Valentine, the former manager of the Texas Rangers and New York Mets, is a room-filling personality who would place his stamp on the team. Team sources and sources close to Valentine said the Red Sox are in discussions with the 61-year-old Connecticut native.
Valentine is very interested in the job.
It is uncertain whether Valentine would go through the daylong formal interview process the Red Sox set up for prior candidates or simply sit down with team officials in the coming days.
The Red Sox are still considering three of their original candidates: Sandy Alomar Jr., Gene Lamont, and Torey Lovullo. But none were scheduled for second interviews as of last night.
Cherington first talked about the job with Valentine several weeks ago.
Valentine has not managed in the majors since 2002, when he was fired after a tumultuous season with the Mets. Valentine restarted his career in Japan, spending six seasons as the wildly popular manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Valentine returned to the United States after the 2009 season and has worked as an analyst for ESPN since then. He has never won a World Series but is considered an innovative tactician and a hands-on manager when it comes to player relations.
Lucchino has long admired Valentine, which is likely the impetus behind this latest development. Valentine and Lucchino shared a stage in Hartford Nov. 3 when they spoke at a forum about international baseball.
The Cubs, who are now led by former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, moved quickly to secure Sveum Wednesday night and yesterday signed him to a three-year deal with an option for 2015. Sveum will be introduced at Wrigley Field this morning.
“I’m sure he’ll make a good manager,’’ Lucchino said. “Good luck to him.’’
When asked if he had one particular candidate in mind for the Red Sox job, Lucchino would not comment. But he denied that the Red Sox were opening their search because of dissatisfaction with their original candidates.
