Remember that Saturday Night Live skit, "Celebrity Jeopardy"? I can't help but think of Will Ferrell as Alex Trebeck staring into the camera saying, "And the show has hit a new low," after the Mets' firing of embattled manager Willie Randolph.
My esteemed colleague Mr. Fennelly has done a great job in dissecting the timing of the firing, and I'd like to take it one step further.
I've been one of the writers on Bleacher Report that has been the most critical of Randolph, and I completely agree with his dismissal. What I do not agree with, however, is the gutless manner in which the trigger was pulled.
If you take away the three blown saves by Billy "master of the ultimate gag-job" Wagner, the Mets would be 12-5 over their last 17. You can look it up.
He took criticism from management over his handling of Mike Pelfrey in his start against the Diamondbacks—letting him start the ninth inning after totaling 110 pitches through the first eight innings—and not playing the percentages by bringing in Wagner in the middle of an inning.
That criticism alone shows me that there are a lot of people in the Mets' organization that have no clue what is going on. Randolph wanted to see what his young pitcher had, Pelfrey told him he wanted to finish the game, so Willie gave him a shot.
You would think the best left-handed reliever in the history of the game, a man who is in the top-five of all-time in saves could come in with a runner on and a multiple-run lead and nail it down. The moves were exactly what should have been done; yet management still had a problem with it.
If the Mets were going to fire Randolph, it should have been done at their famous meeting of the minds over Memorial Day weekend. Instead, he was given a dubious vote of confidence, while everyone knew the ice he was skating on was getting thinner by the minute.
Instead, they waited till the team flew to California to fire him, after the first game of the road trip (a game that they won, by the way). And to make matters worse, they waited until after midnight PST to drop the hammer.
In a move reminiscent of the Baltimore Colts, they put out an early-morning press release, as if it would somehow soften the blow. If you were asked to take a cross-country business trip, and were fired after the first day you were there, you'd be pretty upset too.
What this move has actually done is give us a window into the ultimate circus in Major League Baseball. The way Randolph has been treated over the last few weeks has not shown a shred of class, which is completely unfair to a man who has always carried himself with dignity.
This has been Standard Operating Procedure since the Wilpons became the owners of this club. The in-fighting and backstabbing amongst members of the organization have been rampant since the Steve Phillips era.
Think back to the infamous Scott Kazmir trade: How many different reports did you hear from an 'unnamed source' about the deliberations leading up to the move? Everyone was pointing the finger at someone else.
It's been this way for quite a while now, and the Mets will never win if their organization has more leaks than a post-iceberg Titanic. After the Memorial Day weekend meeting, reports of Randolph's candid evaluations of his players eventually got back to the team. What team is going to play well hearing things like that?
Randolph has been undermined time and again over the past month, and the way he's been treated before and during his termination is some of the most cowardly stuff I've seen in a long time.
The Mets made the right move, but how it was done shows you why no matter how hard this club tries, they'll never reach the Promised Land with an organizational philosophy like this.
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3 months ago
Way to go, Andrew..
I am absolutely embarrassed to be a Met fan fan right now.
If Hank Steinbrenner wasn't such a boob, Fred Wilpon would be getting a boatload of heat right now
He still may..the press conf is scheduled for 5pm today... It won't be pretty. But this is the Mets, they can f%$# up a wet dream
from 3 months ago
I can't think of another time in my 23 years as a fan that I have been actually ashamed to be a fan of the team. The collapse was bad, but those things are just wins and losses.
This is about treating people the right way, and doing business the right way. I would never, ever dream of doing to an employee what the Wilpons have done to Randolph.
We have agreed he isn't the right guy for this team, and Manuel probably isn't either. But Randolph always represented the organization with class, the way they should have treated him.
To say I'm ashamed is an understatement. Things like this make it awfully hard to pay 56 bucks for a ticket to a game and $7.75 for a beer. I can support the players just as well from my chair in front of my tv.
3 months ago
Couldn't they have just waited until 5pm to make the announcement? My guess is that Randolph was wide awake at 3:15. Being in a lame duck status does that to you.
from 3 months ago
What a disgrace....you gotta hear the talk radio shows here in NY
The Mets are like the gang that couldn't shoot straight
from 3 months ago
I've been listening to the Fan a little, been pretty entertaining so far. I never thought a New York sports team could rival the Knicks for biggest sideshow in sports, but the Mets are rapidly approaching that title.
3 months ago
No doubt that the handling of this managerial termination reached new lows in tact and set new standards of cowardice. Sure, the Mets did not reach expectations; but Randolph was fired in a most classless way. Willie deserved better.
I really don't foresee the Mets vastly improving in the near future; and when that comes to fruition, I think the front office will see some heads roll. Firing Randolph was a simple move to appease the NY fans' frustrations.
Does anyone else see some Mets front office heads rolling?
3 months ago
You have to think Minaya is next on the block if they really tank. He's been the architect of this team. Willie Randolph as John said was Minaya's hire - the two's fortunes are linked. Minaya was probably ordered to fire him, so it would be logical to think if the team doesn't improve, he might be gone at the end of the year. I would think the Wilpons would give him one last trade deadline to work some magic, which should be hard to do considering they have several untradeable contracts and one big-time prospect. The coaching changes are just the beginning, if the Mets miss the playoffs and/or go in the tank this year, Minaya will be gone this winter in my opinion.
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