Remember the Bad Idea Jeans skit on Saturday Night Live back in the 90's? It was great. It was a bunch of guys sitting around talking about every bad idea humanly possible like telling a wife about an affair, housing a drug addict, or not using protection because how often are you going to be in Haiti? These ideas were spawned because they were wearing these jeans.
I wonder if the brass of the Boston Red Sox are wearing these jeans?
According to Jeff Pasan of Yahoo! Sports, Bobby Valentine is expected to meet with Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington Monday to discuss the team's managerial opening and could emerge as the favorite if the meeting goes well.
This is a bad idea.
Valentine might be a "strong-willed, hands-on" manager as Bill Madden suggested (link in Justin's post below), but as Madden suggested as well, he's a lightening rod. And that's exactly the opposite of what the Red Sox need right now.
The Red Sox need stability. They need a calming presence. That is why Terry Francona was so great in Boston. No matter the situation, whether it was the Manny Ramirez fiasco pretty much every year or defending the performances of J.D. Drew, Daisuke Matsuzaka, or John Lackey, Francona handled it in a calm fashion and more importantly, handled it behind closed doors and never let the fish bowl known as the Boston media in on too much no matter how nonsensical their questions were. He played his cards close to his vest.
Valentine is the complete opposite. He speaks his mind, he thinks he is the smartest guy in baseball, and his act has worn thin on his teams in the past. I don't see how his personality is going to work in Boston.
Much like with any relationship in life, you need the ying to compliment the yang. You need the person to be the sense of reason to the person who is the free spirit. When you put two explosive personalities together -- in this case the other explosive personality is the Boston media -- then that might work for a year or maybe even two. But that's not the recipe for a long-term relationship. Explosive personalities don't usually last in explosive environments.
The Red Sox should think twice about hiring Valentine. He would just be adding more fuel to the fire.
And right now, that's the last thing Boston needs.