Olney: Valentine will have the last word

ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney made his weekly appearance on Mut & Merloni Thursday, discussing the future of Bobby Valentine as his first season with the Red Sox comes to an end. Olney believes the Red Sox will elect to fire Valentine rather than bring him back to complete his two-year deal.

"Let's face it. It feels like there's a 'Well yeah, of course,'" Olney said. "We know that this is going to be something that they discuss, and in all likelihood, Bobby's not going to survive."

Olney did say that in the event that Valentine is fired, it will be different from the departure of Terry Francona, as the finger-pointing won't just come from the club, but from the departed manager.

"Bobby and Ozzie Guillen are the two people in baseball where you now this: They're going to have the last word, okay? No matter what happens," Olney said. 

"Bobby's going to get the last word in, no matter how this ends, and I do think in the end, if he's got some people he's unhappy with, whether it's people in the media, whether it's players, he's not going to hold back," he added. "He never really has, and I do wonder too, especially if -- and we saw it with the [heated Big Show interview] -- I mean, he's going to react to the nature of the questions. If someone asks him a question like, 'Do you view this one year as a rebuke of how you manage?' he's going to fire back."

Olney also noted that the backlash from Valentine is something Boston's ownership will have to consider before they make a decision on the manager. 

"Bobby's a fighter," Olney said. "He's like a badger in the corner right now, and if he gets the type of questions if in fact he's fired, he's going to answer it. I have no doubt that you're going to be hearing from Bobby, and I'm sure that part of the Red Sox, within their organization, they're thinking about it. It's not only dealing their decision of whether or not to fire Bobby, but it's dealing with the aftermath, and there is going to be some aftermath. I don't think he's just going to walk away quietly without letting people know exactly how he feels about how this played out and who was responsible. Based on his answer yesterday, that he doesn't have any regrets, I don't think he finds himself to be responsible."

For more on the Red Sox, visit weei.com/redsox [1].