Few males have witnessed as a lot baseball across the globe as Bobby Valentine, who stays as bicoastal and worldwide as ever at age 74.
Whereas he’s spent the previous couple of seasons in a broadcasting/advisory function with the Los Angeles Angels, Valentine remains to be a well-liked presence in New York, the place he led the Mets to the World Sequence in 2000, and Japan, the place he led the Chiba Lotte Marines to the Japan Sequence title in 2005.
Valentine appeared on the Mets’ inaugural Amazin’ Day fan fest, when he supplied his sometimes candid tackle the large splashes made this winter by the Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, the what-ifs concerning the Mets’ determination to not signal Ichiro Suzuki following the 2000 season and what Suzuki’s election to the Baseball Corridor of Fame signifies for the sport’s growing international enlargement.
Right here is the unique Q&A with SportsLens.
Q: As a supervisor with loads of expertise within the Subway Sequence, what’d you consider the Juan Soto signing?
Bobby Valentine: “The point out of Ichiro after which A-Rod after which some others who’ve come alongside and the Mets swung and missed at, I feel value (them) a variety of victories and prompted a variety of heartaches for followers. I feel hitting this one out of the park is precisely what the Mets wanted. I like him as a hitter and I like what Steve Cohen and Dave (Stearns) are doing right here with this group.”
Q: Now you’re principally based mostly on the west coast. What do you consider the Dodgers’ aggressiveness this winter?
Bobby Valentine: “Ridiculous.”
Q: Ridiculous in a great way or unhealthy method?
Bobby Valentine: “I feel it’s most likely a nasty method. I do know the fellows there, I do know the homeowners and I do know the entrance workplace and I do know what they’re doing and I’m in that market principally advising the overall supervisor throughout the best way. That’s an excellent crew. That’s completely different than most different groups. And I do know we’re attempting right here with the Mets. We’re attempting to maintain tempo. However I feel it’s troublesome.”
Q: Are you involved the Dodgers’ spending spree would possibly result in a piece stoppage when the CBA expires in 2026?
Bobby Valentine: “There’ll be a stoppage. Is determined by how lengthy and for what causes. There’ll be some issues with the CBA, as a result of there’s issues with Main League Baseball.”
Q: What are your ideas on Ichiro Suzuki making the Corridor of Fame?
Bobby Valentine: “Considered one of my best regrets (as Mets supervisor is) that I didn’t say ‘I’ll stroll out if we don’t signal him.’ I assumed we had been going to signal him. Somebody thought completely different. I noticed him my first yr in Japan dwell and we principally decided to not go together with him on stories that anyone else gave. And I by no means may determine that out. I used to be informed ‘Why do we would like a singles hitter within the outfield?’”
Q: Labored out OK.
Bobby Valentine: “For him!”
Q: What does Ichiro making the Corridor of Fame on the thirtieth anniversary of Hideo Nomo profitable the Rookie of the Yr say in regards to the influence of Japanese gamers on Main League Baseball?
Bobby Valentine: “That was the identical yr I went to Japan, Nomo got here right here. I attempted to make an announcement. I took the child that might not make the Yomiuri Giants pitching workers and had him on my workers named Takashi Kashiwada (in 1997) and he gained a sport within the large leagues! And he pitched OK typically. Simply to attempt to sort of show a degree, {that a} man who couldn’t make a crew there may make a crew right here, to say that it wasn’t extra of an equal taking part in discipline.
“Now I don’t assume that every one the gamers in Japan wish to play within the States. Why would you wish to disrupt your entire world? Only for more cash? I feel what Japan will ultimately do is change their mannequin and produce up their salaries. They’re now constructing new stadiums for extra income, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, to maintain their gamers there. And in the event that they preserve their gamers there, ultimately there’ll be an enlargement to Asia with a division of baseball. That’s my thought and it’s been my thought for a very long time. And since Main League Baseball didn’t give you the thought, I feel that they’ve determined to do it the best way they’re doing it.
“And the best way they’re doing it’s the method Main League Baseball did it with the Negro Leagues — that they took their greatest gamers, after which they took their different gamers. And when that occurs, the league folds. And I don’t need that to occur in Japan, as a result of (in) Japan, baseball is the No. 1 sport in that nation. And to take their skilled leagues away from them could be against the law.”
