Boston Red Sox: 5 Changes Bobby Valentine Must Make to Keep Pressure off

It's unfair to blame Bobby V for the Red Sox struggles this early on in the season. However, teams don't have very much leeway in the hyper-competitive AL East, where the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox always seem to be close at the top.

Keep in mind that the Red Sox lost their first six games to start the 2011 season and had a very subpar month of April—so this team has been here before.

Even so, Bobby V could be on the hot seat if the Red Sox don't turn things around in the coming months.

Here are five ideas Valentine should chew on as he tries to get the Red Sox back to prominence in the AL East.

1. Stop Second-Guessing

The “woulda-shoulda-coulda” attitude simply does not work in sports. This becomes especially true for a Red Sox fanbase that just saw their team choke away a playoff spot in a historic September collapse a season ago.

Admittedly, Bobby V isn’t instilling much confidence in himself from the fans' perspective if he is already second-guessing himself this early in the season.

Bobby V admitted that he should have brought in Matt Albers to replace left-hander Justin Thomas with the bases loaded and nobody out against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Obviously, when you think “bases loaded, nobody out” you can assume that the team in that situation is going to score some runs. Nevertheless, Valentine second-guessing his decisions this early has fans thinking that he has to knock some of the managerial rust off, which is not a good sign.

We’ll call this an early bump in the road. Valentine has a great baseball mind; I don’t expect him to second-guess himself much from here on out, but he needs to trust his gut.

2. Stay Positive

Negative energy is what sank the Red Sox in 2011. The underlying thought last season, that they may blow their lead in the division and the wild card I think got to them mentally, and they crumbled.

Bobby V can’t let this happen again.

The Red Sox lost their first six games to start the 2011 season, and while the start to 2012 isn’t much better, the 2011 team stormed back—I expect this year’s team to follow suit.

3. Let Players Settle in

After scoring just two runs in the first two games against the Detroit Tigers, Bobby V decided to mix up the batting order.

The move made Valentine look like he had Marty McFly’s sports almanac from the future. The Red Sox finished the game with 12 runs on 18 hits, but once again failed to get the win because of their atrocious bullpen woes.

While the move worked to light a fire under the stagnant lineup, I think Bobby V just has to believe in the staying power of struggling players.

Kevin Youkilis is not going to bat .100 for the season, it just will not happen. Cody Ross and Jacoby Ellsbury have also struggled to start the year, but you can’t expect everyone in the lineup to play well out of the gates.

A great deal of success in baseball comes from riding hot streaks, if Bobby V lets the players settle into their roles, there will plenty of those to go around.

4. Move Bard Back to the Pen

Some people may disagree with this idea, but hear me out.

Right now, Daniel Bard is the Red Sox fifth starter. He struggled in his first start giving up five earned runs in five innings pitched. Despite his early struggles as a starting pitcher, Bard has proven to be an elite talent out of the bullpen.

Would I rather have Bard going out there every fifth day, or have him available for three or four games out of five? If you ask me, I think he belongs in the pen for a couple of reasons.

A.)  The injury to Andrew Bailey.

If the Sox still had Bailey at their disposal, keeping Bard in the rotation to work out the kinks would make sense. However, Bailey’s thumb surgery may have him on the shelf until the All-Star break, and that’s a long time to struggle with a man down in the pen.

B.)  The Red Sox bullpen has struggled mightily to start the season.

Alfredo Aceves, with a blown save in two chances and an ERA at 27.00, has had a rough start. New addition Mark Melancon’s troubles have been worse, with a blown save, an 0-2 record and an ERA of 36.00.

I think it makes the most sense to move Bard back to the pen, maybe not as the closer, but at least to replace the tough loss of Bailey.

Vicente Padilla has looked very good so far this season and would be a more than adequate fifth starter.

Bottom line, I want Bard being a lockdown setup man three days out of the week, instead of a mediocre starter one day out of the week.

5. Show Patience

The start to the season has not been easy on the Red Sox. I'm sure it feels like I'm beating a dead horse, but it's true.

Their past woes from last season will follow them until they turn it around, which is why Bobby V has to stay patient.

Ironic that I’m saying this after suggesting moving Bard back to the bullpen, but outside of that one move, I don’t think there’s much that Valentine can fix.

Baseball is a game of hot streaks and cold streaks. I think that when the weather starts to warm up a little more, so will the Red Sox dormant bats.

I would love to see Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez grow into the leadership roles on this team and lead the charge moving forward. Thus taking some of the pressure off of their manager.

The Red Sox have had an ugly start, but even in the opening series against the Tigers, they were highly competitive in two out of the three games.

If Valentine shows patience with his club, I don’t see any reason why this team can’t turn their fortunes around.