The coach said it was the manager who was at fault, not the stafff.
Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine and members of his staff watched games together but did not communicate well in 2012. Pitching coach Randy Niemann (to Valentine's right) was one of his few "guys.''That warm greeting in the Red Sox clubhouse for manager-turned-TV-guy Terry Francona last year?
Don't expect Bobby Valentine to get the same reception if he ever wanders into the Fenway den.
Red Sox coach Tim Bogar told ESPN.com that Valentine's assertion of backstabbing or at least lack of cooperation from the coaching staff was unfair. The bench coach, who has been on staff since 2009, was considered one in particular who never meshed with Valentine.
"The coaching staff was prepared to do everything that we were supposed to do to help Bobby succeed," Bogar said, "but not once did he portray what he wanted us to do to help him and eventually he shut some of us out completely."
Bogar responded to Valentine's interview this week on "Costas Tonight,'' a set of comments that is having a scorched-earth effect on the relationship between Valentine and his former team.
It can be said, in fact, that Valentine has become even more controversial and polarizing in absentia than when he was in Boston.
Required to accept several holdovers from Terry Francona's staff, Valentine said he should have made sure he had his own coaches in place. Bogar's comments are the first by a coach on the current staff to address the chasm between Valentine and the staff.
They also rebut Valentine's assertion that some coaches did not reach out to cooperate with him. Instead, Bogar is saying it was the other way around.
Valentine has received some support in media by those who felt any manager should be able to form his own staff. New Red Sox manager John Farrell is expected to have that influence.
No one disputes the lack of communication between coaches and the manager, only who was at fault. General manager Ben Cherington is staying out of the latest flap, saying he has talked enough about 2012 and is moving on.
Bogar was on the Red Sox staff when Farrell was its pitching coach in 2009 and 2010. Farrell is reviewing the 2013 coaching situation with the club.
The Red Sox have always liked Bogar's work, though, and some see him as future managerial timber. The hiring of Farrell was a step to recapture the cohesion that existed a few years ago.
It is therefore fair to expect Bogar to be back. He turned down the Houston Astros job as bench coach following the season.
The rift between Valentine and some coaches was apparent in midseason, when pitching coach Bob McClure was fired. McClure had preceded Valentine, but was replaced by assistant coach Randy Niemann, a Valentine man.
Toward the end of the season, Valentine also made comments that disparaged the coaches. He felt some had undermined him, which brought the problem in full view to the public.