My colleague, and fellow Met fan, turned to me at work and said, "Andrew, you're not going to believe what happened in today's Mets game."
The Mets played the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday afternoon, and blew a four-run lead, despite a brilliant performance by Johan Santana. Ten strikeouts, three hits and a shutout through seven innings was not enough to convince Mets manager Willie Randolph to keep the two-time Cy Young Award winner in the game, despite the fact that the bullpen has been used constantly.
Sure Santana gave up two hits in the seventh, but he fanned the last batter and looked like he could go all the way. But it's Willie Randolph's world we're talking about here, where no starting pitcher gets a complete game.
It's time for him to go.
Let him go back to the Yankees, where he can be a third base coach. He does not know how to manage a pitching staff. He's completely clueless. Worse still, the players don't respect him.
I've been giving Willie a free pass, up until now. Randolph is so concerned with presevering his starters, yet he works his bullpen to death. True, the Mets have some injuries and age, but they are playing badly on the field. When they need to rely on their ace to complete the deal, Randolph virtually hands the game away.
Met fans have been waiting all year for a perfomance like this from Santana and Randolph snatched it from them, right under their nose.
Owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon met with Randolph several weeks ago and told their manager to "just win." This came after the Mets skipper made accusations that the criticism of him on the Mets network, SNY, was racially based.
It seems to me that the only race-baiting was being done by Randolph to put the Mets owners in a position where they, nor Met General Manager Omar Minaya, could fire him.
The Mets could be motivated to keep Randolph through next year, when they open their new park, Citi Field, where they are honoring a player who never donned a Met uniform, the late, great Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson, the man who integrated major league baseball.
It will be lovely that the Mets, who have a black manager, the first for a Major League Baseball team in New York, will simultaneously be honoring Robinson's role in baseball history. But does it really serve the Mets' best interests?
Robinson deserves all the accolades he gets, and his No. 42, retired by baseball, is a fitting tribute to the great man. But he never played for the Mets and it seems ludicrous, to me, that he should be honored in this way.
I digress.
The Mets deserve better than Randolph, but what do you expect from an organization that is the most underachieving in baseball.
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3 months ago
Andrew, as a Phillies fan, I have to say that not all of the Mets problems are his fault. That's not to say he shouldn't be fired. I don't watch the Mets on a day-in-day-out basis like you do. BUT, after watching the way last season ended, the GM did not address many of the problems the Mets had. The biggest of which, was the lack of heart this team has as evidenced by the fact that they have only 3 wins when being down after 6 innings. The one thing he did do was that he went out and traded and signed the best pitcher in baseball. Which, in this case, was kind of like putting a fresh coat of paint of walls that are falling apart. This team is old, lazy, and bloated with heavy contracts. That is not his fault. That's the fault of the GM and I see no one blaming him for this.
from 3 months ago
I agree that Minaya hasn't done a good job. I don't like Minaya, either.
I particularly am dismayed by his inablity to develop the farm system. I've written some articles on Minaya's failures in the Bleacher REport.
I agree with your points about Minaya, but the club is not not playing for Willie and his handling of the pitching staff is dispicable.
I would like to see the Mets hire the ex-GM of the Reds, Wayne Krivsky. He seems to know young talent, something that Minaya lacks.
3 months ago
I also agree. As a Met fan i have ran out of patience. Randolph has no passion out there wat so ever. Look what pinella did last year when the Cubs were doing horrible. He argued a call got fired up ripped his team for not playing and lit a fire under their asses. They didn't win that year but they definitlly carried it over to this season. Another example would be Leyland, the Tigers manager. Remember when he had his tirade? The tigers wen ton to the World Seies that year. So Willie needs to interact with hi players, show them that he has thier back and show them that he actually wants to win.
And all i have to say to Minaya is that hispanic players from the dominican are NOT the answer. I dont no this for a fact i didnt do the math but the teams roster has to be at LEAST 70-75% dominican. Thats ridiculous
3 months ago
I am going to assume you are both New Yorkers. Did the manager that Willie Randolph worked for, Joe Torre, have any tirades? I don't recall that he did (you guys would know better) and I seem to recall that he won 4 World Series.
I honestly think that the Mets problems are the players and not the manager. You need a new GM who is not attached to these guys and start replacing them.
Let me put it this way, if I were the GM for the Phillies, and the Mets were to suddenly fold and they were having a dispersal draft tomorrow I would only take Santana, Wright, Feliciano, and Wagner in that order. If they were gone by the time I picked, I would pass.
from 3 months ago
See comments below, Joe. I don't totally disagree with you, but don't you think you would take Reyes and Beltran?
from 3 months ago
See Delgado article
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/8198-New-York-Mets-Should-Have-Dumped-Carlos-Delgado-310108
Wrote this during the winter, as you'll see.
3 months ago
Yes your right with Torre and hwo he had no tirades but these arent the same players that were on the yankees and Willie Randolph is not Joe Torre. Those Yankee players respected Torre. The Met players do not take Randolph seriously. I don't know why but they need to do soon. I also think Minaya shoudl be fired too.
The whoel team is a joke n I'd take wrigth over Santana right now if i had a choice. You cant really build a team around a pitcher but dont get me wrong Santana is great but that is besides the point.
The point is that The Mets' organization needs to get rid of Minaya Randolph and start over. I really believed they should trade Beltran and rebuild. They need a first baseman a catcher and more pitching obviously Perez n Pedro arent doing it for them. And if their top propsect Fernando Martinez is as good as they say he is than they should be fine. PLus Tatis isnt bad and once Church comes back they will be set
3 months ago
I don't really believe in the passion argument either.
My problem with Willie is his handling of the pitching staff and that the players make mental mistakes.
Last week against the Padres, game two in the series, Hairston hit a grounder to Castillo. Rather than charge the ball, Castillo let the ball come to him and the runner was safe. Now, the run didn't score but it set the tone of the game.
Weeks earlier, Jimmy Rollins failed to run out a ball in play and was benched.
Big difference.
The Mets are not listening to Willie. I don't know if this is an example of passion or not, but the Mets are not playing to their best ability whether the players are good or not.
I agree that Minaya is part of the problem.
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