George Steinbrenner has done some ridiculous things during his tenure as New York Yankees’ owner, but the Mets’ handling of now-former manager Willie Randolph over the last few months has to top them all.
When the dust eventually settles around Willie’s middle-of-the-night firing from the under-.500 (as of press time) Mets, it may actually go down in sports history as one of the most acrimonious managerial departures ever. The worst part is how long this process has carried on – facing daily scrutiny from the New York media, Randolph has had his job performance questioned ever since late last year, when the Mets played sloppily down the stretch and coughed up a seven-game division lead in September by losing 12 of their last 17 games. Questions about the team’s lack of motivation and Randolph’s subsequent inability to get them fired up persisted into this year, and when the offseason acquisition of Johan Santana and a lineup that was expected to be among baseball’s best weren’t enough to get the Mets anywhere near first place this deep into June, it was clear that changes were needed.
But the process by which Randolph’s performance was vetted – daily press conferences, repeated meetings with general manager Omar Minaya and owner Fred Wilpon and a general lack of confidence from Minaya in Willie – made the last two months a soap opera for Randolph.
And you can say what your want about his inability to get the team motivated last year, and or his seeming inability to help it get past last year’s collapse, but Willie is a professional. This year’s Mets’ problems have more to do with a deluge of injuries, underperforming stars and a bullpen that seems to have forgotten how to keep games close than Randolph’s managerial abilities. And even if the dismissal of Randolph and pitching coach Rick Peterson (along with first base coach Tom Nieto) gets this team turned around in the short term, it’s hard to imagine the Mets, as currently constructed, in the World Series. Carlos Delgado is too broken down to be anywhere near the player he once was, and the rotation – even with Pedro Martinez back from yet another injury – may not last the season. New manager Jerry Manuel, the former bench coach, has his work cut out for him.
So even if the decision to replace Randolph at this point is the right one, the way it was handled is cringe-inducing, and that’s coming from a Yankee fan. I can’t imagine being a Mets fan, going to bed after a 9-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels on the West Coast, and waking up to find that Willie had been dismissed. Even after all the speculation, the 3:15 a.m. EDT press release heralding the dismissal of Randolph and others just feels wrong. Maybe not underhanded – the tabloids will have their field day one way or the other, and Randolph has known that change is coming for a while now – but just wrong.
It’s almost as if Minaya, under pressure from the front office but lacking the heart to make the move, finally decided, ‘Enough is enough’ and flew out to California to get it over with. Managers are rarely replaced after a win (even given how long this process has played out, it’s still odd to replace Randolph just as it looks like the Mets might be turning it around), but that’s what happened here.
And make no mistake – Minaya deserves his share of the blame. He assembled this current team, which depends on an aging pitching staff and roster. His inability to fire Randolph at the right time – which would have been any time other than 3 a.m. on Tuesday – raises just as many questions about his tenure as general manager as it does about the Mets’ future. The team definitely has the talent to turn around its season, but few baseball insiders regard Manuel and new pitching coach Dan Warthen, promoted from Class AAA, as an upgrade, particularly with Peterson regarded as one of the finer pitching coaches in the game. And even if the Mets are somehow able to right the ship and make the playoffs this fall, their season will be tainted by the way they handled Randolph and company – classless and cowardly.
With the exception of a interview last month in which Randolph implied that he was being portrayed differently on Mets telecasts than a white manager would be, Randolph has been dignified during this tempest. Considering the daily scrutiny he’s faced about his team and his job, that might have been a harder task than getting this edition of the Mets to start playing better. Maybe with this weight off their shoulders, the team will finally be able to put last September behind them and focus on playing the way a $138 million team should. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise for Willie – he’ll always be a New York guy, courtesy of his steady tenure as a second baseman for two Yankee championships from 1976-88 – but last year’s collapse turned many Mets fans against him. Now, he escapes looking like a martyr, while Minaya and the Mets ownership will be left to answer for a team which may not be salvageable. Willie comes out looking good, despite every attempt by management to lay the blame on him. Even Steinbrenner, famous for his tantrums, diatribes to the press and disdain of Billy Martin (and most other managers), never treated one of his subordinates this badly.
Maybe Willie is getting out at the right time.