He would not be the first choice to manage a team run by Theo Epstein, Billy Beane or Paul DePodesta.
But he eventually emerged as the top choice of the Red Sox, according to multiple reports, and he is expected to be introduced Thursday as the new manager in Boston. The marriage isn't nearly as odd a match as it seems.
Valentine has developed a reputation as a taskmaster, probably due to his outspoken approach with the media and his six seasons managing in Japanese Professional Baseball, where the discipline level is somewhere between that of Norman Dale and Herman Boone. He is, depending on one's opinion, the perfect figure for a clubhouse that begs for discipline and the worst figure for a franchise that likes to operate on objective, math-based logic.
None of these images are completely accurate. The 2000 Mets were not the Junction Boys, and former Red Sox manager Terry Francona made just as many decisions based on loyalty and gut instinct as on cold, hard stats. Wearing a fake mustache in the dugout does not preclude Valentine from pinch hitting a batter who has a better OPS in day games on the road in July against right-handed pitchers.
It may in fact be Valentine's perceived quirkiness that enables this seemingly unworkable combination of styles to work. Valentine, by most accounts, loves to feel like the smartest guy in the room. What better way to prove he's the smartest guy in the room than by thumbing his nose as old-school managing techniques in favor of a move that nobody agrees with except the statheads in the basement cubicles?
Valentine does not fit the cookie cutter definition of "Red Sox manager" many envisioned when the front office began its search. He does not seem, on the surface, to be a manager who will let the guys with MBAs dictate how he should handle MVPs. Ninety percent of "baseball men," after all, tend not to put much stock in spreadsheets.
That's the thing about Valentine, though: He's built his reputation on being different from the rest of the so-called "baseball men." Like advanced metrics, Valentine has always been about looking at the game a bit differently. He might not be ready to become part of the iPad crowd, but maybe the Red Sox can break him in with a Kindle Fire and build from there.
