Valentine's Day for Red Sox?

It is being widely reported that Bobby Valentine will meet with the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox, Ben Cherington, today to discuss the managerial vacancy at Fenway.

It seems a bit unfortunate that Cherington is the last of the front office to interview Valentine; considering the fact that he has already met with Henry, Warner and Lucchino. This meeting seems arbitrary, with the assumption that the job is already Valentines and the meeting with Cherington looks to be for appearances.

This is the same goofy Bobby Valentine that was ejected from a Mets game, only to come back into the dugout in disguise in order to try and be a part of the rest of the game. No, he will never live that down.

This is the same Bobby Valentine that was fired by the Mets in 2002 after finishing 75-86 with a star studded team that included future Hall of Fame member Roberto Alomar, along side stars Mike Piazza, Mo Vaughn and Jeremy Burnitz. This was a team whose chief problem was laziness and motivation. That sounds awfully familiar Sox fans, doesn't it?

It is no secret that Bobby Valentine is a Larry Lucchino guy. Valentine has gone on record to say that his relationship with Lucchino is so, he would consider calling him a friend. That sounds awfully convenient to me. It also sounds like Cherington was set up to fail in his search for a new manager for the club.

I don't want to spend the entire article bashing Valentine. Obviously there is some merit to him being considered for the position, even if I'm not particularly fond of the idea.

Valentine did see significant success with the New York Mets in 1999 and 2000. Both seasons he managed the team to over 90 wins (97 in '99, 94 in '00) and made it to the World Series in 2000. He was a very good manager for the Mets in 1997 and 1998, recording 88 wins each of those seasons after taking over the club in 1996. His progress was significant, until the World Series loss, the team seemed to just slip away from him.

While many consider him to be a system guy that can relate to players, I seem him as a .500 manager. In fact, he only posts a .510 winning percentage in his 15 years managing in Major League Baseball.

Bringing Valentine in is, in my mind, a short term solution. The man is 61 and by just looking at his numbers, a decent manager. This is not a long-term solution by any means.

Perhaps the Red Sox are bringing in a guy like Valentine because they know what to expect from him. Perhaps this is just a move to keep the seat warm for a full-court press at Joe Maddon (whose contract is up after 2012) OR John Farrell, when he becomes available.

I have no idea what the brass is thinking here. What I do know is that the fan base is starting to get restless and are certainly tired of the beloved Red Sox being a laughing stock in the eyes of the rest of the league. Enough toying around, let's start getting some business done.