Gammons: Valentine 'will rattle some cages'

Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons joined Mut & Merloni Wednesday morning to offer his opinion and analysis of the Red Sox' managerial search.

All signs seem to indicate Bobby Valentine will be the team's next manager. Gammons called Valentine "brilliant" and said he would be a good choice for a number of reasons.

"I know Bobby well. I've worked with him. I think he'd be really good," Gammons said. "Sometimes when you replace a coach or a manager in any sport, sometimes it's for the best when you kind of move in the opposite direction. And I think that one of the things that Terry Francona did so well was always to basically protect his players and support them and, as Alex Cora used to say, never say the wrong thing.

"I think maybe there was a comfort zone there that got to be too much of a comfort zone. And I think that while Bobby will be very careful about how he goes about the Boston job, I think he will rattle some cages. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. They didn't make the playoffs last year. While they had a very good team, there was a lot that kind of went wrong in the second half. And I think that might be a good thing."

There has been speculation that ownership has stepped on the toes of new general manager Ben Cherington during the managerial hiring process. Gammons said he did not expect that Valentine's presence would be an issue.

"I know there are people that are a little afraid that the way ownership has set this up -- and I think it's been sort of clumsily put together in certain ways -- that it's opened the door for there to be a manager/ownership relationship that can at times circumvent the general manager. I don't think that will happen," he said. "Because I think that A) Larry Lucchino is so highly vested in Ben Cherington. I think that Ben is going to be extremely strong. And he's so rational.

"Valentine had a great relationship -- not a good, a great relationship -- with Tom Grieve in Texas when Tom Grieve was the general manager. Now, I'll grant you they used to drive to Shea Stadium together when they were players, and they were longtime friends. But on the other hand, they had a great relationship and went back and forth about things they agreed and didn't agree about. That was never there in New York with the people with whom he worked. There were constant clashes.

"I don't see clashes with Ben Cherington and Mike Hazen. Because I think Bobby will respect them intellectually so much, and I think he'll respect their developmental skills and their knowledge. I think that they can really work together."

Added Gammons: "It is astounding, his ability to teach. It really is. … I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot working with him. And I do think he also will relish the enthusiasm in Boston. Now, will there be clashes over two or three years? Yeah, there will be some clashes. But that's the nature of Boston, too. So, I really think in the end it would be really terrific. And I think the person that will make it work is Ben Cherington."

Asked if the Valentine hire is a done deal, Gammons said no, although he expects it.

"I think it's going to be Valentine," he said. "And it's going to be really interesting to watch. I think that he and Ben and Mike and Allard Baird and Brian O'Halloran and all the baseball people, they obviously have a lot of work to do here to rebuild the depth of the starting pitching staff and figure out exactly how they're going to use the bullpen. But I think they can get on the same page fairly quickly. In talking to Bobby, he seems so enthusiastic about working with these people. He did a lot of research before he came up here. And that research led him to believe these are really good people to work with.

"So, I think it will happen. There may be some players who don't like it. But you know what? The way some players treated Terry Francona at the end, I'm not sure I'm totally sympathetic there."

All that said, Gammons noted that the rumored second choice is no slouch. "Gene Lamont is a very, very good candidate," he said.

As for Blue Jays manager John Farrell, Gammons agreed that the Red Sox desired him above all other candidates. "I don't think there's any question," he said. "This is no disrespect to anyone else: He'd be No. 1 on my list."

For more highlights from the conversation, including Gammons' thoughts on the Red Sox' chances of re-signing David Ortiz and his opinion of the MVP balloting, check the Full Count blog. To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page. For more Red Sox news, visit the team page at weei.com/redsox.