Bobby Valentine regrets taking the Red Sox managerial job in the first place

Hindsight nearly a decade out is always perfectly 20-20, but Bobby Valentine wishes he hadn’t taken the job as Red Sox manager.

Since they won the World Series in 2013, it’s easy to forget the Boston Red Sox went 69-93 in 2012. That was Bobby Valentine’s lone season as the manager, and it’s in the books as the gap year between Terry Francona and John Farrell.

Approaching his 71st birthday on May 13, Valentine is now the executive director of athletics at Sacred Heart University. Stan Grossfeld of the Boston Globe caught up with Valentine recently, and he had some pointed comments about his year as the Red Sox manager.

Bobby Valentine wishes he hadn’t taken the Red Sox job

“I shouldn’t have taken that job to begin with,” Valentine told Grossfeld. “I should have stayed at ESPN, where I was making $2.5 million and didn’t have a care in the world, instead of working my ass off and not being appreciated for seven months of my life.”

Valentine talked about a management policy that didn’t allow beer in the clubhouse, which was understandable in the wake of the 2011 “chicken and beer” controversy under Francona.

“I know a lot of guys didn’t like it, and they blamed it on me,” Valentine told Grossfeld. “And I said, ‘What the [expletive]? I’m going to have a cooler in my office. You want to come in? Come on in.’”

Valentine went on to say the Red Sox 2012 roster “wasn’t even a good Triple-A roster.” On the surface, that’s a reach and an excuse. But Kevin Youkilis, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford were traded during the season, while Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz combined to play 164 games. The star power in the starting rotation (Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka) underachieved and/or missed time.

Before taking the Red Sox job, Valentine had last managed the New York Mets in 2002. Now, nearly a decade removed from the dismal experience in Boston, he wishes he had stayed out of the dugout.