Red Sox GM Cherington Says He Will Spearhead Managerial Search; Will Be Collaborative Effort

After the Red Sox on Thursday parted ways with manager Bobby Valentine, "the same search committee -- principal owner John Henry, chairman Tom Werner, president Larry Lucchino and general manager Ben Cherington -- is in place," according to Michael Silverman of the BOSTON HERALD. Cherington on Thursday said, "I'll spearhead the process and it will be collaborative, as it was last year ... building consensus around a person is important and that’s what we’ll look to do." Silverman asks, "What's going to be different this time? How are they going to succeed when they so clearly did not a year ago?" There is "nothing in that answer that screams change, but there was an emphasis on the phrase of 'building consensus' that was hard to miss." The consensus "of many, if not most, observers around the hiring of Valentine was that it was Lucchino’s pick more than Cherington’s," and that perception "never changed." If the procedure "will not be all that different this time around, then it's the people who are making decisions who are going to have to be smarter about that choice and be more secure" (BOSTON HERALD, 10/5).

FLAWED SYSTEM? In Boston, Christopher Gasper writes, "The symptoms of the decay -- clubhouse unrest, underachievement, melodrama, miscommunication, and misevaluation -- will return if they don’t treat the disease, which is a flawed decision-making process and organizational impudence." Ownership and upper management "have every right to have a voice in the decision-making process, but baseball people should be hired and trusted to make baseball decisions." The Red Sox' baseball operations staff, led by Cherington, "vetted Valentine and determined he was not the right fit." But it was Lucchino, Werner and Henry who "overrode that decision, doubled-backed, and hired Valentine with disastrous results." The next managerial search "has to be different." Ownership "can have a voice, but not the only say." The Red Sox "haven’t rid themselves of their affliction, only their distraction" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/5). Also in Boston, Peter Abraham writes, "Regardless of who the next manager is, it will be the franchise’s third in as many years, and Lucchino conceded that that disturbed him." Lucchino said, "Yeah, it's a little troubling. We, like most organizations, prefer some stability and continuity in key positions. We had a lot of stability and continuity in other key positions. But we'd like to have the manager's role filled by someone for several years" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/5).

NEW BLOOD: CBSSPORTS.com's Scott Miller asked, "If Valentine's hiring was all Cherington, then why don't the Sox fire him right now, too?" Miller: "If I hire a rookie GM and he makes these kinds of decisions in Year One, and the entire franchise goes boom! to this degree, I fire him yesterday for gross incompetence." The Red Sox' new manager should "hire his own coaches." Miller: "In fact, encourage him to bring in some of his own guys." The Red Sox "clearly need new blood and new voices" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/4).