We touched on it yesterday, but now it's official: Bobby Valentine's brief tenure as Red Sox manager is over.
I'm not going to reiterate everything I said yesterday, but all the points are still valid. Valentine was never accepted by anyone in Boston: the team's front office, the players, the fans, the media…no one wanted him there aside from Red Sox ownership.
Now, Ben Cherington will get to do things his way in choosing a manager, and it's widely believed that current Blue Jays manager (and former Red Sox pitching coach) John Farrell is at the top of hist list, though Cherington will need to grease the palms of Toronto GM Alex Anthopolous if he wants to hire Farrell away from the Blue Jays.
At any rate, the Red Sox are moving in a new direction, after deciding to go in a new direction 12 months ago. Only this time, they won't have the services of Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Kevin Youkilis to help a new manager potentially succeed (not that having those players this season helped Valentine a lick).
Valentine is reportedly going to back to ESPN, which could create an awkward situation with Terry Francona if he opts to remain in TV for 2013.
