Though some members of the Boston Red Sox reportedly held a meeting with ownership blasting manager Bobby Valentine, it doesn't appear that David Ortiz is among them.
"I think Bobby's doing great, man," Ortiz said. "He had to deal with so many things through the season, a lot of guys' injuries. I guarantee if we don't have that many guys go onto the DL this year, history would be different this year, and all the talks and negativity that have come out against him, I don't think it would be there."
Unfortunately for all parties involved, and especially fans of the Red Sox, Bobby Valentine has been the story of the 2012 season.
Red Sox President Larry Lucchino weighed in on the Yahoo! sports story this week that Boston players engaged in a coup attempt to oust manager Bobby Valentine. Lucchino has always been perceived as an ardent supporter of Valentine, and was reportedly instrumental in his hiring. As you would expect, he cited injuries, and not Bobby V, as the primary reason for Boston's current underwhelming season. Via The Sports Xchange:
"I do think the clubhouse culture is different when the team is winning and the star players are there regularly and leading the team in the clubhouse as well as on the field and not from the disabled list," Lucchino said.
"I think we will see an improved culture next year. If it's broke, we'll fix it. I have my share of responsibility, to be sure, for the state of the franchise."
Another rocky Red Sox season was thrown into tumult again this week with the news of the meeting between Red Sox leaders and management going public. Lucchino is certainly a strong-willed and opinionated President with plenty of influence, so it's not surprising to see him downplay the significance of the meeting as well as Valentine's impact on the struggles.
Henry said that he was the one who called the meeting and said that it "quickly went to the point -- what do we need to do to turn things around?'' In addition, Henry said ''No one in that meeting at any time took the position that Bobby should be or needed to be replaced."
One of the Red Sox players named specifically in a Yahoo! Sports report about the July meeting, Adrian Gonzalez, characterized it as inaccurate. Gonzalez said:
"The source is inaccurate. He says that I was animated and one of the most vocal guys in the meeting and that's false. If somebody's going to try to be an unnamed source, they better be right with what they say, because this is putting our integrity and everyone about us out there and that's just unfair."
Gonzalez also said, "I've said this to John Henry. I've said this to Ben Cherington and I've said this to Bobby. I think he's a good manager. Nobody faults him for losing and that's unfair."
Bobby Valentine can't catch a break. Yahoo! Sports reports that several Boston Red Sox players, including Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia, blasted Valentine in a heated meeting in New York with ownership in July.
