A certain Red Sox owner and general manager are planning for a Seattle stay over the next few days — just after the Red Sox notched another loss against the Oakland A's to fall to 0-6 on a West Coast road trip in which they've been outscored 54-15.
To MLB super sleuths, that means another shakeup on a team that has already made serious headway in revamping its roster this season, dealing several players and sacking pitching coach Bob McClure.
But Red Sox owner John Henry and general manager Ben Cherington have denied that their arrivals on the West Coast signal doom for manager Bobby Valentine, who has shown less spunk during the latest slide.
"Nothing going on other than a bad losing streak," Cherington told Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com via email.
Henry confirmed he is not in Seattle to fire Valentine, giving an emphatic "No!" in an email answering Edes' question of whether Valentine was finished.
Henry had breakfast with Valentine on Monday then went into the SafeCo Field clubhouse with him. Henry said he was in Seattle on a "fact-finding" mission that included him talking with several players, including second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
A team source also told Edes that Valentine will have his job for the rest of the season, with management then deciding whether to keep him for the remainder of his two-year contract.
The Red Sox are 62-73 this season, a record that has continued to plummet as the club went from hoping for a title to trying to vie for the division to fighting for the playoffs to scraping to finish out the year on a positive note.
While the latest win streak is unquestionably the lowest moment for a team that has fought through many injuries and strange situations this year, both Valentine and management have said they hope to finish this season strong and use the remaining time to win some games and evaluate players in preparation for next year.
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