WHY VALENTINE TO THE SOX MEANS NOTHING TO THE YANKEES

Bobby Valentine is a good manager. He’s not a great manager and he sure as hell is not a World Champion, unless you count him winning in Japan, then, I guess he is, but that’s not Major League Baseball and if you don’t believe me, ask the Japanese pitchers that come over to America is don’t hack it quite like they did in Japan. It’s a different ball game… but I digress.

The Yankees will approach the Red Sox in 2012 the same way they always do and have since the Yankees played the Red Sox since the beginning of time, heart and pure guts. It really doesn’t matter to the Yankees if it’s Bobby Valentine as manager or General Patton, the Yankees are a team of hard play and determination and that’s why the rivalry is so great. It doesn’t take a manager to make you play better when your playing a top rivalry team. That 3 game series again the Sox is always about adrenaline and pure heart every single time and the Yankees will play that way, that will never change.

I was thinking about Bobby and I realized something very important. While Bobby is a no nonsense guy, he will bring a very different dynamic to that Red Sox clubhouse. Terry Francona was respected and respected his players left it up to them to police themselves. Some beer and a bucket of fried chicken later, Terry was pushed out. Now, Valentine won’t take crap, this is true, and I remember the way he operated in New York with the Mets and yes, while he transformed a team made up of players like Benny Agbayani and Mike Bordick, they didn’t win, they just came close. He may kick this Red Sox team into shape but if you don’t win it all as a player, that player will resent that. If you win it all though, that is when players can call Valentine the greatest manager that every managed. That's a big difference.

So yes, while all the positive signs for Bobby to kicks some ass as the Sox manager are there, there is always room for failure. I’m not saying it will happen, I’m just saying let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The last time Beantown got psyched about the Red Sox was when they signed Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and worshipped a betting sheet that predicted the Red Sox as 2011 World Champs in February. What a joke, they didn't even make the playoffs.

One day at a time, that’s all I ask, there are plenty of teams that have a shot in 2012... even the New York Yankees.

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