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Despite a 23-25 record and an underwhelming performance by his team, Willie Randolph will continue to manage the New York Mets. After a meeting with general manager Omar Minaya, principal owner Fred Wilpon and chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon, the Mets announced that Randolph has the support of all. The meeting happened after the Mets lost six of seven in Atlanta and Colorado and Randolph's comments to the Bergen Record suggesting that SNY, the Mets-owned network that televises the team's games, and other New York media allowed their coverage to be affected by race.
Even though Randolph got a new lease on life, his team will need to play better. They have been sloppy, uninspired and underachieving. Minaya has stood by Randolph in large part because once Randolph goes, Minaya's clock will start. He hired Randolph, after all, and if the problem isn't the manager, maybe Minaya's questionable roster decisions are to blame. He may also be holding on because finding a replacement in the middle of the season is difficult. Maybe Randolph should have been let go after last season's collapse.
At this point, the best argument isn't anything positive about Randolph but rather: "Who will be brought in that will make a difference?" Randolph doesn't bring much to the table; he's a bad strategist with his lineups and his bullpen, he is at times insecure and terse with the media and the clubhouse hasn't been free of distractions (see Wagner, Billy and Delgado, Carlos) this season. To top everything off, his team makes boneheaded plays (see Reyes, Jose). The conventional wisdom suggests that pegging say, Jerry Manuel, to take over won't change anything because such a selection would not be a dramatic enough contrast. If the Mets remain below .500, the Mets may be forced to try such an experiment.
Photo of Willie Randolph during last night's loss to the Marlins by AP/Seth Wenig
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You have to weigh how much the Mets' improvement from the moribund Art Howe era in 2005 and 2006 under Randolph is outweighed by the collapse of 2007 and slow 2008 start.
I believe the Mets are as undermined by Omar's predilection to hire greybeards (Alou, El Duque) and what I call Met-itis: inability to hit in the clutch) as by Randolph's tactical errors. And, no one figured Delgado would age so fast.
www.forgotten-ny.com
he doesn't look too happy
Owner Fred Wilpon is stuck with an underperforming and overpaid team. Changing the manager won't make a difference. But, it's the last year at Shea, so staying with Randolph makes for good public relations.
Reyes is either one hit short of the cycle or 0-5; Pedro is made out of porcelain; Delgado is a washout; Heilman should have been on the same boat out of town as Mota, Lo Duca and Milledge; Wagner is basically the Jason Shockey of the Mets (i.e. a witless bully); Castillo is a bad influence on Reyes, etc. The Mets need a real ball-buster watching over the shop to keep things in line and Willie's calm demeanor just ain't hacking it. If I were Omar, I'd give him a bat and tell him to destroy a locker during the next team meeting just to scare the shit out of everyone.
In baseball it is always funny how the manager seems to get the blame instead of the general manager who is the one who is putting the overpaid crybabies on the field.
Ummm.. what exactly has Omar Minaya won in his illustrious career?
No one in this organization knows thing one about running a winning ballclub… not the Wilpons, not Minaya, certainly not the players. Willie may not be moving mountains, but there’s only so much he can do. This team is made up of paycheck collectors (see Delgado, Carlos) and wickedly immature young players who have no clue how much their best playing means to the team (see Reyes, Jose; Heilman, Aaron). Throw in a fan base that feels nothing but a false sense of entitlement and a hyper-sensitive sense of resentment, not to mention an unhealty obsession with the ethnicity of the roster, and it’s amazing Willie has been able to wring out of this crew the wins they have gotten.
They should make Mr. Met the new manager. He's got the same amount of fire as Willie. Plus, his constant smile will cheer up the clubhouse.
Fire everyone over 30, euthanize them if they're over 40. If that doesn't work move the franchise to Taiwan.