Girls love the Youk ‘cause it causes crazy friction.
Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine placed the onus for his strained relationship with Kevin Youkilis on the former Sox infielder Sunday morning.
“I think the comment I made early, he made a big issue out of, and I don’t think he ever wanted to get over it,’’ Valentine said in response to a question about Youkilis, who will return to Fenway Park on Monday as a member of the Chicago White Sox, the team to which he was traded on June 24.
Valentine was alluding to a comment he made to WHDH-TV’s Joe Amorosino on April 15. “I don’t think he’s as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past for some reason,” Valentine said…
Valentine strongly disputed that he had any problem with Youkilis in spring training, though he acknowledged he was aware that some teammates had issues with Youkilis.
“Yeah, I was aware of that,’’ Valentine said.
Did he have concerns that it could morph into a bigger problem?
“Don’t know,’’ he said. “What’d you think? I inherited that situation. I didn’t cause it.’’
When asked in April by ESPN Boston if pitcher Josh Beckett had accused him of being a “snitch”—being the source of the “fried chicken and beer” expose in the Boston Globe—Youkilis didn’t deny it.
“There were tons of things going around where guys had questions,” Youkilis said.
Valentine, asked if he was aware that Youkilis had been accused of being a snitch, gave a vague response.
“I don’t know if I heard any of that stuff,’’ he said…
Asked if he was surprised that Youkilis appeared healthier [since the trade], Valentine said: “Not surprised. As a matter of fact, Maggs (hitting coach Dave Magadan) said he had no doubt if [Youkilis] went somewhere else he’d play better.’’
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. Swedish Chef Posted: July 15, 2012 at 03:22 PM (#4183170)Doesn't Beckett come across worse than either of them?
Considering that while Bobby V. was going down this path, Youk instead went with this tack, I'm going to go ahead and agree with Jose.
Just shut up, Bobby.
In general, or did he do something specific recently?
But this isn't helping.
The effort to track down who may have outted his bad behavior. Doesn't seem like he was accepting responsibility, and/or was dividing the clubhouse by revisiting the issue. Not exactly turning the page on what might be best put behind them.
Boston clubhouse in turmoil!
Bobby V right in the middle, stirring the pot!
Sun rising in the East, setting in the West!
Film at 11.
About 50-50 - the same as the odds that the Red Sox are still in contention in September.
That brief slump bracketed the hamstring injury which forced him out of the lineup for several games prior to the All-Star break.
That's a clown tag, bro.
Yeah, but in today's world they all have a limo service on speed dial.
That's fantastic.
Thread over
Romney and Obama should be doing everything possible to get Bobby to work on the presidential campaign -- for the other side.
Josh Beckett as detective? They should make a show out of it, with Josh Beckett in a Sherlock Holmes outfit hunting the mole.
Yes, but he looks like an ugly circus freak. People can relate.
Maybe the best $10 up-charge you'll pay on any given trip, my friend.
Who among Red Sox regulars had never played in MLB for any other manager but Francona prior to this season?
Youkilis
Pedroia
Lester
Buchholz
Bard
Ellsbury
Matsuzaka
Ellsbury and Matsuzaka have been out pretty much the whole season, so let's set them aside for a moment. (Matsuzaka, is also a special case, as he played at the top level of NPB for many years.) Of the others in that list, how many of them had been underperforming this season with the Red Sox?
ZiPS Actual Player
124 84 Youkilis
118 92 Pedroia
127 96 Lester
122 78 Buchholz
145* 82 Bard
For hitters, stat shown is OPS+; for pitchers, ERA+.
ZiPS is preseason, from Szymborski. Actual is as of today, from B-Ref.
* As reliever.
Other players have also been underperforming, Gonzalez most notably. And the team has had an insane amount of injuries. But until now it hadn't occurred to me that the only-for-Francona players have, individually and as a group, fallen apart this year. To me underperformance had simply been a large subset of the 2011 team.
Is it Valentine? Yes and no. Other players - those who have played elsewhere, or are playing a more prominent role than they had in the past with Francona - are generally doing fine under Valentine. So it can't simply be Valentine himself. However, the players who came in under Francona appear to be struggling with the transition, and Valentine hasn't found a way to solve it yet. (Bard has had other transitions this year, so that could be an even greater factor for him.)
Maybe these players' heads are still stuck in 2011, and they feel bad for having precipitated Francona's departure (either because they behaved poorly, or because they leaked stuff to the media that contributed to Francona's departure). Maybe they don't like Valentine's style. Maybe, while sunk in a deep depression fueled by beer and chicken, they didn't prepare in the offseason and are paying for it now. Or maybe it's a grand coincidence that all the Francona-only regulars are tanking with Boston this year. I don't know.
Anyway, I found it interesting.
Applause.
I guess this means Pedroia is expendable.
You guys think Alderson would give up Mike Baxter and Pedro Beato for him?
Ciriaco's 3 for 3 day on Friday was exhibit A for the idea that there is a certain amount of luck involved in one's batting average. His hits were a 38-hopper over the bag at second, a pop fly that fell between three fielders, and a ball he pounded into the turf that took a high bounce on its way to the third baseman. Three poorly struck balls, three hits.
Now, if only he had some sort of lingering injury that could be expected to take him out of the lineup at some point in the next few weeks, we could feel really good about moving Pedroia.
Youkilis has a .400 OBP with three homers and 15 ribbies in 16 games with the White Sox.
Also, Bobby Valentine has been informed that his comments in no way reflect the opinions or positions of the Red Sox; and, because he is perceived as a representative of the Red Sox, he was asked to refrain from any further public comments about anything.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main