Bobby Valentine To Manage Red Sox: 10 Ways He'll Differ from Terry Francona

It's been over two full months since Jonathan Papelbon walked off the mound in Camden Yards a loser on the final night of the 2011 regular season. 

Papelbon is long gone, off to Philadelphia and 50 million dollars. The manager position has been open for nearly two months as well. Not anymore though. 

Finally after an exhausting search in which Red Sox management came under fire numerous times, 61-year-old Bobby Valentine is poised to become the 45th manager of the Boston Red Sox. 

Rarely has a Red Sox manager assumed the job with such big shoes to fill. Even though Terry Francona left in the aftermath of disastrous collapse he also left behind not one—but two World Series Titles. An 8-0 World Series win-loss record, five playoff births in eight seasons and in spite of that collapse a fairly good reputation amongst the Fenway faithful. 

Bobby Valentine might be the right man for the job. His style will contrast sharply with that of his predecessor. Here are some of the ways it does. 

The Spotlight

In the time that Terry Francona managed in Boston he was generally soft spoken, especially when publicly discussing himself or his players. 

One could say that Francona was a modern day player's manager. Francona wasn't too prone to any sort of self-congragulatory statements either. If Francona thought he was a great manager he was unlikely to voice that to the media. He wasn't self-depricating but he wasn't self-promoting either. 

Bobby Valentine will provide a bit of a switch in this arena. Valentine is a great baseball mind. How do we know this? Simple, he's likely to tell you if given the opportunity. 

Valentine is known for being somewhat opinionated in not just his managing career but in his television commentary as well. 

For a Red Sox team whose most recent managers include the stoic Francona, the downright quiet and hokey Grady Little and the scripted Jimmy Williams, who seemed to always talk about how the Red Sox "went out and competed", Bobby Valentine will represent a dramatic shift. 

Calling People out

If you're a player in the Red Sox clubhouse who has grown used to your manager always covering for you with the press or a Red Sox executive who bristles at the thought of your manager voicing his displeasure with internal administrative decisions then Bobby Valentine's arrival may be a cause for concern. 

That's because Bobby Valentine isn't in the business of taking too many bullets for people. If a player messes up he's going to hear about it. He might even get hung out to dry in the postgame press conference. Valentine doesn't always make friends this way but the job has more to it than just being popular. 

If you're in the front office then you've got limited cover as well. Valentine openly clashed with former Mets general manager Steve Phillips and Valentine also got into hot water when in the year 2000 he accepted an invitation to speak to small group at the Wharton School of Business.

While lecturing the students Valentine revealed his feelings on a number of Mets players as well as on some of the other front office decisions. This isn't the type of thing that Terry Francona would ever do—but he's not there anymore and Bobby V is. 

Pitchers

The Boston Red Sox have had their fair share of pitching issues over the past few seasons. It's always felt as if the Red Sox pitching staff was fragile. Injuries, fatigue, inconsistency have all wreaked havoc on the outcome of the past several seasons. 

Can Bobby V. fix that? 

It's unknown of course but Valentine got some solid performances from pitchers with less raw talent than many of the current Red Sox back in his Mets days. Rick Reed, Bobby Jones, not exactly the first names one thinks of when referring to World Series Caliber pitchers. Yet that's exactly what they were in the year 2000. 

Valentine's teams always seemed a bit tougher and more resilient than overwhelmingly talented. Contrast that with the recent Red Sox teams that don't lack for talent but do seem to lack for toughness. 

The Japan Factor

Daisuke Matsuzaka has been a pretty big bust in his days as a member of the Boston Red Sox. That's not going to change. Especially not with Matsuzaka expected to be on the disabled list until July or August of 2012. 

When Dice-K steps back onto the mound for the Red Sox next summer it will be with a vastly different team than the one he left behind last summer. The biggest change? His manager won't be Terry Francona. 

We don't know whether the two men had a good, bad or indifferent relationship. We do know that Dice-K didn't come close to meeting expectations while a member of the Red Sox. His new manager might not be an easy going guy but he's a guy with as solid an understanding of Japanese baseball and the cultural nuances that go with it as any American-Born baseball professional. 

Bobby Valentine has spent six seasons managing in Japan. He's had some good and not-so-good results but he's respected for his baseball knowledge and understanding in Japan and that might prove to be big asset when it comes to handling Daisuke Matsuzaka. 

It doesn't end with Dice-K, though. Yu Darvish could be one of the top free-agent pitchers on the market this offseason if he is posted and made available to Major League Teams. Without Bobby V managing, the Red Sox would have been one of the least likely suitors for Darvish but Valentine's presence changes things. 

Now Darvish could come to the United States and still play for someone who has managed in the Japanese Professional leagues. The Red Sox could rationalize another pricey investment in a Japanese pitcher to a rightfully skeptical fanbase by pointing to Valentine's experience, as well. It would be risky and it wouldn't be cheap but Valentine makes it possible, and if it worked, the Red Sox, as well as Valentine, would end up looking pretty good. 

Behind the Scenes

Without knowing for certain it's probably a safe bet that the Boston Red Sox clubhouse will have a decidedly different feel in 2012. 

It's not that the rumors of drinking and take-out food in the summer and fall of 2011 were the reasons for the Red Sox collapse. It doesn't look good though. In fact it looked really bad. People were outraged. Even if you think the outrage may have been an over-reaction, nearly everyone can agree that in the face of an epic collapse, tales of booze and fried chicken are not good things for a team's image. 

With that being the case, it's a safe bet that Bobby Valentine will bring a modicum of intensity, and when needed, discipline to the Boston Red Sox clubhouse. 

Maybe the Mets clubhouse was a hotbed of chaos back in the late 1990s? It doesn't matter anymore though. That's because Valentine is smart enough to realize that he's stepping into a bit of an inferno. The pressure has already started and unlike a manager with a more reserved personality or less experience, there will be almost no honeymoon period for Valentine. 

As soon as his first press conference starts sometime tomorrow it's a safe bet that some of the first questions he gets asked will be in reference to the rumors of clubhouse drinking and a lack of discipline. Valentine is going to run a tight ship and those that don't fall in line could end up on the outside looking in. 

Exepct the Unexpected

Bobby Valentine has one of those personalities. He can be combative, argumentative, arrogant. He's not going to win a "Mr. Popularity" contest. Valentine is also known for an occasional outburst and even has a bit of a rebellious streak. 

He's going to say some things that will get him in trouble, he'll get kicked out of a few games, he might even get kicked out and sneak back into the dugout wearing a fake moustache as he did back in the summer of 1999. Through it all, his on-the-field results will ultimately determine whether he ends up as a hero or goat in Boston. 

The Bill Parcells Factor

''They want you to cook the dinner, at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries,''

That was the key quote from the press conference when Bill Parcells left the Patriots following a loss in Super Bowl XXXI to the Green Bay Packers. 

Bobby Valentine has been known to complain when not pleased with the "groceries" as well. In New York he feuded with general manager Steve Phillips over numerous moves. 

Phillips had his own issues with Valentine so it's unlikely that Ben Cherington will fire three of Valentine's coaches without consulting Valentine as Phillips did during the 1999 season. Still Valentine likes control—over both the clubhouse and the people who are in the clubhouse.

This was never a big issue for Terry Francona. If it was then Francona never voiced any public displeasure with it. Valentine isn't the soft-spoken Francona though.  

It will be Bobby V's world inside Fenway Park but he won't have total control over who gets inside and that could be an issue. 

Manny Won't Be Manny

Manny Ramirez is long removed from the Boston Red Sox roster and clubhouse. His once sure fire first ballot Hall of Fame career has imploded in a slew of positive steroid tests and shameful off-the-field domestic assault charges. 

In his hey days in Boston, like him or not, Manny Ramirez was a critical cog of the 2004 and 2007 World Series Champion Teams. The MVP of the 2004 Series was a highly combustible and inconsistent teammate. 

Terry Francona had his own unique method for dealing with Ramirez. He allowed him to express his individual quirks while operating outside the standard set of rules for other teammates. 

Manny isn't there anymore but any player on the current Red Sox roster or anyone acquired this offseason should probably not expect any special treatment a-la Manny Ramirez. 

Bobby Valentine isn't known for bending rules to appease players, regardless of their prodigious talent or performance. Manny Ramirez is gone and there won't be anyone like him on a Red Sox roster in the near future. 

We're Going To Learn More About the Red Sox

When it all crashed down on the night of September 28th, 2011 most members of Red Sox Nation were saddened and confused. 

How could this team implode? What went wrong? 

Then it all started to come out. All those anonymous sources and all those rumors. With Valentine at the helm, the Red Sox will have someone who will call out his players when they make mistakes but also defend them with vigor when he feels they're being treated unfairly. Gone will be the muted diplomacy of Terry Francona and in its place will be the brash and outspoken Bobby Valentine. 

That might ruffle some feathers and it may also inspire fierce loyalty as well. 

Terry Francona was thought to be a "player's" manager but when things went bad his own players offered up tepid defense of his at best. Was that what Francona deserved? We don't really know, but with Valentine there, he's going to have his allies and he's going to have his enemies as well. 

The odds are we're going to know who those people are along the way too. 

The Experience Factor

Bobby Valentine has worked for George W. Bush in Texas. The Wilpons in New York City, a temperamental ownership group in Japan and the ESPN brass as well. 

With all the attention being paid to his ability to deal with the John Henry group it's easy to forget what this guy has already dealt with in his life. In seven-and-a-half seasons in Texas he dealt with numerous pitfalls including George Bush's purchase of the team and the subsequent controversial campaign to get a new stadium built using public as opposed to private funds. 

In New York Valentine stepped right into the inferno that was the Mets-Yankees rivalry and didn't just navigate it, but seemed to enjoy it. There was no managerial option out there that the Red Sox could have hired with a greater existing disdain for the New York Yankees and a greater desire to impact that team's legacy in a negative way. 

In Japan American imports are met with a degree of skepticism. Valentine was no exception but he turned that skepticism into admiration by winning and inspired a fairy unique degree of popularity for an American player or manager. He even managed to secure a number of endorsement deals in Japan. 

ESPN itself is known as a somewhat combustible television station to work at. They have their own rules regarding strong personalities and have had clashes with Keith Olberman, Dan Patrick, and other less well known former employees. In spite of this Valentine seemed to flourish in Bristol and was well received on baseball broadcasts the past few seasons. 

In the end the formula for success in Boston is really quite simple. If Valentine wins then he will be popular in Boston. If the Red Sox are on the outside looking in on baseball's postseason or are the victims of quick postseason exits then Valentine will have no shortage of critics. That standard would have applied to anyone - it applied to Francona who missed the postseason in both of his final two seasons in Boston and is now a front runner to replace Valentine as an in studio analyst at ESPN.