.
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
Heard this:
Lots of groans, grunts and “fucking Armstrong!!!!”s in the office.
-Carson- - October 15, 2010
I had a stronger opinion on the fake moustache than I did on Valentine himself so I'm not too broken up about this.
I’d be fine with Wedge.
Eyeball Kid - October 15, 2010
We should totally name Rollie Fingers as pitching coach.
If only to have him make Felix grow a handlebar moustache.
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
Can Felix even grow a moustache?
FairWeatherFred - October 15, 2010
If not I guess he could borrow Bobby V's.
FairWeatherFred - October 15, 2010
He sure can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4HBqFr04g8
Eyeball Kid - October 15, 2010
I love Jarrod Washburn's dumbfounded look in this commercial.
joof - October 15, 2010
I think he might end up with a thinner Pavano
Which is a scary thing.
Drew_D - October 15, 2010
And by scary I assume you mean awesome.
FairWeatherFred - October 15, 2010
I'll check my list of awesome stuff again
Pretty sure rapestache isn’t on there.
Drew_D - October 15, 2010
Well that's weird.
BrettJMiller - October 15, 2010
Wak with less of a tan.
Meh. I guess someone is happy now that enough people have been ritually humiliated for the 2010 debacle.
eponymous_coward - October 15, 2010
Shannon Drayer:
Link
JY - October 15, 2010
Watch them hire some person nobody has even hear of.
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
Welcome Manager Ken Griffey Jr.!
Craig341 - October 15, 2010
This would be the greatest thing ever.
For all the wrong reasons.
katal - October 15, 2010
Milton as bench coach!
MT Olson - October 15, 2010
URGE TO KILL... RISING
Eyeball Kid - October 15, 2010
Don't know if he's right or not, but from Heyman's Twitter:
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
Very likely that he is right..
Heyman is usually the last person to put things on Twitter.
seattlesundevil - October 15, 2010
Hey man.
msb - October 15, 2010
ha. ha. ha.
joey90 - October 15, 2010
.
Now you’re really living
Eyeball Kid - October 15, 2010
oh leave me alone you kno
JY - October 15, 2010
That tweet is just full of emotion!
MFAN - October 15, 2010
Not that it is worth anything, but Eduardo Perez was on 710 the other day and love love loves Wedge.
msb - October 15, 2010
Can't believe we traded Asdrubal Cabrera for him. >:(
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
He can't either. He still snickers about it on BT
msb - October 15, 2010
They should totally get Bavasi to work on BT.
That would be a barrel of laughs
Coach Owens - October 15, 2010
Hmm.
Wedge in?
JLProck - October 15, 2010
Guess I should have read the whole thread.
JLProck - October 15, 2010
I personally don't care who manages
But at this point, the Mariners need something, anything to keep the fan base interested…something to be passionate about.
For that reason, I’m sad they don’t go with Valentine. I don’t want to hear any more casual fans (you know, the ones who shell out cash to go to games, buy some gear, and watch games on TV) get frustrated by the hiring of “another no-name ass clown.”
Having a passionate fan base is pretty important to me. Games are much more fun when the stadium is filled, and/or the fans there are excited to be watching baseball.
HititHere - October 15, 2010
I agree with you, and I'm sure the M's management understands that too.
I have to think they took that into consideration when interviewing candidates, and Bobby V just didn’t have the same vision or something. We can’t really know for sure though, so who knows, but there had to be a reason they went the direction they did.
FairWeatherFred - October 15, 2010
You know what's going to draw fans? Less no-name assclown players.
Sparky Anderson was a very good manager. The Tigers didn’t draw flies when they were bad. Managers cannot turn collections of bad players into good teams, and the M’s problem is they don’t have enough good players right now, and they made serious mistakes in assessing and assembling the talent on the 2010 roster (along with having a tremendous amount of bad luck).
Realistically, Wedge or Valentine is going to have nearly nothing to do with solving that problem in 2011.
eponymous_coward - October 15, 2010
The Mariners do need something.
They need a good baseball team.
ThundaPC - October 15, 2010
The fan base is only going to be interested or passionate about winning baseball games.
Matthew - October 15, 2010
While clearly true
I am still grasping for something, anything that indicates the Mariners might be fun to watch next year.
Bobby V. was at least a small step towards that aim.
HititHere - October 15, 2010
Huh.
I’m looking forward to seeing some combination of Michael Pineda, Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackley, and Dan Cortes along with Ichiro, Felix, Franklin Gutierrez, and even Chone Figgins without the BS associated with 2010.
ThundaPC - October 15, 2010
I get that the team was bad this season, but I hope you aren't blind to the other exciting aspects of this team going into 2011.
Like Thunda stated, there are going to be some exciting players to watch next year. How are the young guys going to develop? Will Ichiro get 200 hits again (Uh, fuck yeah, he will!)? Can Franklin turn in another stellar defensive year? How badly will the team cockpunch the Angels? These are all things you should be excited about.
JLProck - October 16, 2010
This might be worth watching/reading
http://www.letsgotribe.com/2009/10/24/1098670/valentines-sit-down-with-the-media
westbrook - October 15, 2010
Not that it matters now that we get Wedge but I understood that Bobby turned down the Marlins
not vice versa:
Schuxu - October 15, 2010
Link lost
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/10/14/valentine.marlins/index.html
Schuxu - October 15, 2010
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