THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140264
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Bobby Valentine has agreed to an encore as manager of the Norfolk Tides.
Valentine and the New York Mets have reached a verbal deal to bring Valentine back to the team he managed in 1994, said a source with knowledge of the talks. The source, who requested anonymity, said official announcement of the agreement is due shortly.
The Tides were left without a manager last Saturday when Toby Harrah joined the Cleveland Indians' major league coaching staff. Valentine, the source said, had already agreed to return to the Mets as a roving instructor and short-season Class A manager. He was the first choice to replace Harrah.
Reached Monday at his home in Arlington, Texas, Valentine said only that he had talked with Mets minor league director Steve Phillips. He referred other questions to Phillips, who called reports of Valentine's return premature.
``He's not been offered the position formally,'' Phillips said.
Tides general manager Dave Rosenfield said, ``There's a pretty good chance'' that Valentine will return. ``I think he would like to and they would like him to.''
Phillips said the Mets expected to announce the Tides' manager in the next two weeks.
Valentine was available after being fired last month by the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese League. Valentine last season became the first former major league manager to manage in Japan, but a clash with the Marines' general manager ended that relationship.
He reportedly has negotiated a settlement of his Japanese contract that does not require him to continue to work for the team. The Mets, Phillips said, were waiting for confirmation of Valentine's status in Japan before talking further to him.
Valentine, 45, managed the Texas Rangers from 1985 until the middle of the 1992 season, when Harrah replaced him as interim manager. The 1994 Tides went 67-75 and failed to make the International League playoffs. Valentine went home to Texas in late August that season to have surgery for an intestinal disorder. ILLUSTRATION: Bobby Valentine, who managed the Tides in 1994, was fired last
month by the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese League.
by CNB