Keller @ Large: Good Luck Bobby, You're Going To Need It

BOSTON (CBS) - I want to welcome to town the new Red Sox manager, Bobby Valentine, who seems like an affable, articulate guy with considerable success in his past and strong knowledge of the game.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

Remind me again of why we got rid of the last manager, who had pretty much the same attributes and an even better winning record?

Oh yes, I remember now, we had to get rid of him because in the end he couldn't convince some of his overrated stars to put in the requisite effort and discipline to properly compete, despite the fact that they are paid millions to do just that.

Welcome to town, Bobby Valentine, but I sure hope you are coming here with your eyes wide open.

Here are your undeniable assets: a superb second baseman, third baseman and center fielder; a hard-working, adequate shortstop; a hard-throwing setup man, and a couple of promising young kids in right field and as your new closer.

That's pretty much it in terms of what you can rely on; everyone else is either a head case, a question mark, or an outright bust.

Yes, that includes Adrian Gonzalez, our star hitter who rang up gaudy stats all summer, then folded in September when we needed him most.

We love Big Papi, but he hit 20 points below his season average in September with just one homer and eight RBI, unacceptable clutch numbers by the DH.

Our catcher tried hard, but was mediocre at best.

About our starting pitching and the rest of our bullpen, the less said, the better.

Ditto for the left fielder.

No wonder Theo Epstein was so eager to get out of town.

This team was awful when it counted last year, and has glaring holes to fill everywhere you look.

At his press conference yesterday, Valentine said politically-correct things about what a "gift" it is to inherit this roster, but we can only hope he knows what a joke that is.

Our new manager seems to have a good attitude.

Perhaps some of that will rub off on the bad attitude bears he's now overseeing.

Good luck, Bobby.

I hope you know how badly you're going to need it.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.