CHIBA — Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine revealed to a small gathering of reporters on Tuesday that in late July he was asked to resign by someone in the Lotte front office.

Valentine was discussing the possibility of managing Japan at the WBC when he made the revelation.

"If I knew I was going to be in Japan for many, many years to come, I would be pursuing that job very fiercely," Valentine said of the WBC post.