Shortly after claiming the coaching staff undermined him,
Bobby Valentine didn't back down from his stance.
He reiterated that he felt the staff wasn't on the same
page. Although Valentine declined to provide names, all indications point to underlying
friction with bench coach Tim Bogar, bullpen coach Gary Tuck and former
pitching coach Bob McClure.
From the get-go, Valentine admitted communication was
lacking between all parties.
"I just think there's an information flow that's
needed in any organizational structure, and it needs to flow directly,"
Valentine said Wednesday to reporters in New York. "This has been a work in progress to get things to flow in
a straight line chain of command type of flow, or even information-need flow.
"I don't know how to describe it other than to think
of telephones poles being set up down the street. When one of them goes down,
it's tough to get the flow. So you want to set it up so it works. And timely
fashion also is part of that communication."
Last offseason, Valentine never had time to embark on a
thorough search for his assistants. Given the fact he was hired in December,
the manager was allotted one month to make his hires.
But Valentine refused to use that as an excuse.
"I think the process was alright," Valentine
said of selecting his coaching staff. "It just, you know, it was late. It
was late, there were phone calls — it was a difficult process. It was fine, but
difficult."
"I had every opportunity to succeed and didn't."
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