Orioles eye Bobby Valentine in managerial search

[madinmaryland]

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Orioles-eye-Bobby-Valentine-in-managerial-search-517217.php

Bobby Valentine, the Stamford native and ESPN analyst who took the New York Mets to the World Series in 2000 and won a Japan Series title with the Chiba Lotte Marines in 2005, will be interviewed by the Orioles, according to two industry sources. The meeting will happen soon, perhaps as early as Thursday or Friday or early next week.

Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail has called several other candidates to gauge their interest, including former Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge, two sources said.

Wedge has not formally met with MacPhail and a date is not set for an interview, one source said. When contacted by The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday, Wedge declined to comment "out of respect to everyone involved."

Valentine also declined to comment, but an industry source said Valentine, who is in his first season of a four-year deal with ESPN, would manage again given the right opportunity -- and that guiding the Orioles in the American League East is the kind of challenge that could bring him back.

MacPhail would not specifically address his list of candidates, none of whom he has talked to face-to-face since Dave Trembley was fired Thursday. Those meetings are expected to begin this week.

"We're starting the process, sort of the vetting process. We're not expecting anything soon. I'm not sure how the timetable is going to play out myself," MacPhail said. "I've never been through one of these in-season. We'll do our due diligence and work through it, but I'm not expecting anything quickly."

Valentine, 60, hasn't managed in the majors since the Mets fired him after the 2002 season. He left for Japan in 2004 and led the Marines until leaving after the 2009 season. The bombastic, entertaining Valentine managed 15 seasons in the big leagues for the Texas Rangers and Mets, compiling a 1,117-1072 record (.510 winning percentage).

..snip

[MadBadger]

1. Manager can only help shitty players so much.

[brendan120678]

2. But which Bobby Valentine will it be?

or

[madinmaryland]

3. Well, at least they will have an interesting manager after the last couple of zeros.

[Capt. America]

4. Who would sign on to that trainwreck? Also, why do all of these MLB managers get recycled over

and over again? Isn't there any hungry new guys from the minors? Jeeeessh.

[MadBadger]

5. The Orioles had a guy from the minors. His name was Dave Trembley