Bobby Valentine not interested in MLB jobs

Manager content in Japan, plans to stay with Chiba Lotte next season

	Bobby Valentine’s contract reportedly has an out clause that would allow him to leave Japan but team officials declined to discuss specifics.
Koji Sasahara / AP

updated 1:44 p.m. ET Oct. 22, 2005

TOKYO - Bobby Valentine is content in Japan and plans to be back next season as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines.

The former New York Mets manager has been mentioned as a possible candidate for managerial jobs with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

“I only know what I read (in the press),” Valentine, in the second year of a three-year contract with the Marines, said Saturday.

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When asked if he planned to be back to honor the third year of his contract, Valentine said: “I’m happy here...I have no other thought.”

Valentine’s contract reportedly has an out clause that would allow him to leave Japan but team officials declined to discuss specifics.

Valentine’s Marines opened the Japan Series on Saturday against the Central League champion Hanshin Tigers.

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The last time the Pacific League champion Marines won the Japan Series was in 1974, when they were known as the Lotte Orions.