“I know it’s simplistic, but I think the day and age of managing 25 players as one unit are over,” Schilling said. “The manager’s impact of wins and losses I think has changed more in baseball than any professional sport. I think they have very little to do with the 9 innings and 3 hours of game play each night. I think their jobs have become, I’d say babysitting, but I think their jobs have become managing personnel. And Bobby is a guy that is interested in trying to making you understand how much he knows about the game.”
Schilling said he thinks Valentine micromanages and relies on the rigid structure of the game in Japan, where he managed the Chiba Lotte Marines to the 2005 Pacific League championship, and that while his baseball IQ is high, that approach won’t work in the Red Sox clubhouse or the Boston market.
“There’s way more structure and discipline in Japan (where Valentine last managed) than there is in the United States. It’s not even close,” Schilling said. “And that to me is a big deal. Over here, one of the reasons (former Red Sox manager) Terry (Francona) was able to do what he did was because he didn’t worry about the little stuff. And Bobby’s entire life is caught up in the little stuff. Micromanaging bunt drills, I don’t think that’s a problem. I don’t think that was ever a problem here to begin with.”
Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia believes Schilling has a right to his opinion. He also believes Schilling is flat-out wrong.
“I think Bobby’s brought a lot of good things into this team,” he said. “We’re working on our game more than we did—hit-and-run, stealing. We’re doing a lot of things we haven’t done in the past. It can’t be anything but good.
“Is he different than Tito (Francona)? Yeah. He’s not Tito. I thought Tito was awesome—more of a quiet approach—but I think Bobby has done a great job of keeping the guys loose, keeping the heat off us and kind of putting it on himself.”
Tripon
Posted: April 03, 2012 at 12:40 AM |
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1. Double-Spin Mechanic Posted: April 03, 2012 at 10:48 AM (#4095356)"Do what he did" means miss the playoffs twice in a row with obviously playoff-caliber talent, right? So, Curt is exactly right. Ignoring details and letting players do their thing is how he did what he did.
Troll alert! Please close thread!
in response to comments from his wife about his inability to let go of losses
Those two lines are the entirety of Bobby Valentine's comments in an article entitled "Bobby Valentine Fires Back." Define things however you want, I don't think I'd call that "firing back."
Couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, the last 6 months has been Yankee schadenfreude heaven. Watched the "Game 162" on ESPN last night. Also good fun.
As great as this offseason has been, however, I'm still ready for this season to begin. Between the Masters and Baseball, should be a great sports weekend.
I guess it's not surprising that Curt Schilling would say this, but this has to be about the dumbest thing he's ever said, and he's said a lot of dumb things.
And I *LIKE* Curt Schilling.
I was wondering if there was any examples of Bobby V firing back, since the excerpt was entirely about Curt firing again.
It's half dumb. Managing personnel is the key element of managing a baseball team. But I'd guess that's it's always been that way. It hasn't changed from something else.
Well, at one point, it was selecting personnel, since managers used to basically control the roster. But, that's a long time ago.
I think it was keep the 10 guys who hate you away from the 15 that haven't made up their mind.
Sure, but that's not really what Curt was talking about. He was suggesting that the manager previously had a lot to do in the nine innings while the game was ongoing. Other than perhaps the 19th century game into the deadball era, that really has never been true. Managers can make moves, but those decisions generally range from mildly counterproductive to mildly productive and have little overall bearing on team success (they do, however, have an oversized bearing on how stupid fans think their team's skipper is).
Agreed. I was just saying that there was a change at one point. Guys like McGraw and Mack and McCarthy are probably HoFers b/c of talent evaluation skills not being good people managers.
Fixed.
And Schilling would know, with all his years spent in Japan.
I think it was keep the 10 guys who hate you away from the 15 that haven't made up their mind.
I thought it was: "Keep the half of the team that hates you away from the half who hadn't made up their minds."
I'm with Dan too. Schilling sounds like a third grader who recently realized that people will laugh if he yells out "poop" during a math test.
To be fair I just laughed when I read your comment.
If only this had been Valentine's response to Schilling's comments.
1/10th of one second.
Shut up Curt.
I pretty much agree with everything Greg (U)K said.
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