To nearly every soul in Red Sox Nation, the Bobby Valentine era was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, with the Red Sox having their worst season in years. Valentine, now the athletic director at Sacred Heart University, managed to alienate players, fans, and media alike before being dumped for John Farrell. Farrell, of course, would lead the Red Sox to a World Series win in his first season. With the Sox now struggling mightily again, Valentine sees an opportunity.
"I'm not saying that John Farrell should be fired," said Valentine, after a morning that consisted of teaching a gourmet cooking class, riding 150 miles on his bicycle, solving a neighboring couple's marriage problems, fixing Obamacare, and learning an obscure Chinese dialect, "but it does seem that he has lost the momentum that I built for the team. It's widely accepted that I put the 2013 team in place, Farrell just ran it on auto pilot. That said, if the Red Sox decide they want the architect of their success back on the job, I am willing to listen."
When higher management on the Red Sox was apprised of Valentine's comments, the replies were confusing. "Well, Larry really hired Bobby, so ask him," said Ben Cherington. "Tom Werner forced us to hire Bobby," replied Larry Lucchino, "he's the guy to talk to." "Bobby was entirely Ben's idea," Werner said. "Talk to him." John Henry, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said "All three of those knuckleheads are to blame, I just sign the checks."
