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Fans and some in the media may have called for his head, but yesterday the Mets ended any speculation on Willie Randolph's future with the Mets. General manager Omar Minaya said that Randolph would return as the manager of the Mets next season. Randolph, who has two years and $4.25 million remaining on his contract, was blamed by some for the end-of-season collapse by the Mets, but not by Minaya. At one point during the 40-minute press conference, Randolph joked about his shaved mustache, "It's not a good time to be recognized in this town." When asked again later about why he shaved his mustache, Randolph said, "I tried to cut my throat, but I aimed too high."
Minaya said that he looked more at Randolph's history as the manager and not this season, though the season still had an effect on his thought process, "I felt the way the season ended I had to at least step back and ask myself, 'Moving forward, should Willie Randolph be the manager?' I thought about that, and I also thought that I needed to talk to my ownership about what I was thinking. And after thinking about this, I have decided that Willie should continue to manage our club." Despite Minaya's confidence in Randolph, he did say that he's looking at all aspects of the team, including the rest of the coaching staff.
For his part, Randolph never thought his job was in jeopardy, nor is he concerned about his job security, "I'm here to help this team win a world championship, get my players prepared and ready to do that. I didn't come here because I wanted to make money or because I wanted people to see my face. I'm here to help this team win a championship, and I can't state that enough."
New York is a funny town - where Mets players have press conferences to state their sexual preferences and management have press conferences to state their confidence in their manager.
Photo of Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph by AP/Craig Ruttle
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Bring back Dallas Green!
Just kidding...I like that they kept Willie. He's at fault in parts for this collapse, but I wouldn't want anyone else right now.
eric - let's never mention dallas green again, okay?
randolph managed the team to two consecutive winning seasons, and they were only out of first place once- unfortunately it was down the stretch this year.
i blame ricky henderson. his bad attitude rubbed off on jose reyes. reyes was cool with leading the team, drumming up the competitive spirit, then henderson joins (when was it? after the all-star break? not sure.) and its like somebody poured water on a flame. i'm just saying... I don't trust henderson. and i called reyes the next henderson, as a slugging speedster with a rifle arm. but not the crap, seemingly bitter attitude.
No way do I REALLY want Dallas Green back! EVER!!
As for Henderson, that's a plausible theory. There was a lot of talk during the season about his coaching staff. I think every incoming coach has to deal with the people he wants around him, and the people management want around him.
I like how former-Yankee Willie has embraced, to some extent, having former Mets in his clubhouse (eg Howard Johnson). I like that the Mets organization has embraced this. The Henderson idea works for Reyes, but only so far. Perhaps its best for them to part with Rickey, now that Reyes has some experience with him. Reyes is the only player that immediately benefits from having Rickey around; and having some new faces, if they work, could be good for the long-run of this team.
I second the issue with Ricky Henderson. I'll never forget his cards-in-the-dugout incident as proof of his lackluster attitude.
Affirmative action works.
Omar and his lack of getting decent pitching are to blame for the Mets problems.
Wow, I'm SO GLAD we needed to be reminded for the 3,000,000x10th time that once upon a time, morons thought that Mike Piazza was gay, and it was so relentless that, yes, he decided to have a freaking press conference about it.
THERE WAS NO POINT TO MENTIONING THIS HERE. none. .
I'm surprised you didn't work in a Duaner Sanchez reference.
While it's true that "Randolph managed the team to two consecutive winning seasons," I've seen nothing to prove to me that (given the talent the team has on the field) any other manager couldn't have done the same thing.
The manager can only do so much with what he is given. The problem is pitching and there isn't enough to go around because there are too many teams.
Willie's fatal flaw seems to be that he sticks with guys too long and gives them too much rope to work through problems. Guillermo Mota should have stopped being put in a game with a lead in early September. Tom Glavine should have been out of that game 5 batters in.
He also apparently has trouble snapping guys out of slumps.
get rid of the bad apples like milledge and henderson. willie should have given castro more time on the field. go ramon.