Criteria to Evaluate the Valentine Hire

[Deadrody]

So far according to John Tomase of the Herald, we have the following:

After posting a skeptic's column the day before, apparently Tomase is won over on the basis of

"him talk good", apparently.

And then, the other criteria is: NY papers all represented. Well, there you have it. It MUST be a good hire, then. I wonder if the resident genius there considered the fact that all the NY papers previously covered Valentine as a disaster in NY and are interested to watch it again from afar. Don't think this can be interpreted as NY papers thinking "Wow, the Sox are geniuses, we have to cover this!"

 

[SubbaBub]

It's a great hire for newspaper sales, but I don't think it is a good cultural fit at all.

They needed someone slightly more in your face than Tito. They brought in this generation's less successful version Billy Martin. It, as they say, is on.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

[sinkhole]

I love the Valentine ego......

To wit: In May 2010, Valentine (Herald photo by Nancy Lane) called a Rays-Angels game for ESPN and criticized then-Tampa Bay left fielder Carl Crawford for having to dive to make a catch on what turned out to be a sacrifice fly. Word of Valentine’s comments got back to Crawford, who told the St. Petersburg Times, “First inning, just getting warmed up, I definitely couldn’t have caught it standing. Everybody knows if I can catch a ball standing, I’m going to do it because I don’t want to get hurt. I can’t believe he said that. Obviously, he don’t know what it’s like to have this kind of ability.”
A few days later, Valentine, a standout amateur player whose major-league career was derailed by a compound leg fracture in 1973, returned the jab by telling the same newspaper, “I was probably a little faster, at least a half-step faster, than Carl, maybe a full step.”

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Sinkhole, I'm not sure how much you know of BV but I'll wager heavily that at his best Bobby was faster than Crawford at his best.

 

[sinkhole]

I grew up in Norwalk and know all about the legend of Bobby V. and I would take that bet all day FFC. One guy put up his numbers in the little pond of the FCIAC the other in the majors. Like Bobby V,CC had his pick of football schools including USC, he eventually committed to play qb at Nebraska before going pro in baseball. CC also had an offer to play hoops at UCLA. Before Bobby V got hurt he put up modest stolen base numbers in the Dodgers system 96 steals caught 23 times in 548 minor league games.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I grew up in Norwalk and know all about the legend of Bobby V. and I would take that bet all day FFC. One guy put up his numbers in the little pond of the FCIAC the other in the majors. Like Bobby V,CC had his pick of football schools including USC, he eventually committed to play qb at Nebraska before going pro in baseball. CC also had an offer to play hoops at UCLA. Before Bobby V got hurt he put up modest stolen base numbers in the Dodgers system 96 steals caught 23 times in 548 minor league games.

Before being drafted by the Dodgers, Bobby V was enrolled (on scholarship) at USC to play tailback at a time when USC was known as Tailback U. John McKay stated to the press numerous times that with Bobby V's speed, playing in USC's system a Heisman trophy was a forgone conclusion.

I don't doubt that you grew up in Norwalk but it appears that there is much of the Bobby V legend that you have missed.

 

[sinkhole]

And the great Jim Calhoun said Ajou Ajou Deng would be a super star..... You have to do it to get credit for it. I will take the guy who actually led the AL in steals and triples 4 times each you take the guy who dominated at Rippowan.

This is from a NESN article on Crawford......

The football programs of Nebraska, Michigan, USC and Oklahoma wanted the speedster, who reportedly ran an almost unimaginable 4.21 in the 40-yard dash in high school, to play quarterback. UCLA's Steve Lavin heavily recruited Crawford to play point guard amid a run of six straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If you want to match football cholarship offers between the two (especially from football powers) be my guest. Perhjaps then you'll provide an informed opinion. McKay wan't speaking bluster. You need to consider the sources when comparing comments. If Bill Parcells claims his defense is playing well, it normally means they are performing at an elite level. When Rex Ryuan claims his defense is playing great, it is merely another weekday during the football season and they could be coming off a shutout or a 400 yard, 38 point embarrassment.

One thing I've noticed over the past two p;lus decades is that there are far more HS kids 9well, at least if you believe the numbers that recruiting boards throw out) who can run a sub 4.4 and sub 4.3 forty yard dash than there are NFL prospects who can do the same. I'm still trying to figure out why so much speed is lost between the ages of seventeen to twenty one.

 

[Dogdeacon]

And the great Jim Calhoun said Ajou Ajou Deng would be a super star..... You have to do it to get credit for it. I will take the guy who actually led the AL in steals and triples 4 times each you take the guy who dominated at Rippowan.

This is from a NESN article on Crawford......

The football programs of Nebraska, Michigan, USC and Oklahoma wanted the speedster, who reportedly ran an almost unimaginable 4.21 in the 40-yard dash in high school, to play quarterback. UCLA's Steve Lavin heavily recruited Crawford to play point guard amid a run of six straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Dominate at Rippowam, hmm... is that kind of like being a great player on the Rays and then coming to Boston and just being one of the guys?

 

[sinkhole]

Dominate at Rippowam, hmm... is that kind of like being a great player on the Rays and then coming to Boston and just being one of the guys?

If you want to match football cholarship offers between the two (especially from football powers) be my guest. Perhjaps then you'll provide an informed opinion. McKay wan't speaking bluster. You need to consider the sources when comparing comments. If Bill Parcells claims his defense is playing well, it normally means they are performing at an elite level. When Rex Ryuan claims his defense is playing great, it is merely another weekday during the football season and they could be coming off a shutout or a 400 yard, 38 point embarrassment.

One thing I've noticed over the past two p;lus decades is that there are far more HS kids 9well, at least if you believe the numbers that recruiting boards throw out) who can run a sub 4.4 and sub 4.3 forty yard dash than there are NFL prospects who can do the same. I'm still trying to figure out why so much speed is lost between the ages of seventeen to twenty one.

Thats true about the 40 times. It goes along with the High school 6'9 forward who shows up on campus and is 6'6 .

I know Bobby V held some track records in Ct. Is there a 100 meter time of his on record? I couldn't find it. Did they run a 100 in the 60's? As for CC I have never seen a LF cover as much ground as him. If he didn't have world class speed a couple years ago he was very close and Bobby V says hes a step faster? I would put that one in the same file as BV inventing the wrap style sandwich

I would also think that Bobby wasn't the fastest Ct athlete of his era. I would give that title to Calvin Murphy.

 

[sinkhole]

Dominate at Rippowam, hmm... is that kind of like being a great player on the Rays and then coming to Boston and just being one of the guys?

Yep, just another third place guy.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I would also think that Bobby wasn't the fastest Ct athlete of his era. I would give that title to Calvin Murphy.[/quote]

Only if by fastest you mean most quickly hook-up and throw aside various mothers of his children.

The Bobby V era is definitely never going to be boring.

 

[bpo57]

And the great Jim Calhoun said Ajou Ajou Deng would be a super star..... You have to do it to get credit for it. I will take the guy who actually led the AL in steals and triples 4 times each you take the guy who dominated at Rippowan.

This is from a NESN article on Crawford......

The football programs of Nebraska, Michigan, USC and Oklahoma wanted the speedster, who reportedly ran an almost unimaginable 4.21 in the 40-yard dash in high school, to play quarterback. UCLA's Steve Lavin heavily recruited Crawford to play point guard amid a run of six straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

Sink, I 'm not sure if you get cable tv down in Tampa or wherever you live but apparently you didn't notice that CC was flat out awful in 2011. He may have been good in the past but he stunk last year. Very few OFers in the AL had worse #s than CC. Stop talking him up like he's a HOFer.

 

[60'sfan]

Sink, I 'm not sure if you get cable tv down in Tampa or wherever you live but apparently you didn't notice that CC was flat out awful in 2011. He may have been good in the past but he stunk last year. Very few OFers in the AL had worse #s than CC. Stop talking him up like he's a HOFer.

I hope that Carl Crawford has a solid year for the Sox but I agree, he is far from a HOFer. He had some pretty good years in Tampa where the pressure is much less. From what I have seen this year, he is at best an average outfielder. He does not work the count and swings at too many bad pitches. It is amazing that he walked only 23 times in the entire year and struck out more that four times as much (104). He is fast or at least he used to be. But 18 steals is underwhelming. Pedroia who is not fast had 26. Either the Sox did not do their homework when they evaluated him or they were afraid that the Yankees were going to sign him. 37 year-old Johnny Damon was better than Carl in almost every category and he would have cost a lot less.

 

[Danzz]

Before being drafted by the Dodgers, Bobby V was enrolled (on scholarship) at USC to play tailback at a time when USC was known as Tailback U. John McKay stated to the press numerous times that with Bobby V's speed, playing in USC's system a Heisman trophy was a forgone conclusion.

I don't doubt that you grew up in Norwalk but it appears that there is much of the Bobby V legend that you have missed.

Actually met Bobby V when he was a freshman or sophmore at Rippawan. A friend of mine moved to Stamford from Hartford and decided to play basketball (wasn't good enogh to make the team at Weaver). Anyway my friend was a senior and introduced me to him at the Rippawan gym. He was already a legend in Stamford at that time.

 

[Waquoit]

Anyone think that Bobby V's Japan experience might help get some production out of Dice-K?

 

[suzyq]

Anyone think that Bobby V's Japan experience might help get some production out of Dice-K?

NO

 

[zyron]

Anyone think that Bobby V's Japan experience might help get some production out of Dice-K?

Maybe if he gets MLB to allow him to use a Japanese baseball and only pitches him once a week like they do over there.