Former Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine has been without a job since October, but his stretch of unemployment is now over.
According to the Associated Press and Sports Illustrated, Valentine has been hired by NBC Sports Radio and will be a commentator for the network. The company formally announced the move on Monday. According to Richard Deitsch at SI.com, "The NBC Sports Group and Dial Global will formally announce that Valentine has joined the NBC Sports Radio lineup as a Major League Baseball contributor."
Valentine will begin his time with the network by calling in weekly to NBC Sports affiliated stations over the next two months and later will co-host a daily sports-talk show on NBC Sports Radio starting in April. According to Sports Illustrated, Valentine's co-host will likely be named in the early spring.
Valentine has extensive managing experience in his career and is coming off of a one-season stint in Boston with the Red Sox.
According to the report, the idea for the radio show first came up eighteen days after the Boston Red Sox fired Valentine. He was visiting NBC Sports' offices in New York City to meet with NBC Sports executives to discuss his sports film production company Makuhari Media and also to a sit down interview with Bob Costas.
Following his business at the office, NBC Sports executive Rob Simmelkjaer met up with Valentine and asked what he would think about hosting his own radio show. Valentine liked the idea and continued to dialogue with the company.
Valentine has past experience in radio and hosted shows during his managing jobs in Texas and New York. He also worked as an analyst on NBC's regional baseball telecasts following his playing career.
"I think in my years here on earth, I have let people know I have an opinion about pretty much everything," Valentine told SI.com. "I think I will remain true to that."
Valentine was asked by SI.com about how opinionated he will be about players he coached or coaches he worked with or against.
"I don't know that you have to be negatively biased to inform people of what is going on, or to keep them listening," Valentine said. "I think you have to be true. If I have a fault, it's that I tell the truth. You can't dictate to the customer what they want and I think a good host feels his audience and understands what they want and need and tries to provide it."
Valentine did a good job of making waves on the radio and in the newspapers in Boston and will likely do well on the radio if he follows the same playbook.
"I think the only time I had a problem with someone on the other side of the microphone is when they crossed over the personal line or they were totally incorrect in whatever they were representing,'' Valentine said. "I am going to try and not get personal. And I'm also going to try to be correct as often as possible."
Valentine was manager for the Texas Rangers in the late 80s and early 90s and led the Mets to the World Series in 2000 while managing in New York from 1996 to 2002. He spent time in Japan as a manager for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Japanese leagues before for ESPN as an analyst on television for Sunday Night Baseball.
As a former baseball player and manager, Valentine offers a unique perspective when it comes to baseball analysis. He retired at age 29 after dealing with injuries and played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, California Angels, San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners.
Valentine was fired in October after one tumultuous and disappointing season in Boston that saw the Red Sox have their worst season since 1994. The team finished in fifth place in the AL East and went just 69-93. The team posted the third lowest winning percentage in 70 years and went only 7-22 in September.
Valentine was hired last December to replace manager Terry Francona, who was fired after the Red Sox collapsed in September, falling out of the playoffs after having a nine-game lead in the wild card race.
The Red Sox had high expectations entering the 2012 season, but Valentine started rubbing the players and the media the wrong way from the beginning. He criticized Kevin Youkilis on television in April and then later called out his coaches for being disloyal while speaking during a radio interview. Valentine also challenged one radio host to a fistfight after asking a rough question and continued to make comments that just added to the drama.
The team dealt with injuries and underperforming players and eventually gave up on the season, trading a crop of star players to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The teams moved $250 million in future contracts, trading first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, starting pitcher Josh Beckett and outfielder Carl Crawford to Los Angeles.
Some of the players that missed time for the team included Carl Crawford, Andrew Bailey, David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury and Will Middlebrooks. According to ESPN.com, the Red Sox used 56 different players this season, a franchise record.
Valentine never got along well with the media in the city and the Red Sox fired him soon after the season ended, replacing him with John Farrell, the former Toronto Blue Jays manager and Boston pitching coach.
During the season Valentine appeared on radio on Boston as well as on ESPNNewYork, but often sounded as if he had better things to do. Once he has his own show though, he will be able to drive the conversation and decide what to talk about. Valentine has spent most of his life in baseball and could be a good draw audience-wise in a city like New York, where he was fairly successful as a manager.
NBC Sports Group and Dial Global launched NBC Sports Radio in September and has continued to expand its media and online presence.
