Bobby V....

By now you may have read the reports that the Washington Nationals may be interested in hiring Bobby Valentine as their manager for 2010. For now, Manny Acta is still the manager of the Washington Nationals. But the majority opinion is that Acta will be gone before the week is out.

Consensus reports of this type usually have fire along with the smoke, remember we said that Clint Hurdle would be gone here on the site and were able to almost pinpoint the day it would happen. The reports are that bench coach Jim Riggleman will step in for Acta for the remainder of this year.

Valentine is known for his ability to turn clubs around (as he did with the late-90s Mets, leading them to the World Series in 2000), and is also a manager who likes a challenge and developing young players.

It's also worth noting that Valentine could be looking for a job in the coming months. His current team, the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League, have said that they won't bring Valentine back as his current $4M salary. Fans have started a petition to keep Valentine in Japan (he's so revered there that there's a beer named after him) with the Marines, who won the Japan Series championship in 2005 with Valentine at the helm.

No one really knows if Valentine would welcome a return to the states and MLB. Anyone who's seen the documentary The Zen of Bobby V knows how he loves living in Japan (he's nearly fluent in the language), he’s managed there in two separate stints now and he'd also have to take a significant pay cut to manage a major league club.

I for one would love to see him back in MLB. It makes for great theater. I love the character managers, the ones who want to be the center of attention, right out of the mold of Tommy Lasorda and Billy Martin.

Who could ever forget Valentine managing for the Mets in 1999 being thrown out of a game and coming back in the dugout wearing a fake mustache. That's great stuff. - Keith A. Baker

Keith A. Baker is a sports agent in Stamford, Connecticut. His goal is to offer a unique insight to the world of sports and Major League Baseball in particular. Comments in his columns are for entertainment purposes only and do not reflect the views and opinions of his firm or his clients.