The Red Sox Are Going to Hell

So the Red Sox had one guy in mind to manage the team next year. It was Dale Sveum. And guess what former Red Sox GM and now Cubs President of Baseball Operations did today! He hired that exact same guy, Dale Sveum, to manage the Cubs next year.

Hey Theo, GFY.

This Red Sox team is going to hell now. They had a shitty list of candidates to begin with, but ever since he was hired, GM Ben Cherington and Red Sox ownership have been contradicting each other at every turn. First, he tells Felger and Mazz on the radio that the next Red Sox manager doesn't have to have previous managerial experience. Then, ownership comes out and says that the next manager does indeed have to have previous managerial experience. Then Cherington says that the Red Sox don't have any current plans to expand the managerial search. And of course, ownership comes out and says that they are going to expand the search and that they've reached out to Bobby Valentine.

Wait, what? Bobby Valentine? Are you shitting me? Larry Lucchino's best idea for manager is Bobby F'ing Valentine? What the hell is he on? I'm guessing some combination of rufies, ecstasy, and a couple of those Euro drugs that the Feds are keeping an eye on. The only good thing that could come out of hiring Bobby Valentine is that if he found out about beer and fried chicken in the clubhouse he'd throw friggin' haymakers.

But seriously, the guy managed for 15 years in the MLB and made the playoffs twice. Then he went over and managed in Japan and got fired twice from the exact same team that he managed out there. Sounds like a pretty shitty resume to me.

Hopefully ownership stops trying to use Cherington as their god damn puppet and lets him and the rest of his Baseball Operations staff do their jobs. Like it's ridiculous, ownership wants a manager who will follow every order given to him and will listen to exactly what "Carmine" says. What they SHOULD be looking for is a manager who will hear "Carmine says that (insert player's name here) will have good stats playing (insert position here) here." and responds with "I don't give a shit what your frigging computer says I want to know what the scouts have to say and you will listen to what I have to say."

I seriously would just love to get into this team and have my voice, the voice of reason and legitimacy and exactly what should be done, heard. They should be interviewing guys who would actually make good managers. So, without further ado, here's my list of candidates:

• Ryne Sandberg
• Dave Martinez
• Tim Wallach
• Don Wakamatsu
• Pete Mackanin
• John Farrell

Yeah yeah, I know that the Jays don't want to the Sox to talk to Farrell at all, but personally I'd tell Anthopolous to stick it and talk to him anyways. And Mackanin is out of the running already, but I have a feeling that was an ownership call, not a Cherington one, seeing as he was the first one they wanted to talk to.

Also, it sounds like the Sox are trying to hire former Mets GM Omar Minaya to some sort of special assistant role. Really? Omar Minaya? Jesus, just when you thought their personnel choices couldn't get any worse, you hear the name Omar Minaya. Good friggin' God.

Cubs Offer Dale Sveum Manager Position. Wait What?

Theo Must be really, really bitter about not taking everyone in the Boston Front Office with him to Chicago.

Reports are coming out today saying that Theo Epstein and the Cubs have offered Dale Sveum the manager position in Chicago, right after Sveum finishes his second interview with the Red Sox.

What the fuck.

If Sveum takes the Cubs position over the Red Sox, maybe the Sox will try and get Mike Maddux again. Oh wait that's right, he withdrew because he wanted to be closer to his family. Yet, Chicago is about the same distance from Texas as Boston is, and he was more than happy to interview there.

Here's a message for you Theo. Let Cherington do his job, stop trying to jack all his ideas you prick.

Seriously, you would think he would try and leave on good terms. I had all the respect in the world for Theo when he left. Now he's just an asswipe.

So, if Sveum does take the Chicago job, who do the Red Sox hire? Mackanin isn't a candidate anymore. They better damn well not hire Gene Lamont to be manager. Alomar Jr may be good, but I really don't know much about him other than the fact that he's a bench coach. Lovullo is practically unknown and doesn't have managerial experience. Who the hell are they going to go after?

Dale Sveum Appears to be Frontrunner for Manager

Dale Sveum gives his trademark windmill during a Red Sox game. The former Sox third base coach appears to be the frontrunner to replace Terry Francona as manager.

Red Sox GM Ben Cherington confirmed at the GM Meeting in Milwaukee the other day that he will be interviewing Dale Sveum a second time, and it's possible that one other candidate will get a second interview as well. According to most reports and speculation, Sveum appears to be the frontrunner to replace Terry Francona as the Red Sox manager.

Honestly, I'm kinda surprised at this. I fully expected a much more established list of candidates to be interviewed, and the only one that I had in mind that they actually talked to was Philadelphia bench coach Pete Mackanin. I was expecting a list of guys like Mackanin, Dave Martinez (Tampa Bay bench coach), Ryne Sandberg (Philadelphia's AAA manager), and others that I can't really remember at this moment. The list Cherington put together surprised me, and to be honest I was and still am skeptical about guys such as Alomar, Sveum, Lovullo, and Lamont. Although, if Sveum does indeed get the job, don't be surprised to see Gene Lamont hired to be his right hand man, seeing as Sveum has only managed something along the lines of 14 games in his coaching career.

The issue with this is that Theo Epstein has a very similar list of managerial candidates. He's interviewed Sveum, Mike Maddux (who was on the Red Sox list but opted to withdraw from the search), Sandy Alomar Jr., and Mackanin. It makes me wonder, what the hell kind of a game is Theo playing here? First he interviews Francona for the job, then he goes and basicallly jacks Cherington's list of candidates and starts interviewing them. Like really, what's his deal?

On another note, it seems Theo may a bit bitter about not being able to take his entire staff with him from Boston to Chicago, so he decided to have GM Jed Hoyer interview Red Sox bench coach DeMarlo Hale about the manager position in Chicago. It's just annoying at this point that Theo's trying to jack all of Cherington's plans. So much for leaving on good terms asshole.