As the Bobby V world turns…
Of all of the things I thought I’d find on the Boston Globe website today, the last thing I thought I’d find was an article defending Valentine’s actions from Sunday night. Looking back at it now, I was clearly being naive. Interestingly enough, troll-in-chief Dan Shaughnessy wasn’t the henchman criticizing the team. Instead it was his deputy, Tony Massarotti.
To be fair, Mazz’s intended message rings pretty true: Valentine needs to be given the space to manage the team as he sees fit. Sadly, his reasoning doesn’t match up with his hypothesis, which results in the article being a muddled, convoluted mess–and that’s really the point. There isn’t any way to rationally make his argument, but that doesn’t stop him from trying.
“Time heals all wounds, or so we have been told, but here’s the real problem with the 2012 Red Sox: whether it was Terry Francona last September or Valentine now, the manager doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Players undercut him then and they’re undercutting him now. (Shame on them for this.) The only people who wanted Valentine here at all are the people on the highest levels of the organization, who presumably brought Valentine here on a two-year contract to shake things up, only to see him castrated by his clubhouse the first time he spoke up.”
Castrated? Really?
While I see Mazz’s point, it’s almost impossible to take his side. Mazz was one of the media members most critical of the Red Sox in the wake of the so-called chicken and beer scandal last fall. He called out the management for not intervening; the starting pitching staff for partaking in a ritual that was so disgusting it dried up the reservoir of good karma the team had built up; and certain players (like Pedroia, David Ortiz, and Jason Varitek) for not assuming the appropriate levels of leadership as the team went down in flames. Now, six months later, Mazz is doing it again. This time, though, he’s criticizing the club for doing exactly what he thought they should have done last fall.
Dustin Pedroia did exactly what he need to do and should have done. He saw a teammate who was unfairly criticized, and stood up for him. Had those comments been made by a teammate, the opposing team, or a member of the media; Mazz would be championing Pedroia for assuming the role of de facto team captain. We’d be reading glowing reviews about the scrappy second sacker’s maturity and intangible importance on this year’s club. They’d be so sappy and sticky sweet with saccharine, we’d all be sick to our stomachs. (How’s that for alliteration?)
So why is there a distinction this time? Bobby V made a mistake–a huge one. Just as Ozzie Guillen was held accountable for making questionable pro-Castro comments in an interview a couple of weeks ago, Valentine deserves similar treatment for his remarks. While I’m neither saying the two remarks are on the same plane (they most certainly are not), nor that he should be suspended for five games; someone needed to let him know that this kind of behavior isn’t acceptable on the Boston Red Sox–not from players, managers, or the front office. Pedroia and GM Ben Cherington did exactly that by publicly coming out and questioning the origin of Valentine’s comments. They could have fallen silent, and allowed the situation repeat itself down the line unchecked. They didn’t. They faced it head on.
To play devil’s advocate…Could the Red Sox have dealt with the situation privately? Perhaps, but then Mazz and his compatriots would have complained about something else entirely. Instead, they’d question Red Sox management for not reprimanding Valentine for his inappropriate comments; thus recreating the three-ring circus atmosphere from last fall. They’d cry that leadership was lacking from both the front office and clubhouse, and that the franchise hadn’t learned from last fall’s mistakes. They’d argue the club was doomed to fail.
The point I’m trying to make is that the Red Sox will never win with guys like Mazz. Regardless of Valentine’s intentions, his comments about Youkilis were both inappropriate and wrong. While the Red Sox hired Valentine to shake things up around the clubhouse, I doubt they envisioned him making absurd claims about a player’s physical and emotional investment after a handful of games. After Francona lost the clubhouse last season, it’s incredibly important for Red Sox players to feel they can rally behind their manager. Right now, all the manager is doing is getting his players to question their trust in him. Seriously. How can a player trust his manager if said person is publicly insulting him and airing his dirty laundry all over town? He can’t, and therein lies the problem.
Mazz can complain that the comments made by Pedroia and Cherington turned Valentine into a eunuch, but that doesn’t make it true. Instead, they were calling out the schoolyard bully in hopes he’d back off a little bit. I, for one, found their actions to be refreshing. Hopefully, Valentine will give pause to think the next time he’s speaking publicly. I’m not asking him to change who is. I’m only expressing hope he learns a valuable lesson: discretion is the better part of valor.