Mets GM Omar Minaya talks about the reasons why he fired manager Willie Randolph and hired Jerry Manuel as the interim manager.
Category: Management
Video: Willie Randolph Leaving Team Hotel
ESPN video of Willie Randolph leaving the Westin hotel in Costa Mesa, CA this morning after being fired by the Mets. He briefly spoke to a huge number of reporters in the lobby waiting for him to leave.
Mets Fans: You Wanted It, You Got It!
The curious method with which Omar Minaya used to fire Willie Randolph, Rick Peterson, and Tom Nieto is worthy of discussion based on oddity alone. But it doesn’t change the fact that many Mets fans wanted this to happen a long time ago. I’ll even go as far as to say that MOST Mets fans wanted Willie fired. The word is that Jeff Wilpon agreed with you.
I appreciate Omar Minaya’s loyalty to Willie. That’s a worthy trait to have. But the time for change was long overdue. If you read this site regularly, you know that I’ve wanted something to change with the Mets this season. It didn’t have to be Willie getting fired, but if he did I thought it to be completely justified.
Mets fan have boo’d Willie mercilessly for some time now. I haven’t participated in that. Although I’ve made no secret of the fact that I thought that Willie was a slightly below average manager, I didn’t see anything from him that would cause me to boo him.
Many of us didn’t connect with Willie based on his long history with the Yankees and lack of a dynamic personality. We’ve deluged the talk shows with calls to fire Willie, and we were brought to the edge of sanity with last season’s “collapse”.
Change is here, and I’ll be giving Jerry Manuel a big round of applause when the team gets home. I’m not sure that he’s the long-term answer for the Mets but I’m more than willing to give him a chance. It’s time to move forward.
Mets Press Conference June 17- 5 PM EDT
The Mets will hold a press conference at 5:00pm EDT today to introduce Jerry Manuel as their new manager. Omar Minaya will make the announcement and I’m sure will have to answer many pointed questions from the media in Los Angeles.
The press conference will be carried live on TV by SNY. I’m sure that WFAN will carry it on the radio as well. This is a nice departure from the morons at SNY that didn’t carry the Minaya press conference about Willie Randolph’s job status on Memorial Day.
With Randolph Gone, Minaya Is On The Hook
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Now that Willie Randolph has taken the fall for the under performing Mets team, someone else is going to be responsible for the wins and losses. That person is Omar Minaya.
Minaya is now on the hook for the performance of this team. He doesn’t have the security blanket of the Mets’ problems being Randolph’s fault anymore. That will be a heavy burden for Minaya to carry for the rest of this season.
Mark this date on your calendar because Omar Minaya is now on the clock. If the Mets and their $137 million payroll don’t meet expectations it will become Minaya’s problem. And there are some hefty expectations to meet. Getting deep into October is the only successful outcome for the Mets now. There is no safety parachute for Minaya. That’s now gone. There’s nobody else to blame.
Trading top prospects for Johan Santana and making a massive financial commitment to him over seven years was Minaya’s recommendation. The only logical reason to do that is for a team that’s on the verge of winning.
Good luck Omar. You better start working the phones. The Mets roster is going to be one of the hardest to re-make into a winner. The aging, injured, and under performing players are on your hands now.
Timing Of Randolph Firing Irrelevant
There’s never a good time to fire an employee. Whether it’s first thing in the morning or after a day of work, it isn’t pleasant.
We don’t know the nature of the conversations that took place between Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph. It’s possible that Minaya that wanted to fire Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto but Randolph said that he couldn’t work under those conditions. The reports were that Randolph was very unhappy when Minaya fired hitting coach Rick Down last season.
I know that it makes for good headlines in the mainstream media and the blogs to rip Minaya for the timing of this move. But don’t be too quick to judge.
Mets Fire Randolph And Coaches
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The Mets announced at 3:15 am Eastern time that they fired manager Willie Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson, and first base coach Tom Nieto. The move was completely expected after multiple media reports over more than a month. Mets bench coach Jerry Manuel will take over on an interim basis, Triple-A manager Ken Oberkfell, and pitching coach Dan Warthen, and scout Luis Aguayo will join the Mets major league staff.
The Mets Report 