Bobby Valentine Calls Red Sox Tenure a ‘Blip’ in Career, Says No One Could Have Managed 2012 Team Better

Bobby Valentine is probably the last guy who would argue that Major League Baseball managers aren’t influential to the outcomes of games. But that’s what it sounds like he’s implying when he says nobody could have resurrected last year’s 69-93 Red Sox. Valentine is starting a new job this week as the athletic director at Sacred Heart University, and that has included taking more questions about last season in Boston. While Valentine has previously defended his role in one of the worst letdowns a major league team has had in years, he took it to a new level this time. “I thought I did a [heck] of a job in Boston,” Valentine said, according to WEEI. “I thought what had to be done there was done except for winning a pennant. But [Hall of Fame manager] Connie Mack wasn’t going to win with that team.” While Valentine may have a point about the team’s ability to win, him saying that he did everything but get the pennant is something else. The Red Sox battled through dysfunction and many i...