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The Inevitable Bobby Valentine-Red Sox Soap Opera Got Underway Quickly

The Red Sox have three wins in a row, putting them well on their way to climbing out of their second consecutive early-season hole. Red Sox Nation must be pretty happy, right? Well, it probably would be… if all the focus this morning weren’t on manager Bobby Valentine saying the struggling Kevin Youkilis isn’t “as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past.” Even for Bobby Valentine, this was impressively early to cause a stir. Youkilis didn’t seem to agree with Valentine’s point of view:

“I don’t think my game has changed at all… I’m more confused than anything.”

And Dustin Pedroia was definitely on Team Youk:

“I really don’t know what Bobby is trying to do. That’s not the way we go about our stuff around here. He’ll figure that out.”

And for his part, Valentine said earlier today that he apologized to Youkilis, wasn’t trying to criticize or motivate him, and essentially said any blowup over his comments was simply a case of his reputation preceding him. (Fuller remarks here.) And that might well all be true. It’s possible Valentine meant it as a harmless comment. It’s possible the Red Sox will go out later this morning, hammer the Rays, finish a four-game sweep, and no one will care about this anymore.

Still, even if this all was a big misunderstanding, it’s part of what you sign up for when you hire Bobby Valentine. He’s expected to rub people the wrong way, so when he says something like he said about Youkilis – and really, how don’t you see that people will take that as criticism, especially after the fired-chicken-and-beer fiasco last year? – everyone will pounce on it. This is the Bobby V adventure. This is just the first controversy. There will be more, because that’s who he is.

Oh, and if the Red Sox do beat up on the Rays today and render this fuss mostly moot? They’ll do it without Youkilis – he’s not in the lineup. Valentine said it’s to rest a sore groin. It probably is. But again, it’s Bobby Valentine, so people will read more into it. Hope you’re ready for a few of these controversies a year, Sox fans.

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