YoukGate: What Does It Mean For The Team?

Winslow Towson — AP Photo

None of us in 'The Nation' should have been surprised that Bobby Valentine would say something controversial sooner or later. That's been his M.O. everywhere he's been—the man has no governor on his thoughts. Nevertheless, Boston is Boston, so any little blip on the baseball radar screen is a huge deal. That's just the way it is. In that regard, Dustin Pedroia was right—Bobby V. is going to have to learn that lesson. Valentine may have managed in New York, but baseball is not the obsession there that it is here. New York may have more rings, but baseball rings truer in Boston.

The bottom line is that the remarks by our new manager on Sunday night (actually recorded on Sunday morning) were out of line. If he is as smart as we are led to believe, there is no way he would use a lightly-viewed Sunday night sports show to call out a player. It's our view that he simply screwed up—saying something publicly that should have been reserved for a one-on-one with Youkilis. The  notion that Valentine is using this ploy to unite the troops is patently silly. We doubt he's that smart—not that it would be a smart move to begin with. Even an old wizened veteran like Bobby V. can learn something when he screws up. It's not likely that he will completely change his stripes (he will always call attention to himself), but, hopefully, this is the last time he publicly goes rogue on a player. He needs to change this aspect of his character for the team to re-establish some level of trust with their skipper.