Willie--OUT (Mets fire Randolph)

Maybe New York will be sleepy and not notice.

The Mariners sacked their GM today on the first day of the Sonics trial. Any distraction helps.

 

Somewhere, spnited's Viagra finally kicked in. :-X

 

No, but what's Omar going to do? Fire himself?

No fucking way.

BTW, this ham-handed firing is just the latest proof of how far behind the times the Mets are. Whether it's the fault of shithead PR guy or Freddie Coupons, the Mets probably figure that by firing the manager at 3 am on the west coast, they'll buy Tuesday to spin it because the news didn't make the local print editions. But, of course, we're in the 24-hour news cycle, so by 9 am at the absolute latest, all the big-named columnists are going to have pieces online about it. The local radio and TV stations (except SNY of course) will be all over this all day, as will ESPN. If anything, firing a guy in the middle of the night is going to make them look worse--much worse--than if they'd just done it at 3 pm EST.

But what do you want from an organization that still thinks a farm system is an option, not a requirement?

 

Maybe they'll fire someone running the minor league operation. Anyone see the list of retreads on the Triple-A team recently?

 

I'm looking forward to late July, when they deal Fernando Martinez and Mike Carp for Xavier Nady.

 

Along with the gun-in-his-back statement from Omar Minaya about how this was all his idea.

 

Willie had to go. Good riddance.

Hard to remember a team more geared toward WINNING NOW! He had no business running this team.

 

This is a shame, because Willie Randolph was far, far down the list of the Mets' problems. They're struggling because the bullpen is awful, because Church's concussions and Alou's fragility have left them running guys like Fernando Tatis and Damion Easley out there in the corner outfield spots, because Delgado got old and because Beltran and Wright are having subpar years. Despite all that, they're hovering around .500 and very much still in the hunt for the postseason, although the panic in the streets among Mets fans would have you believe they're 15 under and 15 out.

In 2004, the year before Randolph took over, the Mets were 71-91. Since then they've been 83-79, 97-65 and 88-74. If you're going to blame him for the 5-12 collapse last September, you have to give him credit for the all the winning that went on before that. There are no genius managers. Check out how Torre's doing in LA and Leyland in Detroit. Randolph had his flaws, but he was a decent enough manager who got fired because a lot of things he needed to break right, didn't, and because management didn't know what the fuck else to do.

 

Mike Vaccaro sends one 550 feet:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06172008/sports/mets/ready_____aim_____hold_your_fire__115840.htm

This is exactly what the Mets don't get: You don't bury the news by firing people at 3 am. You just look petty and clueless. But we all knew that.

 

He shouldn't have answered the phone call.

Sounds like when word leaked about Oberkfell getting on a plane, they had to pull the trigger. Or maybe Willie said if you get rid of my coaches, I'm gone too.

Sounds like the Mets have the same problems as the Mariners. Too many over-priced, under-performing players.

 

Vaccaro's column says as much re: Willie nudging the Mets to fire him.

It is so hard to remember this was the best team on the planet 20 months ago. But then again, rapid demises are a Mets specialty.

 

So, will the Wilpons make Willie and the gang hitchhike from Cali?

Whatever the case, it boggles the mind that someone, anyone, in the Mets' hierarchy would consider this a proper way to can Randolph. Don't these morons realize they've now made things a 1,000,000 times worse?