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According to Ken Rosenthal at FoxSports.com, Willie Randolph is among six managers who are ‘on the hot seat,’ i.e., men who could potentially be fired this season.
Rosenthal writes of Randolph, among other comments:
“Anything less than a postseason berth - and maybe a first-round playoff triumph - could endanger both Randolph and GM Omar Minaya…Randolph did not deserve to be fired after last season. His lack of outward passion drew criticism, but if he had shown more emotion, he might have given the appearance of panic…
“Strategy often is less important than personality; Charlie Manuel’s greatest strength with the Phillies is his knack for keeping the team positive through periods of adversity. Tough-minded players help; the Phillies possess a certain swagger. Randolph’s most accomplished position players, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, are not leaders…
“No one in the Mets’ clubhouse could rescue a sinking Jose Reyes last September; Pedro Martinez laments that he was absent for too long last season to assert himself in September. Perhaps Martinez, Santana and third baseman David Wright will help the leadership void. One thing is certain: Improved pitching would make Randolph look a lot smarter.”
…as i have said before, if the Mets play sound baseball and live up to the talent of the team, but just get beat by a better club, i think willie will survive, regardless of whether his team makes the post-season or not…however, if the club flops around, plays uninspired and falls short at any point in the season, he’s toast…and justifiably so…
isaiah thomas might be looking for a job
now that would be hilarious…he’d play 8 infielders one day, and 8 outfielders the next. (I’ll assume he understands that he needs a pitcher)
Willie is “toast” as in a toasted Subway sub or “toast” as in fired?
There is NO WAY GM Omar Minaya is endanger of losing his job… I don’t even have to ask, I know we all know what our past looks like… outside of a couple short sighted moves (Mike Jacobs & Brian Bannister) Omar Minaya has been an absolute blessing and breath of fresh air.
We’re actually contenders again and not because teams around us are weak, we actually have a strong core that fans can cling too. No longer are the Jason Phillips, Karim Garcia’s and Jeromy Burnitz’s running a muck on the field….
As for Willie… I don’t care who manages this ball club so long as Minaya sticks around… I never liked Willie’s propensity to play veterans over surging rookies, but I don’t hold anything against the man. I believe bottomline its the players performance and always will be. Clearly Willie has to put his guys in the best position to win, but it comes down to execution in my eyes and that has been a lot better the past couple years…
Yea, I don’t see how Omar can be considered on the “Hot Seat”…for anyone who doesn’t agree, look back to the roster in 2004.
He is on the hot seat because the mets are built to win now and he convinced the Wilpon’s to let him make the moves he felt necessary. The reason the roster looks different and is better is because of the Wilpon’s opening up their wallet based on Omar’s convincing.
The Wilpon’s are tight when it comes to money and nothing will get their blood boiling more than $150 Million invested on a third place finish. These are not the Dolan’s where they will invest more and more in sinking ships.
As for the Jacobs comment about it being short sighted, thats awful. Delgado was the move and the man to get. Jacobs is nothing special. Now letting Royce Ring and Heath Bell go thats something that can be noted as a poor move
All of Omar’s best moves were because he spent more of his owner’s money than other GMs were willing to spend.
He spent Wilpon $ to get Santana and the only reason why Santana is here is because Hankie Steinbrenner didn’t want to part with Hughes.
Wright & Reyes have nothing to do with Omar.
Julio Franco & David Newhan do.
Omar let Marlon Anderson walk because he didn’t want to give Marlon a 2 year deal (despite coming off a stellar PH season). But he gave old man Franco 2 years and let him be a nuisance in the clubhouse.
Omar has depleted a farm system of Bannisters and Keppingers, who who could be contributing today, for stiffs (Burgos) and guys he is discarding (Gotay).
Omar has a ridiculous habit of obtaining “his” guys (i.e aging Latinos or former Expos/Nationals).
Most damming of all, Omar hired Willie Randolph. Countless teams had passed on Willie and his track record shows those teams were right.
Omar is the Keyzer Soze
Omar is the Keyzer Soze of GMs
funny how you omitted omar trading Benson and Nady for Maine, Perez, and Duque.
Who would you rather have? the previous regime? the Victor Zambrano regime?
Ed wade?
fair and balanced
and stupid
I dont understand the sector of met fans who complain about how Minaya has gone about building this team. Yes, we are built to win now, so what. We havent won anything in 22 years. You cant have it all. And if Minaya has added all these players by opening up the Wilpons wallets, then I give him credit for at least being able to convince them to do it, when no one else did it before.
One has nothing to do with the other. Omar is good but his a$$ is on the line this year. No one is saying we’d rather have Phillips or Duquette back Omar is obvioulsy better than him, but this is the year to put up or shut up.
Cashan is still alive they rolled him onto the field last year put him in the seat.
Omar traded for Jorge Julio, NOT JOHN MAINE. Maine was a throw in (Orioles gave up on him) to easy the pain of the Mets giving up a starter.
The Pirates trade was Nady for Hernandez. Again, Perez was a salary dump/throw in by the Pirates who had given up on Perez. This trade would have never had happened if Sanchez didn’t go out for Dominican food. So you should credit Sanchez for that trade, not Omar
revisionist history
the revisionist part is claiming that omar traded for these guys when other teams dumped them on him. they were no-lose propositions. projects. omar has done okay with the checkbook–not so okay with the trades. how good has endy been since his first year? answer: no good. he cannot hit and he never could. 2006 was the fluke of flukes. nice catch, though.
I love Minaya but he is going to look really bad if Milledge puts up a 30-30 this year.
No he is not. No one in that organization wanted Milledge around. The only reason no one has said anything about that is because they are a veteran team who knew not to open their mouths and because they have a good respect for Acta.
LOL @ Milledge putting up 30/30, gimme a break. Milledge is going to get exposed this season as being more hype than substance.
It doesn’t matter if Milledge goes 5/5.. the mistake was trading Milledge when he did… at one time he could of brought us Zito in 06.. or Manny before that.. instead we get two borderline straters.. who make like 7 million combined!
To take on that salary it should of cost us Fernando Tatis’s jock strap!
And who’s catching for the Nats in Schnider’s abscense?? Ex-Met Jesus Flores who was left un protected in the rule V draft…
He just doesn’t finish the job.. why trade for Johan and then ignore the 5 spot?
Why get no OF depth when you KNOW Alou can’t play a full season?
If Omar traded Milledge for Zito in 06, then Zito would have undoubtedly been resigned for 07 at ridiculous money. You know what that would have meant? No Johan.
thank god we didn’t get zito. he can’t even beat the Giants AAA team.
The Santana deal aside omar had a craptacular off season.. we are no depth.. we’re starting an un known in left to start the season.. Church and Schneider are both big question marks and way too small a return for Milledge.. and the 5th starter spot is a giant question mark as well…
I’m not impressed with Omar’s body of work…
OT: Go to the NY Times where there is a terrific article on Cutter Dykstra. Apparently he’s a highly touted HS prospect who could be a first round pick this June. I hope the Mets look into him.
The article says of Lenny vs. his son::
The two have some differences. Cutter’s mother, Terri, said her son was “not a pigpen away from baseball, like Lenny.”
“He’s more refined,” she added.
His wife calls Lenny a pigpen. :lol:
In terms of who should be on the hot seat, if the Mets don’t win because of terribly low production from El Duque, Delgado, and Alou … and the offense does end up to be a fatal flaw, then I don’t know how you can pin the blame on Willie. Omar deserves most of the blame then, because he’s the one who decided it was a good idea to put so much age risk on the team.
It will be a tough call of course, either way, but I think both should be on the hot seat this year. Having said that, I can’t foresee the Mets not winning the NL East despite the flawed offense because their pitching is so strong this year. So I can’t foresee any scenario where either Willie or Omar get canned.
Anyone who trades Anna Benson for John Maine should never be fired!
That trade was going to be Benson for Julio straight up.
Maine was a throw in…no credit for Omar.
a throw in? maybe a “throw-in” from baltimores perspective. not a throw in from omars perspective. he got a guy he saw potential in, and he was right.
you’re an idiot.
Metsie, you are the same person, that would complain even if the Mets won the WS, because they couldnt sweep. lol
and then Julio for el duque….
um actually, Minaya insisted on Maine being a part, as he did with Perez
i’m genuinely ignorant– what are you basing that on?
i’m sure the orioles didn’t just say “hey, i know it’s benson for juio straight up, but if you want we can throw in this 23 year old pitcher”
i seem to remember a lot of talk about maine’s potential even back then…
and omar flipped julio for duque and a benson for duque trade clearly benefits the mets
The trade originally was Benson straight up for Julio. Then word leaked out and it was panned in the media and on talk radio. Then nothing for a month or two until the trade resurfaced with Maine thrown in.
According to Olney, the Mets went back to ask for more after the initial trade was bashed in the media.
While Maine was a throw in, at least Omar asked for the right throw-in. He still deserves credit for Maine even though he was an afterthought.
How can a clubhouse be expected to “rescue” a slumping player?
Sometimes players just slump.
Someone in that clubhouse has to step it up when the team struggles. DW said the PC/vanilla/bland thing a while back that “Willie is our leader,” which is true in the technical sense because he’s the manager. But in the emotional sense it’s gotta be one (or more) of the players, the guys on the field, who have to lead. Doesn’t have to be a loud guy or an older guy. Quiet leadership can work. DW is young, but he could do it — he’s at the point where he’s earned the respect of others.
I love what Pedro said yesterday about being a leader. Sure, he’s not on the field every day but he has stature with his teammates.
As for Willie and Omar, I wouldn’t like to see either go. But if this team performs poorly I think Willie is going to be in big trouble. Not so much Omar, though.
So far as I’m concerned, the major difference between the ‘07 performance and what I expect to be stellar ‘08 results will be Pedro.
Not Pedro’s arm, per se (though it won’t hurt), but his leadership. He brings all the right qualities to the table, from fire to experience to knowing when to let go, relax and blow off some steam.
Pedro is the difference-maker for this team, and not just because of his ERA.
How many times did we hear in the past that the Mets should have gone after Vlad or A-rod, etc. just to pass it up.
Omar went after and got Beltran, Pedro, Johan, when in past years there would have been no way.
omar is not going to be fired.
willie will get fired if the mets struggle early or don’t make the playoffs. there were wackos who wanted him fired last year when it wasn’t his fault. now that they have santana and a healthy pedro the mets brass will let him be the fall-guy.
that being said, they will make the playoffs if the front-four starters, beltran, wright, reyes, and wagner stay healthy. willie is a good manager. omar is a good gm.
Slightly off topic, Omar has to get a big kudos for not over pursuing Bredard. Has anyone seen his numbers he stinks. In 24 innings he has given up 23 earned runs, 9 Hrs only had 10 k’s and 8 walks.
Wow, that is terrible.
FIRE WILLIE RANDOLPH NOW!!!!!!!!!
There has only been four stretches where the team winning records for at least three years.
1. 1969 – 1973 with Gil Hodges and Yogi Berra *
2. 1984 – 1990 with Davey Johnson
3. 1997 – 2001 with Bobby Valentine
4. 2005 – 2007 with Willie Randolph
* the Mets also had winning records (barely) in 1975 & 1976 under Yogi & Roy McMillan.
The Mets have had a total of 22 wining seasons and Willie has been manager for 3 of those seasons.
It should also be noted, Davey Johnson AND Willie Randolph are the only two managers to have a winning record in each of the seasons they have managed.
Davey, Bobby, and Willie each had winning seasons in their first three years.
The Mets have 2 WS titles, won the division five times, and have won the wild card twice. Willie has one of those Division titles. Only Davey and Gil have also guided the Mets to win the division.
We need to give Willie the rspect he deserves.
And Willie is the only one of the bunch who doesn’t understand the double-switch.
As far as I’m concerned, willie should be the only one on the hot seat. Omar’s done an excellent job. I’ve been an ardent willie defender, despite his tactical miscues, and will still give him the benefit of the doubt most times, but it’s his fourth freakin year…display some adaptability!
I know managing a game isn’t easy and I was on the Willie Randolph bandwagon all last year – but this year is different.
We have ALL the tools to make a World Series appearence. ALL of them. Great hitting. Solid fielding. Outstanding pitching and a reliable BP.
There is absolutely no reason why we should not make the NLCS at the very least this year. For the first time ever, I can honestly say that a NL East title is not enough. A first round win, is not enough. We made the NLCS in 2006 with a lesser team.
If we don’t, we need to take a hard look at our entire organization and figure out what the problem is. Manager, GM, players, etc.
Sorry to say but for the first time ever, it’s World Series appearance or bust…
here is who SHOULD be fired by order of annoyance:
1) Cow Bell Man
2) Jose from the Pepsi Party Patrol
3) Any Fan who yells comments at the “Road” Bat boy (he works for the Mets you morons)
4) Willie if they dont make the playoffs or have a break down again.
5) Whoever made Shea Smoke Free this year, one year left just let us who choose to go smoke, its a great feature.
6) Omar again for the same reasons as Willie
strategy is often less important that personality? rosenthal…what the hell are you on about?
yeah it pretty much discredits everything he has to say… ever.
So if the Mets went 7-10 instead of 5-12 against the Marlins/Nats, he wouldn’t have bestowed such exuberance for the bumbling Charlie of Mayberry. The guy is a dope, but the players love him. That is not not why they won though…
Obviously there was a leadership void last year, and the one thing that perturbed me the most about this team last year was their over-confidence. Willie even eludes to it sometimes, saying: “we have a very confident bunch of guys..sometimes they are almost too confident.” There was no sense of urgency in September. Delgado even admitted to it afterwards.
I think the return of a healthy Pedro, Wright’s growing leadership role, and Santana’s presence will prevent that from happening this year. This team is clearly talented enough to win the division…its just the mental part I worry about.
I don’t get all these “the Phillies have swagger” articles. Why, because they won 89 games and got swept in the playoffs? Aren’t they pretty much the exact same team who choked in each of the previous 7 pennant races? So one year another team chokes and all of a sudden the Phillies have “swagger.” What a bunch of pathetic crap.
Every Philly fan I know (and unfortunately, it’s a lot) wanted Manuel fired as late as the all-star break last year, but now all of a sudden he’s considered some great manager? I’ll take Willie over Manuel any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
love that Philly “swagger”—3 straight losses (2 at home) in the first round.