When Boston's prolonged search for a new manager began, Valentine was hardly even on the radar. Cherington's public first batch of interview candidates consisted of Pete Mackanin, Dale Sveum, Sandy Alomar, Jr. , Torey Lovullo and Gene Lamont. In that...

Peoria for three seasons, but not successively with his stints coming in 1997, 2003 and 2004. Kopitzke enters his third campaign needing 79 wins to match Cunningham's franchise mark for career wins. Kopitzke starts the season with 131 needing 10 to pass...

Of that group, only Lamont -- the official runner-up -- has been anything more than an interim manager.Confronted with that, Lucchino responded, "I was giving my preference from the outset."Valentine didn't emerge as a public candidate until after...

I don’t think it’s a factor [for Valentine]. I think he’s going into this confident and I don’t think the term of the contract matters to him.’’ Although Cherington conducted a wide-ranging search that included Dale Sveum (who wound up being hired as...

"I understand how difficult this was for the organization because of the outstanding candidates involved in this process." Cherington thanked the other five candidates who were brought in for interviews: Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin,...

That will help him," Branca said. "Boston is a challenge, but when has he not liked challenges?" A native of Connecticut and a former roommate of Bill Buckner's, Valentine was the most intriguing candidate for the Red Sox job on a list that included...