Imperfect
By Obviously, Valentine is going to get disproportionate blame for the ugly start, and it’s important not to lose sight of the key reason that the Yankees are significantly better — Cashman and Steinbrenner have absolutely destroyed their counterparts since 2007. I’ve mentioned the Red Sox’s indifference about locating a major league shortstop or right fielder before. But the bullpen is another example. I have no problem in principle with letting Papelbon go — closers are an expensive luxury, so if the Red Sox were planning on doing something with the money rather than buying ivory backscratchers for the executive bathroom that would be the same. (Carlos Beltran, acquired by an organization that knows what it’s doing for a very reasonable two-year contract, would sure look good in right.) But if you’re planning on being inert, it’s a luxury you might as well pay for. Especially if the alternative is signing a guy who’s thrown 80 innings once to be your closer and a Yankee reject with poor command and a lifetime FIP around 4 to be your setup man (while moving an excellent setup man with reliever’s stuff into the rotation rather than trying to find an innings eater or two.) And, sure, the Yankees have also been lucky — one of Garcia and Colon having good years is shrewd, two is a fluke. And, conversely, the Red Sox have been unlucky — the Lackey and Crawford signings didn’t make much sense but there was no reason to believe they would work out this badly. But, still, the Yankees’ personnel management is a lot better, and the Rays are operating on a whole other level given their resource constraints.
Having said all that, when the two key things you need from a manager are 1)to avoid creating necessary distractions for your city’s voracious media, and 2)to put together a bullpen with a bunch of marginal arms, signing Bobby V…well, it doesn’t make much more sense than giving $142 million to a 29-year-old corner OF who had been an elite player once in the previous five years.