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Willie Randolph, who went from being perceived as terse and incompetent to bloodied scapegoat in the matter of three or four days, tells the story Friday of his midnight firing in an article in the Daily News. In it, he says how stunned he was when Mets general manager Omar Minaya told him the bad news in the Anaheim hotel. He also gives a blow-by-blow account of how it happened. When Minaya started talking to Randolph, the soon-to-be-axed manager thought only some of his coaches were getting fired. Then he realized what was happening and, not surprisingly, says he took the high road:
"Omar, are you firing me?" I asked. He looked away for a minute and then met my eyes. "Yeah, I'm going to make a move," he said. "It's a hard decision, but I have to make it."Randolph doesn't deserve much sympathy for not having a job; he wasn't all that good at it anyway. But no one deserves to be fired the way he was. Randolph asserts in his article that he asked Minaya on Sunday if he was about to be fired, and, if that was the case, that it be done before the team flew to California. For his part, Minaya said Tuesday he didn't decide to fire Randolph until Monday morning, at which point the team had won three of four games -- and was already on the West Coast. Randolph can be forgiven if he doesn't buy that, but as hurt as he says he is, Randolph doesn't believe Minaya handled the firing in a malicious manner:We started going back and forth a little about everything, but this wasn't a time for any heated postmortems.
"You don't have to say anything more, Omar," I said. "I came here to win, and if you don't feel I'm the guy to get that done, then it's your right to make a change. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity you gave me. I want you to know that."
I won't lie to you. I don't like the way the Mets handled my firing. I think it was pretty weak. I think I would've deserved better if my record had been 0-555, not 302-253.Randolph's right to feel burned. Little in the Mets' play during that hot stretch would have lowered Minaya's opinion of Randolph. And baseball GMs should be able to make faster decisions and not debate them over four days, especially one with as much leading up to it as this one. With a huge boost from the sloppy Mets' front office and some deft storytelling of his own, Randolph has become a sympathetic figure in the Mets debacle. What a difference a week makes.But I don't for a second think Omar did it that way on purpose, or to be malicious. It just wasn't handled well. The Mets have taken a lot of shots this week, and there have been a number of ugly stories about back-room machinations, but I don't even want to go there.
May photo of Willie Randolph by AP/Kathy Willens
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He wasn't all that good at it? He's the second winningest manager in Mets history. Maybe just maybe the Mets aren't that good and the man who really should have been fired did the firing.
Delgado is washed up, Castillo is adequate at best, Reyes is an immature brat who's going down the road of wasted potential like Strawberry, Wright is good but overrated, Alou was/is too old and always hurt, Beltran is overrated, terrible in the clutch and will always be remembered for having the bat on his shoulder on a 3-2 count in '06, Church is probably never going to recover properly from two concussions that the Mets brass botched, Schneider can't hit and for a guy who is supposed to be good defensively he barely throws anyone out and has a lot of passed balls. Starting pitching is erratic, bullpen is terrible, bench stinks!
Omar should have been fired for assembling this mess and the Wilpons seemingly have no clue how to keep the inamtes from running the asylum. Make no doubt I am a Mets fan but a realistic one.
"second winningest manager in Mets history"
The Mets historically have sucked so bad, being the second winningest coach obviously isn't saying much. He should have been number 1. But I agree, the cast assembled by Minaya is sub-par, 06 was probably a blip. Had Willie been given even a slightly better team this year, things would have been different.
Actually Bornbred:
Schneider is right at the top for % of runners thrown-out and with less innings than other leaders. He's been exactly what the Mets need if you remember LoDuca's inability to do the same.
Beltran isn't overrated. His average is what it's always been, bar the anomaly postseason with the 'Stros. His fielding is among the best in the majors and I'm sure he's just as busted up about the bat on the shoulder as we are. It was a wicked curve.
Oliver Perez is erratic. Santana and Maine are dependable and even Pelf is coming along.
I'll give you the bullpen and hitting though. They stink.
Boring manager fired by a boring team in a boring way.
It says a lot about the Mets players when the visiting Texas Rangers were the ones going out and entertaining the Mets fans, and being applauded by those fans, during a rain delay last week.
SP 302-253 isn't bad no matter who you manage for.
Maypo, wicked curve?? 2 strikes you protect the plate. He is a good defensive player but he's no number four hitter.
I'll give you Schneider being a step up on LoDuca.
I'm not sold on Pelfrey yet. Just when you think he's something he turns in another bad performance. We'll see.
he's the second winningest mets coach ever? Damn, I knew the mets sucked. I didn't know how much.
The Mets should be run by a computer. Omar Minaya should be replaced with a $79 software program. Fred Wilpon should be uninstalled in favor of a Lenny Dykstra avatar.