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In a report for SI.com, citing ‘sources,’ Jon Heyman writes, “Omar Minaya is seriously considering changing managers and at least a couple of the team’s coaches,” including Howard Johnson and Rick Peterson.
According to Heyman, if Randolph is fired, the job will go to Jerry Manuel, “who would be given the season to see whether he can turn things around.”
…thanks to Alon Rothschild for the link…
…from what i can gather, willie has one foot on a banana peel, and the other out the door…he has the support of minaya, and tentative support from the team’s ownership…the way i heard it, willie would get at least through the all-star break, unless of course his team went in to a serious downward spiral…i’m not so sure losing six of seven is such a spiral, but it’s a good start…
This morning on WFAN, host Craig Carton suggested that, not only should the Mets keep Randolph, but they should extend his contract – thus sending a signal to the team’s players stating, ‘You have no choice but to get your act together.’
…i feel bad for willie…i do…i just don’t think he has the right mix of players to fit his strengths as a manager…had Omar Minaya actually built the type of team he said he was going to build when he arrived here, i.e., young, fast, athletic, sustainable, etc., i think willie would have been a perfect fit…but, today, the fact is, the team is losing, and if it continues to lose, willie is going to pay for his player’s sins with his job…
Nevertheless, Randolph appeared to be in good spirits today, while doing an autograph signings at Macy’s.
…Update…1:20 pm…
In report for ESPN.com, citing ‘a baseball man who speaks regularly with Mets management,’ Jayson Stark writes that ‘Randolph is not going to be fired. Period.’
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Just do it already, what the hell could happen today that could change what has happened since May ‘07? This is really becoming a joke.
CLEAN HOUSE BABY!!
CLEAN HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I second that motion Mikey_FF!
A few thoughts….
First, while Willie has made some poor decisions, he still has to play the guys on the team. Simply put, the players play, the coaches coach. If the team isn’t getting it done, that falls on the players and the person that brought them in (Omar Minaya).
That brings me to my next point, the players. Aside from Wright, Reyes, Johan, and Maine, I think you see what is available in a trade for anyone else. Look at the available FAs. Kenny Lofton is a winner, and we need an outfielder. We also need a run producer. Arguably the best run producer in the history of the game is available (Bonds). Maybe not popular moves, but I’m sure they would be a lot more popular if we were in first place.
If Kenny Lofton had been an Expo at any point in his career he’d already be a Met.
You are probably right.
that, sadly, is hilarious
Touche, Pancakes…. well done….
I cannot believe I am actually taking the time to post this, but the “Get Kenny Lofton he’s a winner!!” people really make this entire site look like a colony of silly 6 year olds….forever, we have all been complaining about ancient players who have made zillions and who are at the end of their careers, and who are we pining for on this site? KENNY LOFTON!!
Folks, 2009 is not that far away, we have an excellent foundation, and with all of the KENNY-LOFTON-like old, satisfied players gone, we will be young and hungry again next year.
Kenny Lofton. If he was on the team right now, he would be exhibit A of everyone screaming at Omar for the old players.
Actually, Kingman, Lofton is still healthy and productive. Old is not the problem. Old, injured, and useless is the problem. Lofton constantly plays on contending teams, and knows what it takes to be a winner. That type of attitude is missing from this Mets team.
The problem is old players who have made tens of millions and don’t care anymore. And players who get injured more in their late 30s/40s–this is a key point to consider. We have more than enough old players. We don’t need another one.
Duque, Pedro, Alou, Castillo—they may all care, but older players get injured more, and we need youth.
Don’t trust any free agents over age 30.
The other problem if old doesn’t mean unproductive it means soon to be unproductive. Do we really want to be holding the bag when soon becomes now?
It is becoming extremely obvious the impact that Steroids, and HGH have played in baseball over the years. Baseball is a young mans sport. Baseball is going through a transition. Older, experienced guys, have to teach pass on their knowledge to the younger generation.
Young teams, Rays, Diamond Backs, Red Sox, are doing it right, build with young players, and sprinkle in some hungry early 30 year olds to push hard, the younger guys.
I can’t think of any teams in the top of their division who have as many older players like the Mets do?
This year could put us back a few, unless we sit vetrens who are not carrying their weight, and play hungry rookies.
Put this season on ice, and build for 2010.
Peace :)
Kingman, I’m not saying bring these players in for long term deals. I wouldn’t want Lofton or Bonds for more than a year. They are just better options than anything we have right now. Would a younger guy like Nady be a better move? Without question. But do you really want to give up Fernando Martinez to get him? This team lacks leadership and heart, and unless the Wizard of Oz stops by, it won’t magically appear this season with this team as presently constructed.
I’m interested to hear your suggestions. You mention getting younger guys. Who do you have in mind? Or are you thinking more for next year?
I feel that you are wrong, cause I feel that the team does have leadership and heart, but it is not helping them.
I just feel they have an emotional losing feeling that has crept into their system and they somehow let that feeling destroy their winning potential.
And it is my belief that it is that feeling that must be removed.
And in a big way Sillie is part of that feeling.
You say you feel that the team has leadership and heart. Who do you see as a leader on this team? Who shows heart? You’re blaming Willie as part of that feeling. Is it Willie who blew three consecutive saves? Is it Willie who can’t drive in runs? I don’t know how old you are, so you may not know this, but Willie was the type of player this team could use right now.
Wont happen till after the All Star Game. The day after.
Then the season is over
Well the Stark comment guarantees it doesn’t it.
BTW, anyone notice the irony that Willie’s on the hot seat, the team’s not hitting and “wannabe manager-hitting guru” Rudy Jaramillo will be at Shea this weekend. Can we kidnap him?
I agree wholeheartedly…as much as we all bash him, Willie is a nice guy and a very good baseball mind…however, the last 170 games says it all…it’s a big sample size and therefore changes need to be made…it is easier to change the manager and/ or pitching/ hitting coach than a light-hitting, non-caring first baseman making 15 million, so this is what has to be done.
If you fire Randolph, Johnson, Peterson, you MUST bring in someone from the outside or someone from the minors. You do not hand the job to Manuel!!!!!
I agree, but logistically, they probably need someone from within for the interim.
Why? This is become insanity. When a corporation is struggling and their CEO leaves, they don’t promote the next guy in line…they bring in someone from the outside to shake things up. As Branch Rickey once said about Ralph Kiner — “why are we going to pay you that much money when we can finish in last place with or without you.” This team is filled with a bunch of losers that are hard to cheer for. Bring in a manager with some feistyness and maybe that will rub off on these non-chalant players
Actually, bringing up an interim chief executive internally is not so uncommon among major corporations.
Uh, not really with struggling corporations my friend…in stong companies yes, struggling companies, no.
But who can you get in the middle of the season at the drop of a hat? Fire Willie, let Jerry take over, and then in the off season, bring in the guy you really want. Hard to find someone who is available now, let alone the one you want. Jerry wouldn’t be a permanent manager, just a stop gag to finish the season.
Ken Oberkfell. He has succeeded at every level in the minor leagues. If they’re going to fire Willie mid-season, bring up Ken and see how he does for the rest of the season. If he turns things around, keep him. If not, find someone else in the offseason.
In either case, they need to let the new manager pick his own coaches. Willie got the shaft on that one.
The options mid-season are always rediculously thin.
You can only get someone who is either…
A) Currently employed by the Mets
B) Currently unemployed by any MLB affiliated teams (Indepenant Leagues, Japan, Retired or in the Media)
A Larry Bowa (For example) isn’t going to ditch his current team mid-season to manage the Mets no matter how much he might want to, because that would be breaking so many unwritten rules.
And, Either scenario B or C would put the Mets under subject to the minority hiring rules where one would have to get an interview, because those are external canidates.
The right way to do such a move is to give the job to someone like Manuel on an interim basis and then after the season you conduct your full interview process, or you can just remove the interim from his title and give him the job if you are pleased with the job that he is doing.
whoever made the comparison to corporations hire from outside is an idiot. yeah, maybe corporations hire new executives from the outside, but this is sports, and most of the time, an intermim is hired. unlike in business, sports has a fixed timetable. in business, you dont know when people will become available because the business “season” never ends. if we hire someone new now, we will be selecting from a much smaller pool of candidates. by seasons end, some guys will be fired, some coaches will be available, and guys abroad or in independent leagues, can breach contracts. if we select a new manager now, were risking our future to save this season, which might already be lost.
Eli, you are telling me you want to wait til the end of the year to find a new manager to see which ones get fired…Yeah, just what we need more, recycled junk.
Any successful business person knows that when you struggle you bring in someone from the outside that will throw some cold water on the employees. Keeping Manuel would be saying we’re giving up on the season and I’m not ready to do that on June 15th and 6 games out.
There are guys out of work, etc that could come in now and shake things up just like Jack McKeon did a few years back.
Buck Showalter, Lee Mazilli, Bob Brenly, Tom Kelly, Cito Gaston, Gary Carter, etc.
Bring in Backman for the rest of the season, with his pitching coach of choice, and go. If is didn’t work Open Citi with a whole new group of coaches and manager.
Peace :)
Is this team in first place if Manuel is the manager? If the answer is no or probably not, this move is a waste of time.
Fire Delgado first and see if that will get these guys playing a little harder.
good point… i think they should DFA delgado to send a message to the team. remember when the red sox put manny on IRREVOCABLE WAIVERS? that seems to have worked out ok.
Thats because Manny has a brain that is capable of tuning out everything on planet Earth except for hitting a baseball. Delgado is a cerebral guy and couldn’t do what Manny does.
ha ha! I heard somewhere that Manny doesn’t even keep track of the count until he has two strikes.
how would Manny know he has 2 strikes if he wasnt keeping track of the count?
Manny doesn’t even know he’s playing baseball until he is out in left.
lol…idoism…
Willie and Peterson both!
Though I must admit, not letting Willie choose his own pitching coach and forcing him to use an Art Howe holdover is pretty bush league.
Ah, the Mets gave Willie far more than he deserved anyway…he shouldn’t have even seen this year.
Two days ago willie was your man Omar. Alou for Batting coach.
Rosenthal didn’t say that Omar is day to day, he said that Randolph is day to day and that the decision lies with Omar.
I think Omar sees the writing on the wall, fire Willie or he is gone and needs to take some heat off and look like he is doing something.
I agree.
Matt, where in that article does it say Omar is day to day. That reference referred to Willie, not him.
Don’t get me wrong. I wish he was day to day also. I really blame him more than Willie.
I think Matt simply means that their good relationship status is day to day.
I have to concur; replacing Randolph with Manuel won’t be the needed shake-up — in my opinion.
Anywho, I’m tired of reading about opened threats and potential changes regarding players and/or coaches. I need to see something finalized on paper to take anything seriously these days.
I agree, these stories are starting to look like the injury updates on Pedro, Alou, and el puque, all talk no action.
Well I suppose Jerry Manuel is a temporary managaer until they bring in a better one. I for one want Bobby Valentine back, Howard Johnson seriously has made the Mets’ bats look pathetic since he took over the job so I want him out.. Rick Peterson I do not want him out, he made the Mets’ pitching #1 in 06 and has always made the pitching one of the best in MLB.
No Booby V, please dear god no! He never got another ML managers job for a reason. And Peterson blows chunks, he has ruined more pitchers than he has helped and I can never forgive him for the whole 10 minute fix that cost us Kazmir. How would he look in the rotation right now?
You’re absolutely right. Why would we want to bring in a guy who clearly gets the most out of his players? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Who else could have gotten the Mets to the World Series with an outfield made up of such first ballot HOFers like Benny Agbayani and Timo Perez?
Don’t forget the SS who had a career AVG of .246
Oh! I almost did! Thanks, Slappy. Yes, that team was clearly a reincarnation of Murderer’s Row.
You said it brother. Ship his a$$ to Tampa. That would be good payback for selling us damaged goods.
Kazmir would be sick in this rotation next to Santana and Maine.
Yeah, lets blame the Pitching Coach because our Former General Manager pulled off an awful trade. That makes sense. :rolleyes:
Peterson was largely responsible for that trade – being able to fix Zambrano in “10 minutes”
Wilpon admitted as much in a WFAN intervew, saying “ask Peterson” repeatedly why the trade was made.
Manuel can’t be the choice, he is an extension of Willie, he looks just as laid back as Willie is. If they promote Manuel to manager I officially give up!
Manuel, I think, is anything but laid back. When he managed the White Sox, he led the league in tosses. Also, remember him getting thrown out against the Yankees two weeks ago.
If anything, he looks laid back because he is Willie’s bench coach and can only express so much, not wanting to step on Willie’s toes.
I’ll give Manuel a shot to see what he can do.
But, I seriously think player changes need to be made. Call up Mike Carp. If F-Mart is healthy bring him up too. Anything is better than Endy and Tatis in the outfield.
it is…inevitible
Jose Valentin and Alou should be Player-Coaches if healthy. Make them earn some money.
Lets get rid of both of them already….why the dithering? Where’s the sense of urgency?
My only fear with Omar is he will do something stupid to try to get this hopeless team on track for this season. I only have to look at Kazmir dominating the AL for that thought to churn my stomach.
oh c’mon Omar didn’t trade Kazmir, it;s because of that trade that they fired the last GM and brought in Omar. Omar mad ethis team special in 06 but I don’t think he hurt this team in any way. He always finds a way to make this team better please give him a chance.
I know he didn’t, but at this point, with his job on the line, who’s to say he won’t trade a Pelfrey, Carp, or Martinez for a quick fix?
if it’s to make this team better in any way and make a quick run to 1st then it’s worth it.
F-mart has to be healthy to deal him. Sounds like another bust in the making.
Hes 19.
npanzeca, you are a bust. Please go away! You, Dr Jones and Mets119 all suck. bandwagon fans!! go Away!
He made this team better with his decision to bring Moise Boo-Boo Alou here. And he even showed confidence in Moise to stay healthy this year. Didn’t even think he needed to obtain a steady backup left fielder just in case.
He’s a great GM. Can’t you all see that?!
boo-boo alou…I like it. (meaning: I find the nickname humorous, not the fact that he’s earned it)
Your backup LF is on the disabled list as well (Pagan). Not sure how Minaya should have been able to see that coming.
He has had since the collapse and the team is worse than since 2004, I’m out of patience with Omar…..
If they go with Manuel, than I must believe that Minaya made the choice by asking Randolph who’s the first-person he turns to for a post-win, in-the-dugout handshake. HA!
“Manuel and I congratulate one another after a win before congratulating anyone else, so I believe he’s the best person for the job; he has a firm handshake too.”
Dear Mr. Wilpon,
I am not really all that attached to this scouting gig with the Padres. Just saying.
Sincerely,
Paul DePodesta
I’m down with DePodesta. He wasn’t given a fair shake in LA. Most of the young talent that is now with the Dodgers is the result of him.
This was proven false, I think
depodesta was GM for a whopping 18 months before he was fired, basically, because the press hated him because he is a nerd. in that time he:
Helped construct a roster that produced the 2004 NL West Divison title, the Dodgers’ first playoff berth in eight years.
Acquired Brad Penny, who has become one of the National League’s best starters this season (10-1 record, 2.04 era and 1.16 WHIP).
Correctly foresaw the explosion of the free agent pitching market one year in advance, signing Derek Lowe to an excellent deal, as well as extending Penny through ’08 with an option for ‘09 at below-market value.
Signed Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew to favorable contracts, both of which yielded effective performance relative to the size and length of their deals.
Avoided the temptation to out-bid all comers for Adrian Beltre, who has yet to justify the five year, $64 million deal given to him by Seattle after one of the greatest contract-drive walk years in history.
(i cribbed from hardball times here)
(also, the moneyball a’s haven’t been nearly as good since he left billy beane)
Yeah, dumb LA sportswriters such as Bill Plaschke gave him all kinds of unwarranted crap. Coletti signed Juan freaking Pierre for christs sake and Plashke wrote an article praising Pierre, dude is basically and idiot.
brad penny is 5-8 with a 5.38 ERA. what are you talking about?
oh nevermind. sorry.
brad penny started the all star game twice since depodesta was canned. but hey, fixate on less than a half season.
Huh?
Willie isn’t the greatest manager, but how is it his fault at this point, and what good would Jerry Manuel do? Remember Manuel coached the White Sox? Yeah, that didn’t turn out so well.
This is all on Minaya.
I agree, but it’s not like Omar is going to fire himself.
Peterson is a dolt…..He was writing what on his piece of paper as his guy imploded on the mound in the 9th yesterday? His pitch count philosophy has single handily ruined baseball. For the 2nd consecutive game we had our starter taken out of a winnable ball game because his pitch count had gotten too high. On Wednesday we replaced our 2nd best pitcher with our 12th best pitcher and ended up giving up runs, and yesterday, we took out our no. 1 pitcher and replaced him with our 11th best pitcher and it cost us runs. Unfortunately, Sanatana’s history is 100 pitches. Maine is becoming a hundred pitch guy.
BTW, Rosenthal was on with Sommers last night, and this report dooesnt really sound like much, and clearly Rosenthal is being used by his sources to press an agenda.
Oh, How’s Peterson’s doing with Zambrano? Is his 10 mins up yet?
The look on his face when Willie told Pelfrey to go bat in the 8th the other night says it all. He wanted Pelfrey out of the game.
HIS pitch count philosophy? That’s ridiculous. EVERY pitching coach in EVERY organization believes in pitch counts. It’s in every level from MLB to Little League.
Santana shouldn’t have to go to the 8th when the team is up 4-0 going into it. And Wagner is not the worst pitcher on the team (Heilman).
Firing Peterson is stupid because you’ll lose the pitching coaches in the lower levels since they are Peterson’s people (He brought them here when he left Oakland. Beane had to promote his AA pitching coach to the A’s after).
Rosenthal is a very reliable reporter. He’s not being used by his sources to press an agenda.
Forget Zambrano. If coaches are only allowed one mistake there wouldn’t be any baseball because you’d have no coaches at all. How about Darren Oliver, Chad Bradford, Feliciano, Maine, Perez, Schoenweis, Claudio Vargas, Joe Smith, the reinvention of Tom Glavine and Billy Wagner, Pelfreys slow but continuous improvement, and all his success in Oakland-back when Mulder, Hudson and Zito were all very good and free from injury and Keith Foulke was the best closer in the game. Without The Jacket we don’t make it out of the first round in 06. He isn’t a problem, he’s a solution
Don’t know if I’m ready to call Mike Pelfrey our 2nd best pitcher yet? He’s on his way though.
Perez does not belong in that list. Ollie sucks!
heres what ill say about peterson… for whatever reason, mets pitchers can not finish off hitters with 2 strikes. i cant tell if this is because of some strategy from peterson, but its so frustrating
Sorry Mrs. Peterson
The reinvention of Tom Glavine???? WTF are you talking about? Here’s a guy who cared only about himself and his 300 wins. He was another 95-100 pitch guy who took HIMSELF out of winnable games last year.
Darren Oliver, Chad Bradford, Feliciano, Maine, Perez, Schoenweis, Claudio Vargas, Joe Smith,…..What are you talking about? Not one of these guys is an All-Star…Joe Smith…are you high? Vargas? You’re kidding right?
Do you think that the first 100 years of baseball was totally wrong about pitch counts? The Mets would never have won in ‘86 if the starting pitching was on 100 pitches a game. Check the ages of the ‘86 staff. Check the crap we have.
You think are young pitchers are developing? I don’t. Pelfry is 24. What are we waiting for? Perez will be gone at the end of the year. Kazmir was never going to make it. John Maine is an absolute head case. Peterson is a disaster. If another of our guys throws a one strike changeup I’m going to vomit.
Omar is like Billy Beane — he wants to control things from the GM’s office. He won’t bring in anyone who he can’t control.
Willie might not be the best manager, but a lot of this falls on Omar. Yes, Jacket wasn’t his choice for pitching coach, but Peterson’s done a good job with what he’s had to work with. HoJo, I don’t know. Does he have a bad approach, or is it that the guys are not listening to him?
Go back to the Seaver interview yesterday. This is on the players.
Since Cashman seems to be on the outs with the Yankees, do the Wilpons go over him this off-season?
Cashman is even worse than Minaya.
Amen to that. How do you build a team with a $240MM payroll and have no bench (although not needed as much in the AL) and no bullpen (aside from Mariano)?
Yet, he takes no heat for this. If the Mets were 10 games over .500 right now, the Yankees and Brian Cashman would be getting killed. That’s life.
Omar couldn’t hold Billy Beanes jock…Seriously.
can we get off billy beane, please? for all the credit he gets, can the guy win a playoff series, please?
i just had a stroke
Hey, say what you will about playoff series, but the guy assembles a playoff caliber team on peanuts. Do you really think Omar could build a team with a 60 million dollar payroll? I don’t.
Billy Beane did win a playoff series, in ‘06.
This is the first time that I’ve wanted change for change’s sake. Peterson and Ho Jo have done all they can do, it seems. So perhaps a fresh perspective can help these players. I’m not sure Jerry Manual would be a better option than Willie, though. That’s not so much change as it is just plain elimination, which can’t be great for the team’s already beaten up morale.
(Sorry, Jerry, I meant Manuel.)
Cause I’m sure he is reading this post…lol. :)
yeah..this would be a clear case of change for changes sake. And promoting within is not the answer. If Manual had some solution, don’t you think he’d ahve spoken up by now?
I think i might agree with Carton. The problem isn’t really Willie, it’s the players/mindset. If you said ’screw it, you guys are doing this through 2010, suddenly it’s like rebuilding mode, it’s almost like 2006 again. No one’s playing for their jobs, for Willie’s jobs, it’s just playing.
Of course, that might not work either. I don’t think there is one easy/obvious solution. And unless a manager contacts Omar with a solution taht sounds plausible..I just don’t think anyone has answers and there is no solution. They’re really in the same boat we are (Even Omar to an extent, who can’t have expected the players to play the way they have), no control over the outcome.
we’re past “change for change’s sake” in terms of the manager’s job, in my opinion. it is not willie’s fault that this team is old and constantly injured without any viable replacements in the minors, and constantly a man down in the bench because there is always some player who is day-to-day.
Who are the idiots who vote “9″ & “10″ in the Weekly Confidence and Wilie Confidence ratings.
Are you really that naive? Are you trying to rig the voting? Are you trying to be funny?
Who are the idiots who vote “1″? Just as delusional on either end, and the “1″s are a pretty significant percentage of you all.
I voted “1″. This team is going absolutely nowhere. I have more confidence the Marlins will make the playoffs with their Triple A roster than we will. Sad, but true.
Some would argue we have more of a AA roster than the Marlins do.
You’re right. If there was a 0 I would vote for that since that is truly representative of ZERO confidence.
Lets see…I have NO confidence in the players. I have NO confidence in the manager to lead. I have NO confidence in the GM assembling a team or making relevant decisions, like when to fire a manager. I have NO confidence in the ownership because they keep listening to Omar. About the only things I have confidence in are SNY and the construction crew at Citifield.
I’m 1 “idiot” who wrote 1, heres why. Our farm sysytem is about six players deep, and most of that group is a year or two away and they probably won’t become all stars their first season, there will be growing pains, if we keep them at all-its more likely Omar deals some of them to try to fix this years club with more declining veterans. Look at the guys we’ve called up so far. Cassonova, Tatis, Aguila, Nick Evans, That’s what the future looks like. Now let’s look at the business end of free agency. We will recieve no extra draft picks for losing Delgado, Alou, Pedro, Duque, and we’ll get a supplemental for Perez if we’re lucky. Thats 3/5 of our projected rotation and half the meat of our projected order and we recieve nothing in return. They’ll just walk away. Castillo couldn’t fetch more than a low A player when we picked him up with no money left on his deal, now he has three yrs left, we’d be lucky to get a bag of balls for him and his range and speed only get worse from here. Yes we have Johan, Wright, Beltran, Reyes, Church, Maine. But, you know what, every ML team has a few star players-the rest of the roster is what separates a contender from an also-ran and the rest of our roster is dreadful. Yes we’ll have some money off the books, but anyone we sign will cost us more draft picks we CANNOT afford to lose and most teams are locking up their good young players anyway. The International market you say? Omar’s suppoased strength- I have yet to see any evidence that Omar is more effective than any other gm(regardless of race) when it comes to signing kids from the Dominican or Venezuela, in fact many of his caucasion peers have figured out that great scouting and bagfuls of money negate any need to speak their native tongue. The only way to fix this mess is to deal Perez and Wagner for nice prospect packages and hope Alou and Pedro stay healthy long enough to get a decent prospect back for as well. Maybe if we ate all Delgados salary and package him with heilman we get another kid with upside. Injuries and age have not only killed the season, they’ve killed our chances at getting compensation when thes guys walk. If I thought for a second that Omar had the balls to rebuild on the fly I would vote higher than 1. As it stands now get ready to be the Miami Dolphins of Baseball for a while- and if you think a handful of stars with no farm system or complementary players, not to mention a true leadoff hitter, is enough to win championships then maybe you’re the idiot.
I’ve been voting a consistent “3″ since the beginning of the season. Actually I think I voted “4″ or “5″ the first time.
I said in preseason this is 2002 all over again. And it is.
The World Series is a realistic expectation for a $138 million team in the weaker of the 2 Leagues. The confidence rating, to me, is a measure of how confident you are the team will reach realistic expectations.
Today I voted “1″. I think there is zero chance this team will make the WS and I doubt we’ll make the playoffs.
As for the future, are you kidding me? This is a win now team with virtually no farm system. To compound that, the dynamics of the game has changed, especially if the league is serious about outlawing steroids. No steroids means guys are not very productive after age 32. That also means that with the current contract structure good players are being locked up by their teams from until age 30. That essentially means free agency is dead. Thus you have to stock your team through the draft and trades for and of prospects. The Mets under Omar Minaya have been abysmal at that. Wright and Reyes are courtesy of Steve Phillips.
I’m a diehard Mets fan. But I’m also a realist. This team is in bad shape and I don’t think the foreseeable future is a bright one.
^ what he said. Except I don’t vote 0’s in Willie confidence polls. I usually vote 5-7. I think he’s an average manager.
I voted 5, just because I see no consistancy (so I don’t think they can consistantly play this badly either)
But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mets won 65 more games. I wouldn’t be surprised if they won 35 either at this point. If you only look forward and not atthe rest of the season, I guess you could think ‘9′. Or maybe they’re saying they think Omar’s going to fire Willie and that’ll turn it around. who knows.
It’s not about being naive or trying to be funny. Its about completely supporting my favorite baseball team. Since my opinion is never asked from the team, I have to support whatever decisions are made. I’ll root for this team the same if the were to go 162-0 or 0-162. I’m a diehard and that won’t ever change.
All of you calling for a change now say that having Manuel take over isn’t good enough? You can’t make wholesale changes and bring in someone from the outside in mid-season. It is either Manuel or Oberkfell from AAA, and use some of the coaches from down there if you get rid of some or all of Willie’s staff. Then, those guys get the rest of the year.
For those of you who want Backman or something like that from the outside, it is highly unlikely you would see something like that until the offseason… (So get real!)
Why can’t you bring in someone from the outside in mid-season??? The in-house staff is obviously NOT working. Why fire Randolph when you’r going to merely replace him with Manuel? That’s nonsense. If you’re firing Randolph your doing it to send a message and jolt to your team. Not much will change with Manuel at the helm.
The problem is that if you can everyone and bring in a staff that’s completely new, you don’t have a Spring Training to create new signs, in game approaches, training regimen, etc.
At most, you could bring in a new manager and maybe a new coach or two, but most of the staff would have to say.
The indications we are getting with Manuel possibly taking over and maybe a coach or two getting the boot buttresses the “change for change’s sake” argument. And I agree, something needs to change.
Who gives a crud about training regime, in game approacehs, new signs, etc…We need someone who can motivate this team to play to its potential. Willie got a 2nd chance and he blew it.
Ahem, Jack McKeon in 2003, ahem….
I think Omar wants Manny Acta to leave Washington. I would love to have him back. Nobody points to him leaving as a reason for our failures the last year and a half.
Acta in ‘09.
Do you really think we’re struggling because we lost our 3rd-base coach?
(Insert your ignorant/racist comment about Minaya only wanting Latino personnel).
Not because of our 3rd base coach. I’m saying it because he is well regarded as a good baseball man. Fiery, but not extreme like Bowa, Piniella, or Backman.
I think he would be a good fit. He will stand up for his players, and he will also command respect from day 1. Agree with me, or disagree with me. But don’t assume that because I didn’t write a novel as to why Acta would be good for the job, I don’t know my Mets.
What’s Tom Kelly up to these days????
I’m not saying he wouldn’t not be a good manager (or an upgrade from Willie) – I just question the notion that losing our 3rd base coach is the reason we’ve gone in the tank for the past two years. I’d love to have him back to manage.
wouldn’t not = would not. you get the drift.
Haha…I understood.
I’m not saying we miss him as a 3B coach. I think we miss his leadership. He was a rah rah guy. We really lack that kind of leadership from the top. Willie looks too uptight on that front step.
I wish these MLB contracts were as easy to get out of as the NBA, NFL, and NCAA ones.
I’m down with Oberkfell
I like “Sources” he is a good guy, I had drinks with him on a couple of different occassions. He is a bit bipolar, but ultimately he always give you a good quote. He seems to be everywhere too, I mean, “Sources” knows a lot of different people, in a lot of different industries.
hey! I think I saw “Sources” sitting behind shortstop at the game yesterday…or was that Cerrone? :)
if willie has to be fired to expose omar at this point so be it, but as critical is i am of willie, and as much as i blame him for last september, this disaster of a team now is not principally his fault.
willie may go on to be a successful manager elsewhere, assuming he learned from his mistakes here, which given his extreme stubbornness, may be too much to assume. but i cannot imagine he will succeed in this city with this team after what transpired last year. nor can i imagine any new GM would keep him after the end of the year.
in my opinion, omar should be fired and depodesta should be hired and given free reign to decide who should manage.
Agree with you 100% on all points. Willie should have been let go after last year and we should have started this season with a clean slate. That’s where I think the Mets really miscalculated. There was no accountability for last year what’s so ever. Now it’s basically taken over a 1/3 of a season to finally come to grips with that and it just might be too late to fix it. I know there is no guarantee that even with a new manager and coaching staff this team would be any better than they are right now but at least it would have brought to light the real reason why this team is not a champion caliber team, Omar Minaya’s lack of vision and dependency on old, washed up players.
So you wouldn’t have extended Alou for $7.5MM after a .340 average last year?
You didn’t like signing Pedro?
You didn’t like giving up youth for Santana?
You didn’t like Delgado in 2006? Tell me you hated that trade and I’ll have to have Matt look into the archives to see what people were saying about it. No brainer.
I get on Minaya’s case about Castillo (who is playing much better now).
Did you not like the Jae Seo for Sanchez trade?
Did you not like the John Maine trade?
We don’t know what to make of the Bannister for Burgos trade just yet. Burgos has been hurt and maybe he can give us that live 96-98 mph fastball when he comes back. The bloom has come off of the Bannister rose.
Did you not like both trades involving Xavier Nady?
Did you not like signing Beltran?
Do you not like Ryan Church and Schneider?
I think most Mets fans see Pelfrey being one of the core young guys on this team. Minaya drafted him.
The thing is, people who bash Minaya, mention guys like Matt Lindstrom, Heath Bell, Brian Bannister, Henry Owens, and Mike Jacobs. Puuuuuh-lease!!!
Man, maybe we’re both idiots, but you and I think exactly alike. That’s why I support Minaya.
I agree Omar’s moves have been mostly good on an individual basis, but when looking at the whole he put a team on the field that was old, declining in way too many areas and he hasn’t done enough to build up a farm that was pretty bad when he took over. I think Omar should stay BUT he needs to shift focus and use the talent that Allowed him to spot guys like Nady, Church, Maine, and Sanchez and forget about any more signings of guys over 30. There are new drug policies, new free agent compensation rules, and more parity accross the leaugue and Omar has failed mightily to adapt to the new system.
Fair enough. He gets paid to put a good product on the field, but that hasn’t happened this year. Maybe everyone is just having a down year?
Delgado looks awfully skinny. HGH anyone? Could help our team out.
Always ‘09, don’t waste your time. People won’t credit Minaya for anything.
His main fault this year may have been not having a back-up plan for Delgado is he struggled, which he has.
Other than that, there’s a reason people were saying before the season began that on paper, the Mets are the best team in the NL. Credit Minaya for that.
Now not performing or living up to those expectations, well you know where I’m heading with this.
The solution for Delgado is HGH. Hire Kirk Radomsky.
how could the Mets bring Bobby Valentine back? Why did he leave anyway.?
Steve Philips fired him after ‘02.
but why? I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be having this conversation if he was still manager of this team.
Because he lost the veterans on the team.
I’m sure that wouldn’t be an issue if he came back.
because they had a severe clash of personalities and philosophies.
…oh, and egos. can’t forget that.
The Wilpon’s should just hire me for new GM. I am the GREATEST Baseball Mogul GM of all time. I would make Billy Beane and Theo Epstein cry like little school girls when calling about trade proposals.
it’s easier said than done.
No, I’m pretty sure its that easy.
I’m better than you at Mogul. Maybe both of us could share managing duties.
I doubt anyone is calling the Mets about trade proposals lately.
hi, mr. depodesta!
seriously, i don’t think i can post links here, but please take a minute to google “paul depodesta” and click the third link down. it is a hardball times article called “the best umemployed GM in baseball.”
i have never really wished i had my own blog, but now i do, because really everyone needs to realize how awesome this guy would be for this franchise.
everyone who responded to “fire willie” with “and hire who?” should realize that the absolute ideal GM is sitting there waiting by the phone.
all 30 teams in baseball have managed to stay away from him…
their might be a reason
for all we know he’s been offered jobs and refused them.
Its tough to build that sort of young team in three years while being competitive at the same time. That being said, Omar’s contribution to young/athletic involves Beltran, Church, Maine, Perez, Santana, and Pelfrey (whom he drafted)
If you think about it, thats not too shabby – 4/5 of the rotation, and 2/3 of the OF….Its really just 3 positions in which he is kinda screwed – LF (though ALou seemed like a good fit, and is gone in ‘09), 1b (Delgado was the last piece the team needed to really get over the hump in ‘06, but bustville since then – also gone in ‘09) and 2b (man did he screw the pooch with the Castillo deal).
Not great, but not TOOOOOOO bad
I still don’t think it’s over with this team, Minaya will pull a steal.
Just fire Willie, Peterson and HoJo already. Why the indecision. Thats what kills me the most.
Fire Omar at the end of the year.
This should have been done last Oct.
Lets make castillo a player coach. He is going to be here for another 3 years with that contract anyways. If he isnt going to produce worth a damn and only plays half the games anyways, we might as well make him earn his paycheck.
We could have everyone on the roster showing bunt for an automatic strike every plate appearance!
Castillo is a bigger clubhouse cancer than Rickey was. Got him run out of Fla. and Minn.
firing willie means you think he’s part of the problem.
but if they go on to fire him and then make a few trades as well, then that would be hypocritical and unfair.
Willie is a very large part of the problem. From managerial decisions to motivational abilities, he has lost the clubhouse. Do I think at this point firing him will change anything? Probably not. But he needs to go. Thats Step 1.
I agree 100%.
Also, as if I needed any more proof that Craig Carton is a raging jackass and a complete moron.
is Alou DL’d yet? if so, bring up Carp. he’s hitting like DW was when he forced the Mets to promote him.
He is on the surface, but look alittle deeper. I think they should at least bring him up to AAA and then decide from there. Anyway, i dont doubt he will be in NY before the end of the year.
Well, Carp hasn’t exactly raked any other year prior to this one. This year might be a fluke or it could be his eureka moment. David Wright was promising throughout his minor league career. And he also played 30 games at AAA before being moved up to MLB.
barring injury or miraculous event (trade or dfa of mr. delgado), I doubt we see him til september
True, but sometimes AAA is not necessary. Didn’t Pujols come straight from A?
I also didn’t mean to advocate NOT bringing him up. Try anybody and everybody! Carp’s on fire right now so he should be one of the first tried out for the major league bench. If a real power threat is signed (or healed) send him down to AAA.
shoot me now. don’t wait till later, it defeats the purpose; again, Omar does nothing in a vacuum – he’s not signing off on anything the Wilpons don’t want.
If these reports are accurate,, I have completely lost faith in the Organization. Basically what their saying is that if the Mets come out and beat a last place team then Willie keeps his job and changes are not made. If Omar and the Wilpons actually think beating the Texas Rangers is a good measuring stick then all hope for this organization is lost.
I guarantee another injury. someone is going to be trying to win 5 games with one trip around the bases and blow out their hamstring. Watch..
The offense better come up big this weekend, because the Rangers can put up some run.
I’m actually kind of excited to see hamilton hit.
He’s actually in a slump now (his first of this season).
figures. oh well, I’m sure some ab’s against our pitching will bust that.
Anyone who thinks Omar ever had complete autonomy is deluded . . . Little Jeffy is running things and Omar and Willie are convenient empty suit puppets which is why neither has been fired . . . and which is also why another tool like Manuel will be installed if Willie is made the scapegoat . . . under Little Jeffy’s stewardship, we will continue to get willing dupes like Omar, Willie or Manuel to supposedly “run things” but it will be moron Little Jeffy, winner of the lucky womb club, continuing to call the shots, with the franchise continuing to be a joke
and willie shows confidence in a young pitcher who’s hungry enough to want to back out there and finish the game…and he’s taking heat for it? yes, winning the game is more important but i think this clearly shows willie’s faith in his players.
hey, the mets can get worse. steve philips can be our gm again.
It’d be the same as we’re getting now, only less Latinos
C’mon boys . . . Rally ’round the sinking ship . . . let’s go out and beat the Rangers !!! (roll eyes)
my one thing is if willie’s strength is a young, defensive, exuberant team we probably shouldnt fire him if we are gonna clean house (as many posters have suggested we do)….i mean, ive called for willies head too but if its either a new manager and the current team, or willie and a new, less talented and younger team…im gonna stick with willie
Wilie’s strength? haven’t seen any, unless you call standing statue-still in the same exact place without moving a muscle a skill.
We have seen what willie has done with young players as well. wright hit in the 8th spot for how long? how is jose doing under willie? the vote of no-confidence for pagan in april and pelfrey in spring training?
I vote for willie to go, new team or old team. He should’ve gone after the collapse last year. we don’t need anymore of his stoicism and willieisms. perhaps he can help the dodgers get into a nice little rhythym and go on a nice little roll, as long as they can avoid doing the moonwalk.
David Wright has never batted 8th under Willie.
yeah, Willie really has hurt Pelfrey with his approach, mean time you have never really watched the Mets if you continue to live under the David Wrigh 8th hitter rock reserved for ambivalent morons
perhaps, patrick, you should invest in a dictionary, I am anything but ambivalent.
In the spring, when pelfrey was pitching well and duque was not pitching at all, it was said that duque would be the starter over pelfrey. point being, a young player needs a vote of confidence from their manager instead of having the hard work he put in devalued. similiar to when pagan got off to a hot start and wilile downgraded that as well.
Maybe the crowd should try some reverse psychology with the team tonight. Whenever the team does something good boo, whenever they screw up cheer.
i was thinking that too! just root for texas
I will not watch a Mets team managed by Manual, no way in hell. That dude’s already proven to be a lousy manager in Chicago, no sense in handing him a job in New York.
Omar needs to go and the team needs to find a a manager from somewhere else.
You never know. Joe Torre was proven to be a lousy manager for the Mets, Braves and Cardinals, and then he won 4 rings. Sometimes the talent and the manager just click.
Joe Torre was actually not a lousy manager for the Braves, taking them to a surprise playoff birth in 1982, then to 2nd place finishes 2 years in a row after that despite minimum talent, and he was actually okay in St Louis, so those that think he came out of nowhere to suddenly manage the Yankees to World Series wins are sadly mistaken.
Of course, the Yankees gave him great team players to work with, unlike what the Mess gave Willie the last 2 years.
Buck Showalter???
IMO supporting Willie at this point is rooting against the Mets. How could anyone possibly think this guy has what it takes to manage in New York.
he did in 2006, no?
and seemed to do it until september 2007, no?
what changed?
this team, as a whole, is choking. choked in september and this season is a continuation of last september.
Mets have been under .500 for over a year
They lost a 7 game lead with 17 to play in september
Willies comments about the fans and the media
In 65 games this season the mets are 8 games out and 3 games under .500
willie was stupid to say anything critical of the fans or media. but he wasn’t wrong.
ny is a vicious town and it’s no wonder very few ny teams actually perform well. jets, knicks, mets – it’s been 30+ years for those teams.
when you have to cater to a ruthless fanbase and a ruthless media, it changes how you function in this city.
omar started off quick..expectations were raised big time…at that point, any plan omar had, went out the window b/c he had to sustain it.
all i’m saying is a manager that has his team performing one way and then another as of late says more about the players and their mentality than the manager.
they will fire willie. they will bring in a new voice. but even if there’s an initial surge…you can’t change the mental makeup of certain players and until they are purged, it will fail again.
If Willie is hypersensitive to the media and the fans, then I have a great idea, don’t accept a position to manage a NY team. Enough with the blaming the fans and media, the reason the Jets, Knicks, and Mets don’t win is because they’re run horribly. If the players are too pssy to play under the media spotlight, then go play in St Louis where you may succeed, but nobody will care.
I wonder if we sweep Texas, does Willie keep his job for another couple of weeks until things get ugly again?
Is Carton a Yankee fan or something? Extend Willie? Why the hell would he make such an asinine comment, other than the fact that he is a raging jackass? Even the Willie die-hards have to agree Carton’s statement is absurd and bizarre.
anybody think keith and ron would be interested in the hitting coach and pitching coach jobs?
I’d like that, but I like them better in the broadcast section, those 2 with Gary Cohen are so detailed it’s why I’m starting to know so much about baseball.
Agreed…I know he’s a pompous windbag now, but growing up Tim McCarver taught me more about baseball during Mets games than any coach I ever had….
Will someone just tell Omar to call me. I am available to replace Randolph. And if you would prefer, I will even make managerial decisions based on the opinions on Metsblog.
was that a bill veeck strategy? didn’t he hand out cards before the game and would poll the fans for in game decisions?
could that be any worse than whats going on now?
slangon? slangon? what’s that about?
A friend of mine who does business with the Mets just said he heard from some inside sources that Willie is done and Peterson is not far behind.
Not sure how much validity this has, but I suspect more than a little. We shall see.
Your right Matt this is not all Willie’s fault. Young, fast, athletic, this team is old, slow, and injured. Minaya should get fired just for saying that stupid comment and for it not even coming close to being reality. OMAR MUST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You want to fire Willie that’s fine, I have no problem with that, but what is that going to accomplish? The players have to be changed and the Mets needs to get younger. Who is going to do that Omar? He doesn’t like young players, again just look at his track record here and in Montreal. He traded away Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, and Grady Seizmore.
Omar’s idea of young, fast and athletic is Endy. Of course, that statement says nothing about hitting at all. You can field a team of young, fast, athletic types, but you can’t force them to hit.
Oh, and none of those guys spoke Spanish, so Omar was inclined to never use them whatsoever.
You can’t change the players, firing a GM won’t directly affect the players, and I’m sorry, but this team is better than 3 games below .500. Omar will be dealt with this off-season, but allowing Willie, who has in no way done a good job over the past two seasons, is completely counterproductive. Will it change things, who knows, but we do know that as long as Willie is manager, nothing is going to change. People who still think this team is going to all of a sudden catch fire and play like in ‘06 are lost.
Fool, he does not get judged in New York by who he traded in Montreal for a team owned by the other 29 owners destined for contraction.
By the way of those players he dealt, Phillips was the big fish he fumbled in Cleveland and resurfaced in Cincinatti, Lee and Sizemore were LONG shots and Mark Shapiro would tell you that straight up.
There hasn’t been a Phillips, Lee or Sizemore to leave the Mets organization under Minaya’s watch.
There also has been a Phillips, Lee or Sizemore in the organization under Minaya’s watch.
Wait………….we might need to change something?
hey matt
you might want to check that report from espn. there’s a key word you’re missing. that person who speaks with mets mgmt says “willie is NOT going to get fired, period”
just passing it along.
the artilce says willie is NOT going to be fired!!!
If Randolph gets his pink-slip; and if Manuel fills in as interim manager, than I have to believe the move is intended for a big-time shake-up to the players. The players would react — so it’s just a matter of “how” they’d react.
We shall see. The suspense builds. Drama baby Drama.
hey hows that blogger self promotion going?
This is ridiculous…just fire him already.
um…don’t know if someone already commented on this, but the stark article says willie is NOT going to get fired, period.
True Sass. But the Mets have two young players in Reyes and Wright and two younger players in Beltran and Church, the rest of the position players are OLD. Who’s fault is that, Minaya’s. It has been so bad that he brings in retreads like Casanova, Cancel, Nunez. and even Tatis. Half those guys couldn’t even start on the Long Island Ducks.
Clean house, bring in Frank Robinson
yeah, because i’d love to see maine and pelfrey get tommy john surgery.
Frank RObinson? Are you insane?
cerrone needs to fix this ASAP – he could start a firestorm if a media outlet picks this up or something
This goes far beyond Willie.
It is awful that a decent man like Randolph can be fired over this mess. If you think Willie is the problem, you are wrong. Joe McCarthy, Earl Weaver, LaRussa, Sciosia whatever. They wouldn’t be able to do nuthin’
I blame this on Omar and Tony Bernazard. The farm system is decimated. Willie hasn’t been able to pick his coaches (see Exhibit One – The Jacket and Exhibit 2 – HOJO). The team is fragile, old and mentally weak.
I guarantee you those managers you listed would get this team to a better record than 3 under .500. Willie deserves to be fired, period, but he definitely shares blame with a lot of guys.
Stop going to games, embarrass the Wilpons, that’s the only way to express your displeasure. If you’re not going to make player personnel changes, not firing Willie, and Omar is going nowhere, and this team continues to play like this, there is only one logical conclusion and that is winning is not the Wilpons primary objective.
John Heyman is on the FAN right now. He expects Willie will be gone very very soon…maybe before they leave for California.
So, Wagner ended up being worse than Perez……. a f—–g shocker!
ok. what happened to all the references to omar’s job being in jeopardy? come on. way to make me look like a lunatic.
Heyman: Manuel gets the job for the rest of the year and then they will look externally for next year.
Pitching coach could come from AAA. Was a pitching coach with Detroit.
Heyman: Team would like to shake things up player-wise but its difficult to make a deal for them. Omar is trying to make a change.
If they’re going to clean house, time to DFA Alou.
Swallow the money
And Delgado.
He should retire and we will make him the hitting coach.
Alou not Delgado!
Yeah. I’d rather see Delgado DFA’ed but the Mets won’t eat 1/2 of this years salary and the option of 5 million for next year
I believe if the mets lose 2 of 3 this weekend, Randolph is gone.
WOW, what insight from baseball insider Heyman, Willie could be fired, and a replacement could be the bench coach, Peterson could be fired, and a replacement could be the AAA pitching coach.
We could go to McDonald’s but Peter Lugers is better.
I think you meant to say Peter Luger’s MIGHT be better, according to an anonymous beef scout.
mmm…peter luger’s…
hahahaha…i dunno why, but this has me cracking up!
Exaclty fishman this goes beyond Willie. Wait so we can fire Wilie now which again I have no problem with but we can’t fire Minaya now, we wait until the offseason. Is there some baseball rule that I don’t know about where you have to wait until the offseason to fire the GM. Because if I remember correctly Steve Phillips got fired during the season. I think I’d take him over Minaya right now, at least under his watch we drafted wright.
Asking for Steve Phillips back over Omar is just about the stupidest thing I could imagine. I feel that if we had a healthy Church and a healthy Pagan for when Alou is out, no one would be asking for Omar’s head right now, even with the same record/lackluster performance.
Imagine Omar got fired but not Bill R., ?
i would be ecstatic. de-po-des-ta!!!!!
So, Minaya put together this old team and now I’m suppossed to trust him to make the proper changes that he should of been made last offseason, yea ok.
The fact that Willie is still the manager today say a lot. This makes me think Willie is here to stay. Why would they wait? It doesn’t make any sense.
maybe the Mets are looking outside the organization
i support bill R. i want omar gone
Newsday is now reporting that Willie ‘has the weekend’ to save his job.
What’s the point? Would beating the Rangers really mark the difference between Willie deserving to stay or go? Just do it already – the black cloud is crushing this team.
Now they have 3 more games to press, knowing that if they screw up, a man they actually like is going to lose his job. This is getting silly.
this is just stupid. fire him or commit to him already. if you’re going to fire him you do it based on a year’s worth of data, not a three game series. how ridiculous.
i’m no willie fan but i think he would just walk out if money wasn’t on the line. what a travesty this is becoming.
On a positive note, if willie does keep his job at least the Mets will have someone at the All-Star game, WOW isn’t that ironic!
Not really since every team has to have a player representative.
May as well keep Willie if Manuel is the next manager
RIP Bill R., you will be missed.
Lets go Jerry M.!!!
and i thought you stopped that crap as well. how’s your blog doing. any google ads yet?
name a time when i actually dropped a link in a post on here. zero. thanks, now get off my back pal
you drop the link every post.
nah. you irritate me…..and apparently a lot of others.
congrats, slappy. i am still hoping for my first personal troll.
i don’t drop a link, it just happens that the name i post with, if you so choose to click on it, will take you to a site. its not like i am spelling out HEY GO TO MY WEBSITE and droppin http://www._____.com in any comment. get over it, i’m far from the only person who comments and does that
“you drop the link every post.
nah. you irritate me…..and apparently a lot of others.”
Why, because he says what he wants whether you want to hear it or not?
You can’t do that, you should fire both.
BILL R IS BACK. “LETS GO METS. LETS GO METS. LETs go METTS”- kevin james
oh. stop with that nonsense.
does 42% of all metsblog readers have their own blog about the mets? hope that’s not your retirement plan.
oh. stop with your nonsense.
does slanginsanjuan have his own blog about how to nit pick, not mind his own biz, and how to not have a life? hope thats you’re retirement plan
retirement plan is in action bro and doing nicely thank you! you’re just a metsblog nuisance.
good one, you must be so engulfed in an action packed life that this is how you spend all your free time, doing exactly what you are doing now.
Throwing 50 Bucks a week in Mega Millions doesn’t count as a retirement plan.
Jerry Manuel. If you people think the team is going to “WAKE UP” because Jerry Manuel is the manager you are crazy.
I don’t think it’s a point of waking up if Jerry Manuel is the manager. It’s conceding the season and getting rid of Willie. Jerry would just be a stop gag until the real manager is hired in the off season.
Im gunna pretend i didnt hear the guy who called into the FAN saying the mets should trade Reyes for Renteria straight up….just wow..
Lol, that’s horrible. Renteria who is hitting .266 with 5 home runs? Haha.
If Willie gets fired do you think the Mets will let him where their uniform or will he have to sit on the NL Bench in street clothes. Boy, that’s going to be a really awkward scene.
rough….
I’m sure they’d tell Clint Hurdle to pick a replacement.
Here’s how I would fix this team:
1) Trade Beltran for Aaron Rowand and prospects
2) Trade for Adam Dunn (perhaps Heilman and Dan Murphy)
4) Trade for Kevin Millar
5) Bring up Carp
6) DFA Delgado and Alou
7) Muniz replaces Heilman in the pen.
New lineup:
Reyes
Castillo
Wright
Dunn
Rowand
Church
Millar/Carp -1B
Schneider
i dont like it. i like rowand and wish we would have signed him for LF instead of Alou at the beginning of the year. But hes a complimentary player. This team would lose to much.
Listen, Beltran is a #2 hitter batting clean up…Adam Dunn would supply a true clean up hitter and Rowand batting 5th would be fine.
Mets with no-trade clauses:
Wagner, Beltran, Santana, Pedro (who should gone after this year).
Good Luck on Beltran getting traded to anyone.
I always liked Rowand but I’m not a big Dunn fan, he strikes out way too much.
I said that at the end of last year instead of re-signing Castillo and exercising Alou’s option…The Mets should have signed Eckstein for 2B and signed Rowand for RF…2 gritty, gamers who play the game the right way.
i just had another stroke
Rowand’s crash in to the CF wall in Philly against the Mets in 06 or 07 will always leave a lasting impression on me as a fan…Thats how all players should be…they should be willing to do anything to win. Not sure the Mets have many of those type players.
well one of them is on the DL with a scrambled brain, because that’s where these players tend to end up.
my stroke was more directed at eckstein, who absolutely totally sucks.
Glad your feeling better…
Regarding Eckstein, he absolutely refused to play second base. He is a shortstop and not willing to move. Glad you would have signed him to play second though.
another thing about eckstein is that he sucks
Yep, add that to the list.
Dunn has a career .382 OB% and 40+ HR for 4 straight years and he’s on pace for 40 this year. He’s a prototype clean up hitter. Phillies are doing fine with Howard and he’s gonna strike out 200 times.
i like when people complain about how much a batter strikes out, because it is a handy way for me to pick out who doesn’t understand baseball.
Tyler Kepner of the New York Times believes Victor Martinez’s injury “will probably lead to a trade of the ace left-hander C.C. Sabathia.” He says the Yankees will have “strong interest” if Sabathia becomes available. Kepner also expects the Cubs and Red Sox to be in the mix.
Wow how good would the Red Sox or Cubs be if they add C.C.
Although the Sox would have been better suited trading for Johan in the off-season (not that im complaining that they didnt, of course).
And Soo-Oomar’s end is near
Luis’s knees, they are hurtin’
I wish, it was oh-two,
Delgado’d be good.. yes, I’m certain
I’ve been so full of bull,
I said Alou would be healthy
But more, much more than this
OMAR HIT THE HIIIIIIIIIIIIGH WAY!
now, i’m going to throw up.
huh ? who are you?
Now I had a stroke
grammar police report: “the are considering a change”
This section from the Stark article just churned my stomach:
• O-no: And while we’re talking Mets, it remains staggering how many people in baseball continue to ask why they handed second baseman Luis Castillo a four-year deal last winter. Here’s one more ripple effect to consider:
“Orlando Hudson [a free agent to be] would have signed under market to play in New York,” said an official of one team. “I’ve heard that a lot. But now there’s no place for him to play because Luis Castillo’s there for three more years.”
The O-dog would have fit real nicely with this team. Solid Defense, would fill the 2-hole. Seems like a good clubhouse guy.
that’s my third stroke since lunch, thanks
Just another example of Omar’s short-sightedness…that shot Hudson hit off of Maine on Tuesday still has not landed yet.
Buy out Castillo. This team needs a major facelift anyway. I don’t think Castillo is as bad as people make him out to be, but they need to get rid of as many guys who were on the 2007 team as possible.
Stark is a Philly homer, he wrote that to upset Met fans, No body signs “under market”
Anyone think the Mets can wait until Eric Byrnes get healthy again and trade for him. Im not sure what Arizona would want back, but I think Byrnes may be expendable to that team.
He is one of the only veterans presence on that team, I think the D-Backs like that.
Byrnes would be good on the mets, but who could we trade for him
Well looking forward…the team has no other option other than getting younger…since Delgado and Alou have expiring contracts. I have no clue who will be replacing them.
After looking on mlbtraderumors.com, the youngest OF FA is Juan Rivera (30 years old), they youngest 1B FA is Mark Texiera (29). So unless we plan on making a trade (which is unlikely due to our depleted farm system) or promoting from within…looks like there is not much help coming from Free Agency.
This is scary, this soap opera is going to continue. Maybe the Mets like being on the front pages. Starting to think they believe bad press is good press. If they were going to make a move they would of done it today. The Mets will win two of three this weekend and Willie will still be manager. If the organization was serious about this they would of done it today.
does anyone think the mets would fire Randolph after sweeping this weekend. that would never happen. This is getting scary. These guys don’t have a clue
Well the Stark comment guarantees it doesn’t it.
BTW, anyone notice the irony that Willie’s on the hot seat, the team’s not hitting and “wannabe manager-hitting guru” Rudy Jaramillo will be at Shea this weekend. Can we kidnap him?
Willie Randolph never managed before this job, and all he learned from torre was how to “stick to your guns” and “let your guys fight through it”… those are ideals that work when you have proven veterans and solid role players, not injury prone veterans and inconsistent bench guys. I don’t see why he deserves any more time than he’s already been given to get this team playing up to their potential. I’m normally not a fire willie guy, but when you think about it, it’s not like he’s an accomplished major league manager with a proven track record of success. This team played over it’s head in 2006 and he’s gotten one and a half seasons out of it. Cut the cord.
I do not see Randolph’s job going to Manuel as a positve, smart change. NOPE. It’s as if they’re going by who Randolph congratulates first after each-and-every win; the person who I’m sure Randolph would compliment his handshake, HA! And, Minaya took Willie’s advice to go with the firm handshaker who is best known for his “Never leaving Randolph’s side as if they’re attached at the hip.”
Unbelievable huh.
I’m actually commenting to myself here . . .
If the manager change happens, than it may serve as a big enough player shake-up. We shall see — if it happens — and what the players reactions are.
There are so many options to go to for Manager….
Mazzilli
Felipe Alou
Hernandez
to name a few…and Manuel is the choice???????????
May as well keep Willie.
Willie’s job is safe. If Heyman tells you it’s going to be nice and sunny tomorrow, don’t leave home without your umbrella. I heard him on the radio earlier. He said he thinks Willie is going to be fired, but not before tonight’s game. Now if the decision was already as close to being made as he said it was, why would they let him manage even one more game?
Firing him isn’t going to change anything anyway. But for the love of God can Willie please just shake up the lineup a little bit tonight? Try something. Try anything. The worse you can do is lose, and you’re already losing. Change something.
I agree AMS. Willie isnt going anywhere for a while but he should at least try to mix and match in the lineup to get some more production outta these guys.
That “ESPN Update” is from Tuesday. Heyman’s report is from today. I trust Heyman here, since it DID come out as breaking news around 11:30 today.
Heyman may be wrong a lot, but not nearly as close to the level of fail that is ESPN
If you are right that the ESPN Update is from Tuesday, then that should have been reported here.
As far as Willie goes, if they fire him and decide to leave every other thing in place as is right now, they will be doing everyone a great disservice. It would be nice if it were really that simple, but with this team it’s not.
BTW, I’m not doubting you, what I meant was that if that was from Tuesday it either should not have been included in this update, or at least the time of that update should have been made clear.
Agreed. Heyman’s a pretty good reporter — even if the story turns out to be wrong, I doubt he would have went with it if the sources weren’t credible.
And, by the way, face-saving denials from the Mets front office won’t necessarily mean he’s wrong.
Stark’s piece was last updated yesterday, and looks like it was written before yesterday’s game. Heyman’s piece is as of this morning — even if Stark is right, it’s not hard to see Omar changing his tune after Wagner Meltdown III (2008 edition).
I’m not entirely down on Manuel — he apparently is well-regarded in the clubhouse (not sure this is completely true of Randolph) and, let’s face it, they’re not going to wing it with an outsider mid-season.
this is what i just fail to understand. of all the crap we can possibly blame willie for, using his all-star closer in save situations is the absolute last thing on the list.
win tonight new york. win this for willie. i want to win a title with this guy at the helm
After 22 years, when they do win, I won’t care who is at the helm.
I’m no fan of Willie, but we are in this position because of Minaya. Can’t remember his name, but I know the Reds got rid of their old GM a couple of months ago and he had apparently done fairly well with their minor league system. If he’s available, let’s grab him before someone else does.
If Willie goes, let’s bring in Wally Backman. I don’t give a damn if he had a DWI or went bankrupt. Those things can happen to just about everyone.
Wayne Krivsky… although that might not be the right spelling of his name.
Backman’s history may not matter to you, but it sure does matter to the Wilpons.
Hey, it must run a bit with the name — Backman.
My last name is Backman, and although I’ve been DWI-Less, the financial situation is a close match, HA! I’m over-worked and under-paid, of course!
I met Wally Backman back in the day, and even showed him one of my parents’ bills — which had our last name, Backman on it. I think he must’ve been too buzzed to care, haha.
yeah krivsky was awesome when he traded for those crappy injured washington relievers. no thanks. depodesta or kim ng please.
You know what should change? How about the so-called “Met’s fans” deal with what we have. We have a .500 team (at best) for this season.
Start dealing off the dead weight (and possibly a starter or 2) for minor league prospects. Then send up the kids (or anyone with a pulse) to fill in for the rest of the season. Then hope .500 is where we wind up.
In the meantime, all the posters here will go ape-sh*t bananas that we’ve infused the youth, and it still isn’t working.
Fire Omar, Wille, Jacket, HoJo, the ushers, the food servers, the bathroom cleaners, the ticket collectors, the guy who sells the programs, the maintenance staff, the clubhouse staff, the bat boys, the groundskeepers, the NYC PD officers who do securitythe SNY crew, the SNY cameramen, Jay Horowitz, Ken Oberfell, Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Patterson, President Bush, all the Union Construction workers and Mr. Met.
Then we all agree to don white jerseys with navy blue pinstripes, and start calling people “The Boss”. And start going to home games in the Bronx.
You know what people, the expectations are what are killing us this year. Firing people, DFA’ing people, whatever… NOT GONNA HELP. We expected a team who was to go 156-6, and instead we are looking forward to 81-81. If we can into this season and expected 81-81, and finished 90-72, this year would be a major success (ala 2005).
We all believed ESPN-The Magazine, Sports Illustrated Magazine, the NY Post, the NY Daily News, Newsday, the NJ Starledger, and my junior high-schools newspaper that we were the best team in the NL because of what happened in 2006. Guess what now? FAIL.
I agree w/ most of what you said. Also, we gotta get away from this mindset about trading for this guy and the other to plug these holes. Thats partly how we got here in the first place.
How about we live w/ the F. Marts for a bit and not wait for the sure thing (ala Wright etc.).
When did they start cleaning the bathrooms?
oh you’re good slappy, you’re good. it must suck huh?
let’s see, you type under at least two different monikers…both which link to your pathetic little blog and you have the fine members of Metsblog here completely ignoring you…which I can no longer do.
Call it the NYC in me…..but I’d like to watch a high school kid kick your ass.
Actually there is Slappy McSingleton, Slappy McDoubleton, and Slappy McHomerton. None of which are the same person. All different people with different personalities. They are not related, they all have different last names.
yeah. sure, sybil.
can we please get a Slappy McGidp?
once again heyman shows that he is a hack who likes to create drama.
slanginsanjuan… I hope that wasn’t directed at me… I have no idea who Slappy is… I don’t even have my own blog… lol
oooh paranoid, Mr. Guru? Has nothing to do with you…just a clown here that I want to take my met frustrations out on.
I’m sure you just want a reaction to your post otherwise it’s just masturbation (mstrbtin) isn’t it?
I hate the Yanks. I don’t think we should have hired Willie. After we did, however I gave him full support. I still don’t think he’s the problem. The thing here is that this isn’t working and whether we are Monday morning posters or not there are a lot of flaws exposed and the guy in charge has to be responsible. I don’t like the way Willie has been empowered and I don’t see how it’s going to change in the short or medium term. So some sort of reorg I think is in order…including a trade, a benching, a waivering…whatever combination of those that stirs things up and changes this failing chemistry.
• O-no: And while we’re talking Mets, it remains staggering how many people in baseball continue to ask why they handed second baseman Luis Castillo a four-year deal last winter. Here’s one more ripple effect to consider:
“Orlando Hudson [a free agent to be] would have signed under market to play in New York,” said an official of one team. “I’ve heard that a lot. But now there’s no place for him to play because Luis Castillo’s there for three more years.”
Ouch, that was the most painful part of reading that article on ESPN.com
yeah. we got that the first time…what’s up?
Anyone listening to WFAN right now? Sounds like somthing is going down somewhere. Might not even be Mets related. But the show kind of stopped for a few seconds and then Mike said, “Is that true Eddie? Well I’m not gonna do it until we get some confirmation.” They also just went into a really uncomfortable break. Might not be anything about any of this, but who knows.
Could also be more on Jeremy Shockey. We’ll see.
Tim Russert died. That was what it was all about.
I’ve read how Willie Randolph has about 1-week left of his job, and of course they throw-in how he has the 1-week to turn things around.
There’s no way 1-week will show enough evidence of keeping the manager that supposedly is 1-week away from losing his job. It sounds like no matter what — Willie may be gone.
Or on the other hand, that no matter what he might be staying on. But this is all bad for the team either way. The Willie Watch, The End of the Willie Watch for Now, The Willie Watch Again, etc. I don’t really care if he’s fired or not at this point, but for the good of the entire team, it’s time to take a real stand on it one way or the other.
You’re absolutely correct. Didn’t we JUST go thru this a few-weeks ago, when Beltran called it a distraction, and then Minaya said Willie is staying.
I don’t understand, it’s as if they care more about the drama headlines than playing winning baseball. The distraction is terrible for the team, and I’m very surprised with how the Wilpon’s, Minaya, and anyone else involved continue to drag this on and on and on and on. They should not be the ones making headlines.
Randolph, HoJo, and Peterson will more than likely be gone.
Know what’s funny, Oliver Perez could be the difference between Willie getting fired and staying. I wouldn’t play those odds in AC, Willie I think you should have your bags packed.
By the way Suicide Krivisky is also the guy who stole Brandon Philips from the Tribe and got Edison Volquez from the Rangers. Guess what they both will probably be all stars, that’s more all stars than we will have.
Did you hear that they DL’ed Alou and brought up Cancel again. Why? Just another strange move by Omar, yea we need three catchers again, what about big Val? Sounds like Omar came out and supported Willie
It sounds like Heyman just took a shot in the dark and pulled this out of his ass with the hopes that it happens and he can tell everyone we heard it from him first. Doesn’t sound like there’s anything else to this.
I’m been a huge Omar backer but no more after seeing this joke of a season, he must go also.
Right, because they were perennial contenders before he became GM…BRING BACK M. DONALD GRANT!!
Well we sure aren’t contenders now either unless you count contenders to stay out of last place.
shoot me now
Frank Cashen
philly phans