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Opinion: Time for Drastic Measures

by Joe Janish on June 13th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Two weeks ago, Willie Randolph ‘rested’ Carlos Delgado two games in a row, gave a few bench players the chance to start, and inserted a green rookie into the lineup. The result was seven wins in the team’s next nine games.

More importantly, it appeared as though their attitude had evolved, delivering come-from-behind wins and showing a ‘fight’ we haven’t seen since 2006.

Heck, even Delgado started hustling.

But it wasn’t enough of a spark, and the fire went out quickly.

Now the Mets are back to where they were before ‘the meeting,’ and Randolph‘s wondering about his job again. He might be able to save it by doing something that publicly establishes his control of the club, and shows he’s not sitting on his hands waiting for something to happen.

Maybe it’s batting Carlos Beltran leadoff, or sending Oliver Perez to the bullpen, or promoting Mike Carp and Val Pascucci and putting them both in the starting lineup. It’s more likely none of those illogical ideas, but the point is, what’s been done for the past 167 games has not been working.

It’s time to try something different – very different.

Randolph would be smart to make a drastic change or two now, before the front office decides his removal is the ‘shake up’ the team needs.