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It’s been interesting watching this team over the first month and seeing the fans reaction to this team’s mediocre play. No matter the outcome of the game you’ll see or hear comments looking for Willie Randolph to be fired. But, at what point do we stop blaming the manager for this team’s poor execution and start blaming the players?
I find it funny when I hear or read things such as, “The players are tuning Willie out” or they have “stopped playing for Willie.” So what if they have? Don’t these players have enough pride in themselves to go out and play to the best of their abilities no matter who is managing? If not, then they are the ones to blame, not the manager.
There is been too much criticism about Willie’s demeanor, the way he constructs his lineups and his use of players like Carlos Delgado. Much of that has nothing to do with team’s performance on the field.
Is Willie to blame when the team is batting .167 with runners in scoring position? Is he to blame when Aaron Heilman throws a poorly located change-up or if Delgado goes 0-for-4 with three strikeouts? Of course not, but I get the sense fans of this team are making Randolph the scapegoat for everything this team has done wrong in the past 10 months.
I’m not saying Willie should never take heat for this team’s poor play or continue to be this team’s manager after a certain point if they continue to play in a sub-par manner. And, I’m certainly not being an apologist. I just think we start blaming the manager for everything little thing and neglect to blame player performance.
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Willie is definitely the scapegoat for the fans’ frustrations. The wildly fluctuating polls confirm that too.
Omar needs to take a lot of the responsibility for whatever happens to this team — win or lose. He’s the one who put this team together with the laid back, often injured and absent players. It’s mainly on him. Not Willie
There is been too much criticism about Willie’s demeanor, the way he constructs his lineups and his use of players like Carlos Delgado. Much of that has nothing to do with team’s performance on the field.
This is especially true. Look at Leyland. Many point to him as how a good manager should be/act. His team is playing far worse than the Mets and they were expected to be much better than the Mets. But it’s on Dombrowski, not Leyland. Leyland didn’t skimp on the pitching. He’s not the one who fell into the trap (like Omar did) of getting too many older veterans who are now underperforming.
A manager can do just so much. It’s primarily the GM’s job to put together the right players with the right attitudes.
And thanks, Mike Nichols, for bringing some much needed balance to the debate.
Of course, unlike Randolph, Jim Leyland has a championship ring, multiple playoff appearances and multiple divisional titles under his belt.
er…you do realize Willie has six rings - two as a player and five as a coach?
oops…4 as a coach
C’mon….obviously we’re talking about managers here. Sheesh.
Isiah Thomas has two rings as a player, I guess that means he’s a great head coach, right?
I don’t think Leyland had any success in his first four seasons as a manager.
Joe,
Leyland is a good manager. I’m not saying he isn’t. But:
1) He’s managed for 17 years and has just 1 WS title.
2) Willie has a higher winning percentage as a manager than Leyland does
I’m not saying that Willie is a better manager than Leyland either. Not at all. Just that the role of the manager is overblown. The GM has the biggest influence on the W-L record. And it’s rare when a manager can be the type of catalyst or detriment to a team’s fortunes. the way the Willie bashers think.
Willie has plenty of championship rings as a player and a coach. You can’t discredit that.
If the discussion is his MANAGERIAL skills, of course you can. See my Isiah Thomas example, above.
Yeah, I’m sure the ability to wave runners home from third plays a large part in somebody’s qualifications to manage an entire team.
I won’t discredit what he did as a player. But as a coach…how much credit he deserves for those rings is debatable. If anything, I think he gives himself too much credit, hence the frequent “I come from winning” comments. If you are a real winner, you don’t need to keep reminding everybody.
Joe — Thomas has a .333 winning percentage as a head coach. Willie’s managerial record is .550. Ain’t even close.
Yeah, how much impact did Willie have on those 90’s Yankee championships, sitting on the bench helping Joe Torre pick his nose? Hell, I don’t even think JOE TORRE deserves all that much credit, and he WAS the manager!
F.A.H. - OK, you win. Willie Randolph is a better manager than Isiah Thomas is as a head coach. Let’s throw him a parade.
No parades until there is a WS title. Which will be hard the way Omar has been constructing the team. That’s the real problem.
But the point is that it’s ridiculous to bring Thomas’ name into the discussion. He may be the worst coach of any sport I’ve ever seen.
I was responding to the people who said that the World Series rings that Willie he won as a second baseman had anything to do with his managerial skills.
Bob Brenly has a ring. Does that make him a good manager?
The way a lineup is constructed, i.e. who bats 2nd or 6th has very little to do with how the lineup produces. To kill Willie over batting Church 2nd or 6th is useless. The statistical difference is minimal.
Willie is the Herm Edwards of Baseball. Fire everyone around him get a couple of GURU’s to assist and it still not Willie’s Fault.
Bottom is this team is underachieving going on 3 years now. Is it the players…no the buck stops with the manager and Willie is clueless …
he doesnt know what he is doing and we already have lost 6 games b/c of his (feelings) were 1 game back instead of 5 up…
Willie is not right for this team Go back to the Bronx bring in Buck Showalter!
No, the buck stops with the GM.
He is the one who put together the team — personality and age and injury warts and all.
God enough with all the Willy Randolph apologists… He is a nice guy but he does not fit with this team. He needs to go sooner or later.
How about enough with all the Willy bashers? Especially when it’s clear from the polls that you are in the minority.
You are the very vocal and whiny minority.
Ok, you can keep on accepting mediocrity. That’s the difference btw winners and losers in this world.
No, I don’t accept or like mediocrity. I just don’t like to place the blame for it where it doesn’t belong. Because that doesn’t do anything to fix it.
the polls here have often been timed after mets wins and were missing the week the mets were under .500. they are totally unreliable. that said your manager is sitting on a 58% approval rating which is really unimpressive considering the generally positive tone of this blog.
this team is .500 since last memorial day. whether or not the players are ultimately to blame, they cannot (generally) be replaced. willie must be removed.
Uh, no. Matt has tended to run polls right after losses or bad series losses.
And take note…, the manager’s approval rating is matching the general confidence level that the fans have in this team. They are the one and the same for many fans. (look at the upper left corner of this blog.)
Regardless, if you run fan polls for almost any team that hasn’t won a WS in a few years, right after losses or losing series or when they are simply playing around .500, you’re going to get the same results.
What do you think Leyland’s approval rating would be right now on a Tiger’s blog?
Bottom line: You bashers are in the minority.
Removing Willie would be a symbolic useless move that wouldn’t fix the underlying problems on the team.
i take the timing of the polls comment back. i’m not so sure about that. but since like the day after opening day, the willie approval rating here has floating between 50-60%, so please don’t pretend the “bashers” are a small minority at all.
willie is a poor manager. i don’t know how anyone who watches this team regularly can conclude otherwise.
I did not say you are a small minority. I said you were the minority. You are.
The polls consistently give Willie an approval rating of about 60%. You bashers are around 40%. You are outnumbered.
Willie is an average manager. I don’t know how anyone who watches the team regularly can see that the main issues they have don’t have to do with him.
tyranny of the majority, imo
Remember that everything we’re hearing about Willie was said about Joe Torre, before he became a 4-time WS winner.
He was too laid back, he didn’t think on his feet, he sacrificed spontaneity for consistency, etc etc.
If Willie has the players to win it, he’ll win it.
Hey way to be rational, you mean that it takes talent and getting hot at the right time to win? I thought that you had to have a great manager to win.
joe torre’s first three and change seasons in the bronx: championship, playoff appearance, top 10 team of all time + championship, en route to third championship
willie randolph’s first three and change seasons in queens: fourth place after september collapse, 97 win season followed by playoff loss to clearly to 83 win team, worst collapse ever, now barely treading water
so yeah, exactly the same.
also, torre was managing in the 70s and didn’t win until 1996. you feel like watching 17 years of willie randolph? really?
If it means 4 rings in 5 years…hell yeah…
Torre won 4 WS titles because of
1) Rivera
2) Other homegrown core players who produced such as Jeter, Williams, Posada, and Pettitte
3) The big payroll to fill holes
4) Heavily juiced teams
Those teams woulda won under any manager.
Torre has a below .500 record managing other teams not named the Yankees. And thsoe were all National League teams. He’s not tactical, and he’s not strategic. The man is overrated. He didn’t manage the Yankees…he managed the media and especially Steinbrenner.
But one thing he did do, he let his player play and acted as a shield. any blame that was to absorb…he absorbed it even when it wasn’t his issue. That says alot.
If Willie would only do that….