Mets fire Randolph
This pissed me off. First off, I do not think for one second that Willie is the problem. Is it his fault that Heilman and Wagner have both had several really bad games? Is it his fault players get injured? Or simply don’t play well? Yes, he is supposed to manage and motivate but there is only so much a single person can do. But we can argue this back and forth for eternity as to what is and isn’t the coaches fault.
What we can’t argue about is the totally classless, spineless, rude, and inappropriate way they went about it. Firing a manager via a press release and e-mail at 3:15am ET is simply unacceptable. You don’t even break up with a high school girlfriend like that. If you want to fire the guy in in a damn plane, fly to LA, and do it in person. The ownership of the Mets just lost any creditability they had with me. This is almost enough to make me a Yankee fan…. well. Not quite, but still, you get the picture.
Shame on the Wilpons and Minaya. Why don’t they fire the GM, after all he is the one responsible for putting together the overpriced- underachieving team?
Tsk tsk! Such language in a family blog!!
Firing Randolph wasn’t the issue. The owners can hire and fire whomever they like. Randolph’s weaknesses (and all managers have weaknesses) were hurting the team. Was it Randolph’s fault that Heilman and Wagner have had bad games? No, that’s why they also sacked Rick Peterson (who was a hold-over from the Green administration). And it is Randolph’s fault that Reyes has been sulking, that Beltrán hasn’t been a clubhouse leader and the generally lackluster environment widely reported in the clubhouse. Add to that his outburst last month (which couldn’t have helped him in the locker room) and you have an untenable situation. I would have fired him at the end of April.
That said, you are absolutely right about the classless, petulant and small-minded way he was let go. It makes the Torre nonsense last year look positively warm!!
I feel sorry for Met fans because you can fire a classless manager and you can fire an incompetent GM but (as any Knick fan will tell you) you can’t fire the owners.
How to fire a manager (for New York fans: we wouldn’t know)
From The New York Post
When Manuel was fired one day after the 2003 season ended, Chicago GM Ken Williams, said, “We have nothing but the highest respect for Jerry Manuel, the person and the man. However, since reaching the playoffs in 2000 and despite high expectations, this team has not won enough baseball games.”
Yes, well, as stated, we can argue until the cows come home or the NY basball owners get some class over who is to fault for the state of the Mets season. However, like I said, the method of firing is… well, reprehensible. Even I had enough class when leaving CGS to do it in person, and in writing!