Bobby Valentine just can't win.

The polarizing Red Sox manager reportedly has a growing rift with general manager Ben Cherington, and now he's believed to be falling out of favor with his players.

Speaking on WEEI earlier this week, former pitcher Curt Schilling said that several players have complained to him about Valentine's behavior.

"I thought that the manager that managed the Mets that I was not a big fan of was now going to be a different manager, and I don't think there's anything different at all," Schilling said. "And I don't think that that is going to be conducive to doing well here. There's a lot of things I think that are happening not just from his perspective, but when you talk to these guys -- and I'm still talking to some of these guys -- I don't think this is going well. And I think it's going bad quicker than I expected it to."

Schilling said that for all of Valentine's wisdom, he isn't very good at managing people, which was one of Terry Francona's strengths.

"One of (Francona's) strengths I think was understanding that to be a great big league manager, you don't have to know when to hit and run, bunt and change pitchers as much as you need to manage people," Schilling said. "I think the major league manager has so little to do with wins and losses, more so in baseball than just about in any sport."

He also said that the players don't like how much attention Valentine has brought to the clubhouse.

"The point I made the other night was that he's doing a lot of things right now that are forcing his players to extend their media involvement to answer questions about him and the situation when it's already a challenge enough to do it, to play in this market and to win," he said.

"Any time you introduce the wild card -- the guy who's going to flip over the spread or throw something against the wall or act and react in an unpredictable way -- it's not a positive thing."