Bobby Valentine Is Great To Listen To
June 19, 2009 – 9:00 am by Michael Bean
Bobby Valentine has been away from Major League Baseball since the 2002 season but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the game altogether or not worthy of listening to from time to time. Valentine is currently the manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Pacific League in Japan, a job he’s held since 2004. From the sound of it, Valentine could be out of a job after this season – the Chubba Lotte Marines are looking to trim fat financially and Valentine and his $4 million dollar contract may be one of the first ‘luxuries’ that is cut. Valentine joined ESPN Radio New York to talk about what exactly is going on with his employer and how he sees things shaking out for himself. While he and Michael Kay of ESPN NY are at it, the two talk some Major League Baseball. A good interview all the way around.
On his future with the team and what’s going on with the team he manages telling him that he won’t be returning next year to manage the squad:
“Well it’s been absolutely incredible season. It is a bit of a lame duck situation but it’s not lame duck where I’m wondering if I’m going to be here or not next year. It’s a situation, you know, where a couple new guys are in the front office who are promising the owner they can make him a lot of next year and the way to do that is to get rid of the wealthy manager, you know, the high-priced manager. They think they can do without me so there’s a bit of a divide within the team and a bit of a divide within the fandom. I think the reaction of the fans have taken people by a bit of a surprise because you know, Japanese people aren’t usually those to protest or revolt, but this has been a bit of a revolt and it’s been interesting to live through. Our team is somehow surviving, we’re on a three-game winning streak, the guys have been resilient, and I think we’re finally coming together and are going to have a good season, so who knows what evil lurks in the future.”
On if there’s been any back-and-forth negotiating about retaining Valentine, just perhaps at a lower price than he’s currently receiving for his services:
“No, as a matter of fact, there hasn’t been. It’s about a little bit more than just the money, Michael. It’s a little bit that I’m a guy who’s trying to speak the language and I don’t speak the language if you know what I mean. And I can understand that. They think, why pay an outsider, or why even have an outsider on the team when you can have somebody local. It always looks easier when you’re sitting on the outside and not actually doing it. And we got things running in a way here where it kind of looked easy what we were doing. But, you know, you take care of the little things the big things take care of themselves – but the little things aren’t all that easy to take care of.”
On whether or not he’s heard or read about the rumors that there are MLB teams interested in him, including the Washington Nationals:
“Well I heard it because all the Japanese reporters are waiting at my apartment when I came home from lunch yesterday with the headlines of the Japanese Yahoo! site that there’s a team or there are teams that are interested in the States and they’re dying to say I want to leave and that will, you know, kind of stop the revolt here, if you will. But I haven’t heard from anyone but I’m pretty confident that if next year, I have to run around and do the interview process, that I’ll find some people that will feel I’m the guy that they want to work with; and I’ll feel that they’re the people I want to work with - whether it’s on that side of the pond or on this side of the pond. So I’m not getting overly concerned at this time in June when I know that I still have a job that I have to do.”
Listen here to Valentine with Michael Kay on ESPN Radio in New York
Tags: Bobby Valentine, ESPN Radio New York, New York Mets, New York Yankees
