Heyman: Valentine "Sure To Be Gone" This Off-Season

There's a great chance you are waiting for Bobby Valentine to be fired. There's a good chance that you never wanted him hired to begin with! Either way, according to Jon Heyman, your current (or previous) wishes are going to be granted this off-season:

Valentine never seemed to have the full support of upper management (i.e. they sided with Kevin Youkilis in April and met with complaining players in July), the players were used to the nurturing Terry Francona and injuries killed them, but Valentine's occasional pot stirring didn't seem to play as well in Boston as elsewhere, perhaps in part because players and bosses alike were used to Francona's see-no-evil stance.

Red Sox decision-makers haven't been quoted on the Valentine topic lately. But everyone in baseball seems sure Valentine is a goner, so perhaps they are talking behind the scenes. Or maybe it's just that that obvious.

Heyman goes on to mention John Farrell -- surprise, surprise! -- as the primary candidate for replacing Bobby V in the dugout. He also says that first-year general manager Ben Cherington "isn't in any peril" though you wouldn't expect him to be, given he didn't dislocate Jacoby Ellsbury's shoulder, break Will Middlebrooks' wrist, or damage the Achilles of David Ortiz.

You could complain and say he didn't bring in enough pitching, but the Adrian Gonzalez/Josh Beckett/Carl Crawford trade goes to show you how little wiggle room they had left to do that. Judge him on the upcoming winter more than the one behind us when it comes to adding pitching, as that will likely be a priority. Besides finding a new manager, of course.