Did Ben Cherington Just Confirm Bobby Valentine's Firing?

Ben Cherington may have just confirmed the end of Bobby Valentine in Boston.

For months now, the assumption has been that Bobby Valentine's time with the Sox was running out. That the walking disaster was not already fired was just a matter of the organization wanting to avoid a mid-season managerial switch, with his departure in the off-season seemingly guaranteed.

Still, as the months passed Valentine continued to suggest he'd be back next year, and the organization never made it clear he wasn't. Certainly that didn't mean a guarantee of job security for Bobby, but it did help to plant a seed of doubt. One that was sure to make each day with Bobby still in power--especially in the offseason--more stressful than the last.

Now, however, thanks to Cherington's recent interview on WEEI, that stress can be done away with. Speaking on the Dennis & Callahan Show, Cherington commented on last year's manager search, saying he wasn't happy with how much focus and time was spent on the move, and dropping this beauty of a line (at the very end):

"One of the things that...didn't go perfectly was simply the amount of time that we spent on the manager search and what that did to the rest of the offseason, and I'd like to spend less time on it this offseason, that's for sure."

Now, it's possible to read this as Ben Cherington saying there won't be a managerial search this offseason, but you've gotta jump through a bit of a hoop and assume Cherington is being intentionally misleading. Without going through those logical gymnastics, this confirms that there will be a managerial search, which means Bobby Valentine is gone.

Breathe easy, friends. Our long nightmare is nearly at an end.