Sox owner John Henry denies players asked to fire Bobby Valentine
Red Sox owner John Henry took to email on Wednesday to fire back at a report from Yahoo! Sports that claims players met with management in a late July meeting and asked management to fire Bobby Valentine. In the email sent to various media outlets, Henry vehemently denied that Valentine’s job security was ever question by any member of the Red Sox.
‘No one in that meeting at any time took the position that Bobby should be or needed to be replaced. … I understand that when the team isn’t playing up to our standards that issues are going to be sensationalized. But what is important for Red Sox fans to know is that ownership, players and all staff especially Bobby Valentine are determined to turn around what has thus far been an unacceptable, failed season. We are all on the same page in that regard and will not waver,’ Henry wrote in the email as reported by WEEI.com.
At the beginning of the email, Henry seemed angry at the idea that anybody in an in-house meeting might have leaked information to the media.
‘First of all for more than a decade we have had a code among players, staff and ownership that our meetings are private and do not leave the room,’ Henry wrote. ‘There is one reason for that. It enables all of us to openly discuss important issues. For more than a decade not one person in any of those meetings has gone to the media with private information.’
It seems, however, that the Red Sox have had an issue with snitches since last September, when reports of fried chicken and beer in the clubhouse as well as comments about Terry Francona‘s ill health and failing marriage were leaked to the press as detailed in a lengthy article by Bob Hohler. Much of the talk around the Red Sox during Spring Training was about which player may have snitched on his teammates. Tuesday’s Yahoo! report, which claimed to have multiple insider sources, seems to show there is still a snitch in the Red Sox clubhouse.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox are floundering. With less than 50 games left in the season, the Sox are 12 1/2 games out of first place in the AL East, 1 1/2 games out of last place and 6 1/2 games out of the Wild Card race.
