Bobby Valentine had no shortage of energy or opinions in a half-hour session with the media at today’s Winter Meetings.

Daniel Bard’s role for next year?

“Well, Daniel Bard is an extremely talented pitcher from everything I’ve been watching on video, things I’ve seen statistically and everything that I’ve watched on television or live.  Electric stuff.  And talking to him on the phone, he seems like the guy everybody wants.  I’ll do what’s right for the team.  If you need me to close, I’ll close.  If you need me to start, I’ll start.  That’s the greatest thing in the world, and it could also be the worst thing in the world because I don’t think it’s fair to him to put him in that position.   That being said, we’re going to put him in that position, and we’re going to see how things come to pass as the winter meetings close, as the winter goes on, as we add to our roster, and as Spring Training develops.  I wish I had a good answer.  I know he’s a real talented pitcher.”

Do the Red Sox need to get into better shape?

“Well, again, I’ve taken a lot of my knowledge from other sources, so it’s not firsthand knowledge.  But I’ve met with trainers and all the front office staff.  I’ve read everything I think you guys have had to write about the Red Sox because I’ve been able to do that on planes.  It seems like they let it get away or some of the guys let it get away.  I think they understand that.  I’m not going to have to have them do extra sprints in Spring Training.  I think that these are great athletes, world‑class athletes, mature adults who get it and understand.

“After talking to some of them on the phone and leaving other messages, I’m sure that if they didn’t agree with the message or didn’t agree with the conversation, they would say, everything was perfect and we’re just going to do it again the same thing.  I don’t think anyone thinks that’s the way it’s going to happen.”

Batting orders? Would he like to keep Carl Crawford in one spot?

” You know, when I talked to Adrian, he mentioned how hitting in one spot in the order wasn’t important to him.  And so different guys have different strokes.  But I can tell you that in the thousands of games that I’ve managed, I never made out a lineup card thinking about one guy.  It’s always about the group and how you fit in kind of together for the whole lineup.  Hell’s bells, I’d love to have one lineup and use it for 162 games, but it’s more than likely I’ll use 162 lineups than one lineup.  So there’s going to be lots of moving parts.  I’ll talk to Carl about that.

“If someone has a thing ‑‑ I remember when Mike Piazza came to the Mets, and he said, I can’t hit unless I’m batting third, and he batted fourth and had some of the greatest years of his life playing for the Mets.  Sometimes they get over it.”

Thoughts on Yu Darvish?

“I have no idea if his talents will translate at the Major League level if he came here, but he’s a quality pitcher.  He has size, quality, velocity, breaking balls, very good hands.  He makes the ball do a lot of crazy things on its way to the plate.  Great competitor.  If those things translate into another uniform, whether it’s another uniform in Japan, who knows, if he leaves a free agent next year or whatever.”

There was a buzz in the air at Fenway Park tonight. Bobby Valentine just brings that. It’s going to be fascinating to see how this chapter of Red Sox history unfolds. In truth, the Red Sox had Valentine at hello.

Once the offer came, Valentine just took it.

“I think my response time was about 20 minutes. And there was no counter offer that I asked for. I was very comfortable. Let it be known, I would have taken one [year],” Valentine said.

Instead, the Red Sox have him for two years, plus, if they desire, two club option years.

“That’s the way I would put it, that he’s the right man for the job,” said Red Sox owner John Henry. “The right man at the right time for this particular team. We’re set to win, we should’ve won last year, we’re built to win. We thought, in the end, that Bobby was the person most capable of taking us to where we want to go in 2012 and 2013. We’re not at a point right now where we’re building for the future. We are trying to win now. We always try to do both, but we felt he was the right person at the right time for this team.”

Valentine, by the way, is wearing No. 25, a significant number in Red Sox history because it was worn by Tony Conigliaro.

“I might have been his last roommate, and I think I was,” Valentine said. “He was trying to make a little comeback when I was with the Padres. I had such admiration for him. We both got beaned. We talked about it. I never was really able to talk to someone about when that ball slows down right there right before the impact, and it’s a lousy conversation. But I was able to talk to him about it and it was a bonding kind of thing.”

In a classy move, Valentine also paid tribute to his predecessor Terry Francona during his press conference.

“With all due respect to New York, I can’t imagine that there’s any tougher place to be good at what I’m going to try to do,” Valentine said. “Tito did a remarkable job, a fabulous job from viewing him outside and watching what happened over his tenure, you could do nothing but tip your hat and hope that you could replicate some of the wonderful things that he was able to accomplish.”