Rob Bradford reported that in between salsa dances and bike rides to work, Bobby Valentine was busy predicting the future.
Valentine told the story of how he visited with Nishioka during the 2011 spring training. During the get-together the Red Sox manager talked to the infielder about the dangers he would be facing playing the position in the United States.
“I came to Fort Myers last year to have dinner last year to tell him they were going to try and break his leg and show him how to try and get out of the way, because he didn’t do that in Japan when he played second base for me his first year,” Valentin said.
“I actually got up and showed him where he had to be on that double play because in Japan you don’t have to worry about the inside side slide, only the outside slide. A guy comes inside and rolls he had to be out of the roll and he gave me the old – as he did as a player for me – ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand. I understand. I understand.’ And he broke his leg.”
It is going to be a long season hearing from Bobby about how he invented the wheel, cured Polio, and killed Bin Laden.
