Category: Latest News

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.

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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

FLUSHING, NY - FEBRUARY 06: (L to R) New York Mets General manager Omar Minaya, pitcher Johan Santana, Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon and Manager Willie Randolph pose during a news conference introducing him on Ferbruary 6, 2007 in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York City.

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.

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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

NEW YORK - APRIL 26: Manager Willie Randolph #12 (L) and pitching coach Rick Peterson #51 of the New York Mets confer in the second inning of a game against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium April 26, 2008 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

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.

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Reports: Randolph Safe, Coaches Could Go

NEW YORK - APRIL 26: Manager Willie Randolph #12 (L) and pitching coach Rick Peterson #51 of the New York Mets confer in the second inning of a game against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium April 26, 2008 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

There have been a variety of reports about what Omar Minaya may do to shake this team up. It seems that the latest hot story in the mainstream media is that Willie Randolph will be retained as manager for now, but several coaches could be fired as soon as this week.

Pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto are the two coaches named in the stories that appear to be on the hook for the Mets’ troubles this season.

Somebody has to be the scapegoat for this disappointing season, so why not the coaches?

I’ve wanted Peterson to go since shortly after the 2004 non-waiver trading deadline deal that sent Scott Kazmir to the Rays for Victor Zambrano. The reports were that the trade was made mostly on a recommendation by Peterson that he could “fix Zambrano in ten minutes”. That trade has hurt the Mets for years.

I have no idea what Nieto did to land on the chopping block, but Peterson sure deserves to be there.

Zemanta Pixie

Don’t Cry For Willie

I’m tired of reading and hearing about how the “Evil Wilpons” and Omar Minaya should stop torturing Willie Randolph by pressuring him to achieve results. Everyone has pressure in their jobs to increase productivity and results. Those in the newspaper business should know that better than anyone.

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Yes, Randolph has a winning record over his entire four year tenure with the Mets. But professional sports is a business of "what have you done for me lately" unless there’s a long term contract involved. In Randolph’s case, there isn’t a long term contract. The Wilpons owe him about $3.5 million more over the next year and a half whether he’s managing the Mets or home watching on TV.

The only managers in baseball with higher annual salaries than Randolph are: Joe Torre, Lou Piniella, Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, Dusty Baker, and Joe Girardi. Those are all far better managers than Randolph.

The Mets can’t continue with the status quo if they expect to be competitive this season. And I have every reason to believe that they do have that expectation.

In some cases, the players haven’t appeared to be as motivated as they could be. That’s on Randolph. Of course, he’s not the only problem. But all of the so-called experts picked the Mets as the front runner for the NL East, not for a fourth place finish.

The Mets had to get out to a fast start this season to erase the taste left in our collective mouths from "The Collapse". It didn’t happen, and the Wilpons and Minaya have every right to press for better results than we’ve seen this season.

I realize that Randolph probably won’t get another managerial position after presiding over the worst collapse in baseball history. That’s not the end of the world though. He’ll probably end up back on the Yankee’s coaching staff where he belongs.