A number of players for the Boston Red Sox have become disgruntled with their manager Bobby Valentine. They are upset with the way he has managed the team and voiced that displeasure with the owners of the team. Valentine is in his first year of managing the Red Sox and has had problems with the team since early in the season. A meeting was apparently called by the team owners late in July when the team was playing a series against the New York Yankees in New York City.
The team owners, John Henry and partner Larry Lucchino had received a mobile phone text message from Adrian Gonzalez the first baseman for the team and the representative for the group of disgruntled players. The text mentioned to the owners the players’ frustrations and prompted the meeting.
The general manager of the team, Ben Cherington, confirmed that the two groups had met and that the players spoke with the owners about a number of different issues. When asked about the situation before the Red Sox Monday night game against Baltimore, Valentine would only say that all the players on the team were still playing. What finally prompted the players to text the owners was an incident that took place in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 22.
The players were upset that Valentine left pitcher Jon Lester in the game to take an 11-run beating against the Blue Jays, instead of pulling him out of the game for another pitcher.
In April, Valentine upset the players and Red Sox’ fans alike, when he made a statement that he did not feel veteran third baseman Kevin Youkilis was completely committed to the ball club. The relationship with Youkilis was never the same after that incident and he was finally traded in July to the Chicago White Sox.
