Woulda liked him for the Mets, but we should be able to figure something else out. Maybe it would have been too much drama anyway.

Good hire for Milwaukee.

Paging Harveys... Yea or nay?

I expect Wauwatosa or Racine can expect a new restaurant soon, with management straight from Connecticut.

UPDATE...Brewers GM Doug Melvin just said, through PR man Mike Vassallo, that there is no agreement in principle with Bobby Valentine to be manager.

I would like this hire if it goes through but I doubt it will. I normally wouldn't care about getting a somewhat colorful guy to be manager but Macha was just so boring and generic that any contrast would be welcome.

It looks like BV has finally learned to shut up during the negotiation process.

Wow, great get for the Brew Crew. Now if only management could give him any kind of bullpen.

Perhaps the holdup is Bobby insisting on his idea for the new Milwaukee hat design.

I really wanted the Yankees to get this guy. A lot.

Post a story when he signs, not one of these "working on a deal with Florida/Toronto/Milwaukee/Mets" that we get every week. If he ever does.

Can someone explain what is so great about Bobby Valentine? I see a 15 year managerial career in the majors without a first place finish. Four second place finishes and a pennant with the Mets in 2000. His greatness doesn't jump off the page.

I'm not saying he's _bad_ necessarily, but is there any justification for the hype? And lately he's been more bridesmaid than bride - always rumored to be the next manager of X team, but never actually proposed to by any of them.

I know he's on tv as an analyst. Does he say intelligent (unscripted) things? What were his tenures in Texas and New York like, for those who followed those teams? Did he show any particular strengths?

Did he show any particular strengths?

Yes. He's not Ken Macha or Ned Yost. Sometimes that's enough.

#11 One thing I find striking about his run in Texas. He inherited a staff with pretty decent control (5th fewest walks) and then ran out staffs that walked more people than everybody every year but 1990.

(And that Tiger walks crown is tainted. They allowed 38 more walks, but had 47 more intentional walks. Of course the Rangers had 14 more innings -- even so, if you're going to dethrone the champ you shouldn't do it the cheap way.)

I find it striking that he never managed to fully address the issue. Extreme weaknesses are usually the easiest to address. As I understand it, Tom House was his choice as pitching coach and of course House should get a heavy share of the blame. Still, no manager is ever truly blameless in issues of roster construction. It takes effort to lead the league in walks every year.

He was also the manager who missed (for two months) that a very promising young pitcher (Ed Correa) had a broken arm (well hairline fracture in his pitching arm). Correa never recovered from that.

I know he's on tv as an analyst. Does he say intelligent (unscripted) things? What were his tenures in Texas and New York like, for those who followed those teams? Did he show any particular strengths?

Valentine has a near-perfect knowledge of baseball rules and an excellent mind for aggressive strategy. He runs tight, efficient practice sessions and doesn't have arbitrary rules about stupid things like dress code or hair length. He is hands-on with his players in practice. He doesn't put stock in traditional baseball wisdom (in Japan, he was absolutely blasted for staying away from the sacrifice bunt). He'll work incredibly hard to promote his team. He works well with young players.

The huge problem with Valentine is that he's hard to get along with and he has a big mouth. A lot of stars don't like to work for an aggressive manager. He demands a lot of control over his team. That works better in Japan than in the US, culturally, I'd suspect.

He's the spitting image of Charlie Dressen

I've always thought he looked like a mix between Tony Danza and Alan Thicke. He should have had a show on ABC during that incredible Growing Pains/Who's The Boss? run.

The huge problem with Valentine is that he's hard to get along with and he has a big mouth. A lot of stars don't like to work for an aggressive manager. He demands a lot of control over his team. That works better in Japan than in the US, culturally, I'd suspect.

Valentine was constantly arguing with upper management (which is generally frowned upon in Japan) and he dragged their arguments into the press (which is really frowned upon in Japan). They didn't mind him bossing the players around, but he really screwed up the wa.

The fans loved him, though.

He's the spitting image of Charlie Dressen
Nice!

What were his tenures in Texas and New York like, for those who followed those teams?

It's awhile ago now, and Valentine's style may have changed since he was in Arlington. But he had good points and bad points. He was given an enormous amount of young talent – the Rangers farm, scouts, draft and Latin FA signings in those years were just incredibly good – and the results were mild, only barely above .500 at best. He talked a very good show and was a lightning rod for attention. He wrote a decent lineup card, and he and his coaches (Tom House in particular) were known as good teachers. One thing that used to strike me is that the Valentine Rangers didn't seem real attentive on the field. Somebody'd come up with runners on, and Steve Buechele would play well back third, Scott Fletcher would play in on the grass, Jerry Browne would be picking up pebbles at second, and Pete O'Brien would be looking at some dame in the stands. You never really got the sense that Valentine was intently interested in managing the game once it started.

On the personal level, it's just an impression, but I used to get the sense that V was looking to show his young players what they couldn't do. The prime example is playing Pete Incaviglia in center field. Inky has a lot of confidence in himself, and it almost seemed like Valentine would put him in situations he couldn't handle in order to take him down a peg. He'd handle Bobby Witt in similar ways, setting him up to fail, almost. Valentine might have gotten mellower in that regard after he went to the Mets; in fact I assume he did, because he had more success there. Valentine himself was a young, cocky junior superstar who could do anything: until an injury prevented him from doing much of anything on the field anymore. I don't know how that might have affected him longterm.

As to why he keeps getting hired and getting into hiring discussions, he's extremely well-connected. Dodger-organization guy, hail-fellow-well-met (I've never met Valentine, but mutual friends tell me he's honestly a great guy). Ralph Branca's son-in-law. These things still go a long way.