Q.  Is SSI a Bobby Valentine proponent?  Are you going to be pushing him?

A.  Not at all.  Well, at least it's not like we're married to the idea, like we were married to the idea of shunning -40 OPS+ ballplayers at [1B+SS+C] this March. 

We just think there's a lot of merit to considering the basic approach, that approach being to get a manager who can calf-rope 25 men into going the same direction.

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Q.  Why did you bring him into the discussion, earlier this year?  

A.  Because the positives on Bobby V -- or somebody like him -- look like excellent remedies for problems we've got.

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Q.  Let's play shrink for a second ... what made you first think of him?

A.  The baseball-reference.com list of active managers who lead in career winning percentage.

Only a handful of guys are certifiable winners -- they have managed 15, 20 years and kept a winning record.  Cox, LaRussa, Piniella, Scioscia, a few others.

Fewer still have done it across more than one organization -- Cox built a winner and rode his system, not that Cox isn't great (he is).  But what would Cox have done if he'd taken over the 90-loss 1996 Mets?  We don't know.

Piniella and LaRussa have proven they can take over a loser and make a winner out of it, multiple times.  That's not so common.

Hey, sabermetrics is about trusting in results over theory, right?  Why does nobody go back and say, which manager has a portfolio of winning under difficult circumstances?

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Supposing I asked you to go get some other manager who was a Big Name, who had muscle inside the game, who would walk in with credibility and an aura and command respect.  What others come to mind?

.................

We're not saying that Valentine's only asset is credibility.  The guy has had three chances, all very challenging, and he's won each time.

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Q.  Wow, just pulled him out of your ear, as it were?

A.  Yeah, we wrote Valentine up a few times this year and expected to be buried in crumpled Dixie cups.  ... but lo and behold, here we are with him linked to the M's.  Slap me silly.

Very! bemusing to see this guy actually in the game now.  :- )   Like seeing Adam Dunn in rumors.  HEH.

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Q.  Valentine's career mark is .510.  Isn't that mediocre?

A1.  First of all, anything over .500 is impressive for an ML manager, if it is long-term.  Fans assume that guys like Dusty Baker just get recycled.  No, the ugly truth is that Darwinian forces are going to weed out 95% of Don Wakamatsu's. 

Don't assume it's a good ole boyz network for Baker and Piniella and life is as simple as that.  The hard reality is that it is tough to hold on to a major league team. 

You're not going to pull up a guy from AA, give him a contract, and find him at .550 ten years on, gentlemen.  It may be even harder to manage well than to play well.  Only the best can do it for any length of time.

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Part 2

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