How long will Bobby Valentine last as Boston Red Sox manager?

The Boston Red Sox in are the midst of a disastrous 57-60 season, sparking rumors of a rift between the players and first-year Manager Bobby Valentine.

Writers from around the Tribune Co.will discuss how long Valentine keeps his job with the team. Check back throughout the day for their responses and join the conversation by voting in the poll and leaving a comment of your own.

Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune

Dustin Pedroia is having his worst year in the last six. Adrian Gonzalez has been better than Pedroia, but by his high standards this is the worst season in the last seven. And they think Bobby Valentine is the Red Sox’s problem? Apparently there are no mirrors in the Boston clubhouse.

Valentine was given a two-year contract when he replaced Terry Francona -- who lost his job because veteran players lost their way -- and there’s no reason why Valentine should not manage the Red Sox in 2013. I bet he’s back as John Henry and Larry Lucchino stand by their young general manager (Ben Cherington) and their crazy-smart, incredibly hard-working manager.

To do otherwise is to admit that it was a mistake to fire Francona and not offer Theo Epstein the increased authority that could have prompted him to turn down the Cubs.

Peter Schmuck, Baltimore Sun

This is both a simple question and a complex one at the same time. If the Red Sox go totally in the tank like they did last September, it’s hard to imagine Bobby Valentine lasting the season. But owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino have to know that they will be sending a horrible message to the team and its fans if they give in to the grumpy players and fire him because he’s, well, the guy they hired to fix a broken clubhouse.

The reason he’s the manager right now instead of the popular Terry Francona is because there was the perception that the inmates were running the asylum when the bottom fell out of the 2011 season. If the Red Sox aren’t playing well this year because the players don’t like the manager, it’s probably time to get new players.

[Updated at 9:50 a.m.:

Dom Amore, Hartford Courant

The Bobby Valentine experiment has run its course. Those who leaked the information about the Red Sox team meeting with ownership meant to deliver the knockout blow and they landed one.

Valentine may finish the season -- at this point he should -- but his two-year contract will make it easy to get rid of him.

Valentine, of course, erred in pursuing this job. He underestimated the sense of entitlement players have and overestimated the backing he would have from ownership in trying to change it. His ways, probably, would work with a young, hungry team. Not this one.

Ownership can’t fire all the players, or itself, but the Red Sox ownership needs to figure out what it wants. One day they want to be Oakland, and all about the darn system, and the next day they want to outspend the Yankees. One day they want discipline, the next they are lending sympathetic ears to players who want to choose their manager. Bobby Valentine was doomed from the start, and the finish is upon us.]

How long will Bobby Valentine remain the Boston Red Sox’s manager?

[Updated at 12:01 p.m.:

Mike DiGiovanna, Los Angeles Times

Bobby Valentine will finish out the season with the Red Sox because to fire him now would give the perception that the inmates are running the asylum. But I think the opinionated and outspoken manager will be gone come October.

These player mutinies rarely work out for the manager, as Terry Collins can attest. The New York Mets skipper was with the Angels in 1999 when news leaked in May that the team was going to extend his contract.

Players had been grumbling about Collins privately for weeks, and when they heard about the extension, several complained to then-general manager Bill Bavasi, who essentially ignored their pleas and went ahead with a one-year extension.

By the end of that disappointing and turbulence-filled Angels season, both Collins and Bavasi were gone. The situation in Boston right now seems even more toxic than it did in Anaheim in 1999, and I don’t see any way the Red Sox can move forward with Valentine as manager.]

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