MILWAUKEE -- The Boston Red Sox have reached out to former big league manager and current ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine, a source close to Valentine said, and the two sides will meet to discuss the team's managerial vacancy before the end of the week.
The news of Valentine's entry into the managerial derby comes just hours after the Chicago Cubs hired one-time candidate Dale Sveum, who was the only person to get a second interview with the Red Sox's brass.
"We're not dissatisfied with the candidates we have,'' Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said Thursday. "We feel like these are unique circumstances here. ... We're very happy with the candidates. Our next manager could very well come from among those candidates, but we're not ruling out adding candidates."
If the Red Sox are going to meet with Valentine before the end of the week, the meeting likely will take place without Cherington. He told reporters before leaving the GM meetings Thursday that the search would "take a little breather this weekend" while he went to the Dominican Republic to talk to the staff and scout Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes.
The 61-year-old Valentine appeared at an event in early November with Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino in Hartford, Conn., where both men denied they had discussed the job.
"He's a great man and a great manager and he has a colorful and successful history, so his name inevitably comes up in this day and age," Lucchino said.
Valentine sidestepped the issue.
"I have a great job, and I wouldn't insult my employers by saying I'm interested in another job," Valentine said. "I have two more years on my contract with ESPN and I'm very thankful for that."
One common thread among four of the five initial candidates -- Sveum, Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin, Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. and Blue Jays first-base coach Torey Lovullo -- is that they all have very limited, if any, big league managerial experience. The one exception was Tigers third-base coach Gene Lamont, who managed for parts of eight seasons.
Valentine comes with considerably more experience. He managed in the majors for 15 seasons with the Texas Rangers (1985 to 1992) and New York Mets (1996 to 2002). Though he never won a division title, he did reach one World Series, with the Mets in 2000.
The charismatic Valentine, who once was suspended for appearing in the Mets' dugout in a disguise after getting thrown out of a game, also had two stints managing in Japan that spanned six seasons.
Cherington previously had set a tentative deadline to hire a manager by Thanksgiving, but on Wednesday he acknowledged they were "bumping up against" the deadline.
"At this point we may stretch past it," he said.
During the search process, Cherington said, the Red Sox have been forced to ask themselves: "What is it that we really need right now? Through that process, it has forced all of us to consider whether we're looking at this in a broad enough way to really make the right decision. Again, our manager may very well come from the group of candidates we brought in, but at this point, we do not have to limit ourselves.''
Among the remaining four candidates, only Mackanin has been ruled out.
http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story...ine-meet-boston-red-sox-soon-according-source
