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According to the Sports Hernia, the Mets took a ‘classless route’ in the way they chose to fire Willie Randolph.
The blog continues on to list 13 Ways the Mets Could Have Gone about this Better, such as, “Hit Willie over the head with a steel 
chair while he makes a pitching change; then spray paint ‘F-I-R-E-D’ on his back,” as well as, “Drive him to the woods so Silvio can chase him down and shoot him in the back.”
The following two comments seem to reflect the hundreds upon hundreds of e-mails that are bombarding my inbox this morning:
Mike from Lake George writes:
“The morning, radio stations are calling the Mets, ‘The laughing stock of Major League Baseball.’ Today, I’m more embarrassed to be a Mets fan than I was last September. Jerry Manuel may be a great manager, but the way Willie was fired was disrespectful and tasteless.”
Similarly, Michael Brendan Dougherty, a writer living near Washington D.C., writes:
“I never thought that a professional sports team could make me feel personally humiliated. Honestly if the marrow in my bones was not orange and blue, I’d be looking for another team to root for…The Wilpons and Omar Minaya have made baseball a source of frustration, for me, a fan. It would be offensive to call my relationship to the Mets organization one of domestic abuse, but there is no other proper metaphor to express the situation of Mets fans who cannot leave (we are married to this team) yet suffer the stupid, almost drunken blows of management…
“An intern at my office is (a Phillies fan). As a fellow-baseball fan he wants to empathize with me, but behind his eyes, he is smiling at the humiliation of the Mets.”
Almost 40 years as a Met fan and I don’t remember ever being so embarrassed to be a fan of this organization. If it wasn’t in my blood I’d strongly consider not giving another penny to this inept organization. Unfortunately, I am stuck and will die a Met fan for better or for worse but I am nonetheless completely disgusted.
…and by the way, I have been wanting WIllie to be fired for quite some time now; longer than most people. I wanted him to be fired, but not like this.
How did you want him fired? Would 3pm feel better than 3am? Would you prefer he went out after a few ugly losses and embarrassed himself? A firing is always bad.
The only thing I wish could change is that the media never heard about this before it happened.
You could handle it with some class. If the Padres/Diamondbacks debacle didn’t do it, why would winning the next 3 of 4 do it? Why would flying to Cali do it? They are a classless organization. If you wanted Willie gone, snake, that’s fine. You have your wish now….now you have a REAL lame duck dud as manager.
I feel a sense of humiliation for the Wilpons, who clearly could care less about the papers and blogs and fans and WFANs. It doesn’t matter to them. It’s a big joke. And this organization is a joke. I won’t be going to any games this season, and I’m not lying about that either. I’ll watch and sign on here but I’m not giving a dollar to this team. And I sincerely hope that many of you follow.
The point I think he and many other Mets fans are trying to make is this.
What makes Willie any less qualified to coach the team after yesterday’s game, than he was before he boarded the plane to come out to LA, or after the San Diego sweep?
The answer is…….nothing.
They knew this was going down, and completely botched it.
I couldn’t care less that he was fired (even though I think it’s as much Omar’s fault for assembling this aging team), it was just the way they went about it. You know, if the Mets lost last night, it makes them look better - but they won. So WHAT CHANGED? Was the way Willie sent up pinch hitters? used the pen? the way he looked in the dugout? Bottom line is….nothing changed. They knew this was going down, and they f’ed it up per usual w/ this franchise.
Everything about this franchise screams 2nd rate (except for the payroll and the new building going in next door). From screwing up seemingly simple tasks…to the EMBARRASSMENT of banners they have down the right field line (1999 NLDS/Wild Card Winners????? are you kidding me - that’s like the 8th seed in basketball/hockey raising a banner that says 2008 - 8th SEED Winners)
They need to get their communication together…cause right now…its a joke.
Yes, but in the grand scheme of things, who cares? Seriously, after his collapse last year and a poor start this year, Randolph comes away looking like the good guy now, gets paid to do nothing, and the Mets are happy that the newspapers can’t print anything until after the next game. I don’t know Willie too well, but he’ll be fine, and as long as this helps the Mets, I don’t care that the media thinks this is embarrassing. I’m not embarrassed at all. I think this is a good baseball move and if you don’t want to work here because you might get fired after failing and calling out your network in an unceremonious way, then don’t fail, and don’t call out your network.
People tend to forget that they might be firing him for his SNY comments, but gave it two weeks so that it wasn’t the story. They don’t care about Randolph, after the things he said, why should we?
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None of this is about caring for Randolph. It is about caring about the organization. We all rationalize various moves by reminding ourselves that this is a business. That is exactly the point here. There is a way that an organization should conduct business and this is not it. This is different from making a stupid trade or firing someone undeservedly. People can criticize ownership for being stupid or misguided in those cases. Here, whether or not Randolph deserves it has been made irrelevant. Ownership handled this in a completely unprofessional way. Here, when we remind ourselves that this is “only a business” that is a painful realization rather than a way to rationalize.
I can honestly say I am embarrassed as a Mets fan today and will be for a long time…This is one of the most disgraceful, gutless, unprofessional firings have ever witnessed in all my years of watching sports…Omar Minaya was a hero for the mets fans for 4 years now he is a marked enemy..The Wilpons are greedy bastards and I will not donate a single dollar to the organization for the rest of the year…I will continue to use this site and watch every game on TV…but will not endorse a business that mistreats their employees like this…why allow WIllie to fly all the way out to LA, win a game, then fire him after midnite…a new manager might have been necessary but do it after the break or next season…Omar, Fred, Jeff, I hope you know you destroyed your business for this year, not helped it…I love the Mets and I will fight to the death for them, but like I said I am embarrassed today more than ever.
If this team starts winning, we’ll all forget about the bad feelings very quickly. Winning changes everything.
Just win, baby.
This is how we feel, imagine the players. What free agent would really want to sign here now?
A free agent that we will pay money to. What free agent would want to sign here after we were a 70 win team for 5 years? Oh yeah, Beltran and Pedro didn’t mind, because they got huge deals. You are all un-real. This is all what you wanted, and now you got your wish. Who cares how he was fired. By the way, all of you threatening to stop rooting for the Mets, go ahead… losers. When will you all understand that nobody in the Mets organization cares at all about what any of you want? They fired him, he is gone, boohoo. Get over it.
Yea, brillaint concept there nrmax. Players will always go where the money is but it has nothing to do with how this situation was handled. You can fire a man with dignity or you can humiliate him.
I’m just happy for Willie. Go home, see your family, and thank god the Mets are longer a part of your life. Now sit back in your living room and laugh away. I hope he laughs at our next 4 game sweep to some inept team. I hope he laughs and then calls into WFAN cursing out Benigno. This team is classless.
Personally, I will root for the Mets, not Willie Randolph.
Jerry Manuel is seriously the new manager? I didn’t like Willie but Manuel is no better. I blame Omar for this teams current state as much as or more than Willie. Now with the way this was handled I really dislike Omar and the Wilpons. Sell the team, get a new GM, get a new coach and maybe this organization could get its act together.
I understand the embarrassment, but I think the media is portraying things worse than they really are and making many of us feel more embarrassed than we should be right now.
When a human being is let go from any organization, it is not something that is decided that morning. It takes days to figure out the plan. That the media got wind of it and exploited it for the last couple of weeks is not the Mets fault. The plan was to do this after the weekend, on the road trip at some point, to remove the annoying media from the equation. Unfortunately, the media heard about it last week and started asking questions. The Mets were not prepared to go forward with this yet, and they handled the damage control poorly. That they won 3 of 4 is meaningless, Willie had four years to do something. Four games is nothing. The Mariners won 3 of 4 last month too. If anything, this gives Willie a chance to go out with his head high, and the Mets have something to build on with Manuel. Besides, momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher, and that would be Johan.
And who cares if it is a long flight home, they fly charters very comfortably. This was the plan and if Willie doesn’t like it he can pretend it’s because SNY hates him. He dug his own grave and the media kicked him in it, tho the Met organization did a poor job trying to ease his fall.
Sure, it seems classless, but in the grand scheme of things, if the media never heard about this last week and no rumors had been swirling, the Mets could have waited until another losing streak to do this. Their hand was forced by a leak, and I am more embarrassed about that than anything they are claiming was classless.
Right now Willie is on a charter home, unsure whether to throw away his peanuts even though they taste great, because Rick Peterson told him from the next row that 20 peanuts is the limit.
That’s a great post. This surely could have been handled better, but a lot of the media backlash has to be due to the fact that the papers didn’t get their headlines today. Who cares what time of night he was fired? The Mets happened to be playing a game earlier in the evening, so firing him during prime time would have been pretty difficult. The idea that they did Randolph some great injustice by letting him travel and then firing him is, at best, very exaggerated. How about the fact that he managed this team into the ground the last 12 months and he’s getting a $3.5M severence package? I’d love to get treated that badly.
Excellent point — the media is upset at the timing. The Mets were smart to do this on the West Coast at 3am so they play a game before the newspapers can print anything.
Then why don’t they wait until something like 9 am or 12 pm EST? 4:00 in the morning seems like crap.
Great post. All your points are what I’m argueing here at work. When was the right time to fire him? On Sunday, on father’s day? After the road trip IF they have a losing road trip? Wait for losing streak to fire him?
I think the timing was perfect, Mets are sort of surging (4 out of last 6) and have Santana tonight.
And Willie not has the empathy of everyone who wanted him fired. Works out for everyone.
Excellent points and it is what I have been saying all along. The media has made this story bigger than the team. Was this really that classless? I mean, to me it seems like they were almost trying to protect Willie and the coaches. These guys are all paid well and they know the pressure that is on them in New York. I know Willie is disappointed, but he is a classy guy and I’m sure he will handle this well. I just don’t see the big deal in the way this was handled. He wasn’t fired at 3:00AM. It was 12:00 PM on the west coast and they had just finished playing a game. Should they have waited until batting practice today. Then everyone would have been going nuts…”They should have let him go after the game, blah blah blah.”
So sick of all of this. I hope now everyone can just shut up and talk about the team and talk about baseball. I have no problem with the way the team handled this. The 4th branch of government forced their hand and they did what they had to do…move on.
…..last September’s collapse was mortifying but came in the context of “that’s baseball” (always unpredictable, sometimes very painful).
Last night’s shenanigans comes in the context of spoiled, buffoonish ownership who confuse wealth with class.
Seriously, I wanted WIllie gone more than anyone, but don’t make the guy fly out all the way to the west coast and then dump him. Sometimes I really hate this organization, just classless.
Seriously, I wanted Willie gone more than anyone, but don’t make the guy fly out to the west coast and then dump him. Sometimes I really hate this organization, just classless.
sorry about the double post
We’ll consider it a complaint that he also has to fly home.
i thought the mets went to anaheim??? no one said anything about going fishing with tony soprano…
… disgraceful.
say it with me: bob-by v, bob-by v.
The worst part is that Yankee fans are all over this saying that their organization is classy, that this would never happen with them, etc. etc.
What they forget is the silliness with their own managers… and also the buffoonery from Hank about losing the DH. (I was glad to hear Gary Cohen call him out on that on last night’s broadcast… Too bad Kevin Kernan of the Post takes Hank’s side— the Post is becoming too pro-Yankees (as if it wasn’t already…))
Yeah, I really could care less about Yankee fans opinions
Seriously, I wanted Willie gone more than anyone, but don’t make the guy fly out to the west coast and then dump him.
whoops, sorry for the repeat
We’ll consider it the possibility of a layover.
Look, there has to be some reason that this was done in this manner. I simply refuse to believe that a group of men who run a New York baseball team can be so incompetent that they would allow their terribly expensive baseball club to be a pawn in a spite game between themselves. It’s an unbelievable thing to assume.
But, of course, I need to hear the press conference before I say anything, but we’ll see. As of right now, I’m pretty ashamed to see this go down, but I expect an explanation.
Here’s my take how things went down. The decision was made last week that Willie is gone after the San Diego series that Willie has one last chance on the home stand to keep his job. He failed against Arizona and the ugly loss on Sunday was the decision maker. Of course, it is Father’s Day so imagine how “classless” that would be? So now they have to wait an extra day but they team was already leaving for LA. So can really keep Willie in NY since it’s still Father’s Day. At the same time, can’t fly Oberkfell and the other coaches out to LA since the media would be all over it and it was still Father’s Day.
Now you have the option to let Willie manage all 3 games in Anaheim and wait to officially fire him on Thursday. However, that would risk him winning all 3 games and what is the excuse for firing him on Thursday? They can’t keep him since the decision was already made to fire him. Awkward situation. And hence, the best option was the midnight massacre.
What people do not realize is that in pro sports these things happen. Always looking over your shoulder at your replacement. Pro sports is like any job with a lot of politics involved. People have to realize and stop over-reacting what time he was fired. Lets just hope this lights a fire under the players and they perform to what they are expected.
The Three Stooges (Wilpon’s and Omar) should be ashamed for this.
3am …3am !!
Randolph deserved better then a midnight phone call at his hotel room like his was being sent for to see some mob boss. Disgusting ….
I am sure he did not get a midnight phone call from his Hotel.
The game gets done around 1015 pm. By the time he is done with post game media and everything it’s past 11 and then he meets with Omar. The news comes out after the meeting.
It actually was 12 AM, right after they got back to the hotel after the game. Why did randolph deserve better. You guys are such morons its ridiculous. BTW Omar had nothing to do with this. For you morons who still dont realize this… well, I guess thats why you are morons. GM’s dont plan a firing 3 days ahead to avoid the story hitting the papers that day. That is something owners and PR people do. And by the way, who cares what time he got fired? This is by far the most overblown story of the year. You all want Willie gone, now you complain because the fire him at night. Rofl.
It’s not very complicated, many of us don’t like Willie as a manager, but he’s also a human being, and he shouldn’t of been dicked around like he’s been over the past few weeks, fire him and get it over with.
I love how Matt was whining for this too be over with about 18 hours ago. Now he is whining with thee rest of you. You are all babies. They fired him after a road game, too bad.
Exactly. ..and everyone, it was not 3:00 AM. They were in California. …and I’m sure Willie and Rick knew at 10:30PM when the game ended. They are grown men, they know the risks and the rewards of working in New York for a professional sports team.
…and stop whining about a flight. These guys fly 100 times a year on charter flights. It’s really not a big deal.
What’s with the insults! I hope you unexpectedly lose your job while on vacation! You are such a DOLT! Get bent!
And why at 3AM? Just makes no sense. I fell asleep with the game on and heard the news in the early morning hours. At first I thought I was dreaming it.
Matt, I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d appreciate if you’d link to what you think are the best articles on the situation as it goes on.
I’m sure that’s how the Mets planned it. They wanted to announce the news at the quietest possible moment
Which reveals them as spineless snakes.
Would it have pleased you all more if they fired Willie at 12 eastern, around 9 oclock pacific, so you could have been awake for it? Right around the 7th inning stretch? I also though did think it was a dream at first. I didnt even really want Willie gone, but whatever, it is what it is, whats done is done, so all of you stop your empty threats about boycotting the mets or blah blah blah cuz nobody cares.
I don’t understand when a good time to fire someone is. They did it right after the game. He won, he goes out with his head high. Good for everyone.
Don’t forget that they might be firing him for his SNY comments, but gave it two weeks so that wasn’t the story.
Why not do it after the double header so he doesn’t have to fly to California and deal with the extra embarrassment?
I believe they wanted to embarrass him a little, because of the SNY comments.
Well we know when a bad time to fire someone is. The mets..i mean omar just said a few days before that willie is safe, hes our manager blah blah blah. Then you let the guy fly all the way to LA, he wins the game and you fire him in the middle of the night. Now this team has to adjust to a new manager and digest what just happend not to mention the circus that they are going to have with the media. They just drew more attention to themselves…good job
Hey, maybe this will work out as well as when the Giants caved to the media/public opinion and fired Tom Coughlin in the middle of a .500 season!
Wait a second…
If the front office’s intention was to try and minimize the impact by doing this in the middle of night 3000 miles away, what a miscalculation on their part. Now they have a P.R. nightmare on their hands. Now Willy looks like the martyr. I don’t think Omar is going to have an easy press conference today. Although, he’ll probably deflect all the hard questions the way he usually does. I’m surprised he didn’t fly out to the West Coast with the team so he can do the conference from there.
He did.
IMHO if the Mets had done everything else the same way, but just held the press release until today’s news conference started, it would have looked a lot better.
Let’s hope Jerry Manuel and the new pitching coach can handle a bullpen better than Willie and the Jacket could….
another classy way to fire willie would have been to hide willie’s jersey before the game
That’s hilarious.
They could have also sent Tony Bernazzard to Willie’s room to tell him to report to Omar and to bring his playbook.
We should all be embarrassed! This organization has been run by clowns for decades!
One quality owner in Joan Whitney Payson and one quality GM in Frank Cashen (with Joe Mcilvain as his director of scouting).
It really didn’t take very long for this club to once again become the laughing stock of the entire league.
I want so badly to be able to deck my newborn out in Mets gear, but quite frankly I have no desire to purchase anything that has a Mets logo on it! Why the heck should I give these dolts my money when they run their franchise like this?
I wanna see this team miss the playoffs again just so I can see how the Wilpons handle the opening of the new park next season. Yeah… try and raise the prices again after that!
I am so embarassed to be a Met fan today. Its beyond comprehension why they even let Willie make the trip to L.A. The Mets and the Wilpons find another way to screw things up.
My firstborn is due in August. Is raising it to be a Met fan tantamount to child abuse?
It is very embarassing. Willie being let go was inevitable. Most of us just wanted the FO to make a decision and not let this circus get more out of control than it already has. Letting the guy go in LA at the time they did was embarassing. Why couldnt they let him manage the series and do it when he comes home? Very disappointed in the way the FO handled this issue and in doing so i think the media is going to have a field day with this. Im sure many people thought with willie gone people will focus on baseball…it seems though imo this circus is here to stay and jerrys got a bigger bullseye than willie right now. Very embarassing, Very unclassy and i just cant wait until the interview and how they are going to explain themselves out of this one….
I too agree with an earlier poster (KingWright) that there had to be a reason for the timing. It seems like this was in the works, particularly having read the pieces from Matt and crew about AAA planning for life without Oberkfell and Warthen and others. Maybe they needed time to get this in place, and with the doubleheader on Sunday/Father’s Day, they couldn’t do it then. I thought for sure it was going to happen on Thursday after the Angels took 2 of 3 from us. (Now, we have a chance to take 2 of 3, but not because of this…)
What a bunch of whiners all of a sudden!
FIrst of all, he wasn’t fired at 3AM. IIRC< the press release came out about 3ish, but that is California time, so it was around midnight.
So let’s see, they had a night game, ending around 10, then the normal post game stuff, etc. Probably got back to the hotel at what, Midnight?
SO basically, they let Willie get out of the stadium and away from the press, so it could be handled privately. Actually, to me, that shows class.
Who knows why they decided to pull the plug yesterday. But Sunday made no sense, and people would have been screaming even louder about that, since they played a DH and had to get a plane to the coast.
WOuld you have preferred they grabbed him back off the plane? Yeah, that would have been classy!
At least the majority of people that wanted him gone (lousy manager, accountability for the collapse, team needs a shake up, pick your favorite reason) have gotten their wish, and that is the important part. Now the players are the focus, the distraction of the WIllie watch is gone, and they can move forward, hopefully making the playoffs.
Oh, and I said on an earlier thread that Omar may have done it this way as a favor to WIllie. Instead of immediately being thrown to the media wolves, he has some time to hiself, and can disappear if he wants, and can resurface for a presser when it feels right to him.
The mets have an off day on thursday…why fire willie in the middle of a series? They drew more attention to themselves by the way they handled this issue. I know the media needs a story but the amount of attention this is getting kinda would lean toward the favor that maybe the mets didnt handle this the best way.
dude, they’re not making the playoffs. let’s just stop that pipe dream. at this point, the playoffs are anything but assured. there is still a turn-around factor that has to be accounted for and then the injuries and then there’s this nice little stretch they have before the allstar break.
this could get worse before it gets better.
Well technically they still got a chance. Yes alot has to go in the mets favor but they still got a chance. But i will say that this team has many more holes than just the manager thats for sure. Getting rid of willie is just one of many problems with this team. But i still hold out hope for the playoffs..they can still pull this off
Just classless.
Evan was right on about how Omar Minaya needs to be asked why now/why after they beat the Angels-what in that game made it clear Willie had to be fired right then and there.
Willie was fired after game 1 of the DH on Sunday but they were so classless so they waited a day so he’s not officially fired on Father’s Day.
Come on, open your eyes. How can you not see that the decision was already made before last night?
You miss the playoffs in what is now known as the “worst collapse in team history”. Cost the Wilpons (your boss) 135 million dollars in playoff money. Then, they give you an opportunity to go out and get off to a fast start, you fail. Your team fails. You cost the Wilpons (your boss), even more money. The media defines class. We are all along for the ride. I can care less what the story line is. Middle of the night, covert operation, etc. Guy got fired for not adding 3.5 mm dollars of value and costing the fans and the owners a championship.
Which may be true, but there’s a way to go about doing things and this wasn’t how to do it.
marv, as a person familiar with hirings and firings of corporations, I will reveal a very big secret, a person who is underperforming and is in a position with authority, will always have his job questioned, and it is never done in front of him. Nobody says Willie has to come back to NY tonight. Maybe the scrutiny of the NY media is exactly what they wanted to avoid for Willie. Or Bill R.
“Maybe the scrutiny of the NY media is exactly what they wanted to avoid for Willie. Or Bill R”
well they did a good job of that (all sarcasm implied)
“Maybe the scrutiny of the NY media is exactly what they wanted to avoid for Willie. Or Bill R.”
Well they did a good job of that(sarcasm)
sorry for the double post
Why dont people understand this. People here on the blog and people in the media are not complaining about willie getting fired. They have an issue with the way the mets handled the matter. You can make an arguement either way as to if willie deserves getting fired but the majority of people are just saying they are upset at the way the mets handled this issue not about willie being fired
Maybe they could have just fired him at the end of last season and avoided this whole thing. Sure. Maybe after the Braves series. Okay. Maybe after San Diego. Possibly. Or maybe, on June 16th a day after father’s day, on another West coast road trip. Any date is ripe for a firing. Now, back to baseball!!! Get the ship righted. Or, your job is at stake. Message loud and clear boss.
Yes they had plenty of opportunities to fire willie. Hell it was inevitable. But why fire him IN THE MIDDLE OF A MAJOR LEAGUE SERIES when there is an offday at the end of the series. I hope they get back to baseball but i cant help but wonder if the way they handled the matter will draw even more attention to the mets. We all know how long the media dragged out the collapse….and yea willie along with everyone knows if they dont get the job done their job is at stake and i doubt the firing of willie will right the ship.
I doubt this was Minaya’s decision since all the media reports on Randolph’s job status claimed Minaya was the only thing standing in the way of Randolph being fired. I think Jeff Wilpon has been the leak to the media about Randolph’s tenuous hold on his job as manager. At a certain point Minaya realized the media crush on this story was not going away, and he couldn’t make it go away since the source is the owner’s son, so he had to fire Randolph or let the circus go on. Perhaps he only determined that Jeff Wilpon was the source yesterday morning, and thought he had to take decisive action now. Or, maybe, Minaya and the Wilpons met on sunday night/Monday morning and the Wilpons told Minaya if he wasn’t going to fire Randolph, he would be out. Either story wouldn’t surprise me.
At any rate, the day the Wilpons sell the Mets will be the greatest day ever. Can we as a Mets fans start a hostile takeover of the team?
Jeez, would every body stop this whining.
People with this never been so embarassed garbage, Enough!
Everybody wanted him gone, I kinda liked his personality, but we were’nt winning so he’s gone.
The collapse happened before his eyes.
He was given 70 games to right the ship and didn’t he goes home with 3 mil plus,
If your the boss and you have provided everything you can and this is your record and your team does lackluster.
Then who cares where, (Cali) and what time he is fired,
I’m more embarassed by our play most of the time.
Mets Fans lets not forget where we have come from. We went from bums to must wins. Its better than bums.
Enough WHINING, the crying fans are embarassing me.
SHOW SOEM BACKBONE AND DEAL WITH IT.
I wanted to abuse Willie more. Champagne Willie was terrible. Sounds a bit racial. Not that I am saying it is racial. Just sounds a bit. Come again?
Perfectly said Knuckles
anyone whose embarassed by this needs to get a reality check
What’s embarassing is the way they have been playing, the way they collapsed last year. That is embarassing.
Why waste time worrying what other people think about your team. For me personally, I could care less if every person in America absolutely hated the Mets, so long as they played hard and competed and ideally won ball games I would be a happy Mets fan
If in two weeks, they’re winning consistently, no one will care how he was fired. Just that Thank God he was fired.
I don’t feel one bit embarassed about how they fired Willie Randolph! This whining however, is embarassing.
It’s a firing! There is never a situation where anyone would come out on top. No one ever said “man, that was some class how they fired that guy! If I were to get fired, that’s how I would’ve wanted it.” Give me a break! This happens all the time in the real world! You think Goldman Sachs wants a good feeling when they got rid of all those investment bankers this month? “Hey, great job on that merger…oh by the way, you’re fired. No hard feelings I hope. We’ll do lunch next week. And oh, you might want to clean out your office by 3pm so we won’t have any trouble…”
Seriously, Willie should be thankful he wasn’t fired on Father’s day! We needed this day for the last 8 month and now we’re whining about how classless this this? Give me a break! Willie is a tough guy, he can take it. If now, all that money should make it better!
I hate how everyone, almost everyone I should say, is saying there’s a better way to do this. What is the better way? Name it. Would you rather Omar say “Yea, he’s going to be fired but we’re going to wait til Father’s Day is over before pulling the trigger not to mention the fact we have to notify our coaches in New Orleans to make arrangements to be in Anaheim.” instead of what he actually said? Unf’ingbelievable.
Let’s see what the Mets can do. Trot Nixon in left. Church will hopefully be back in right field. Beltran. Maybe with the pitching staff going right???? Wow, baseball talk at last!
EXACTLY! This is the day many of us has been waiting for. It’s a new (almost new…wish Jerry and Sandy was included in the midnight massacre) start and we should be EXCITED!
Not sure I understand all of the whining either, but it is amazing that according to the vote on this website 55% of the people disagree with him being fired. Hmm?
The middle of the night complaints and west coast stuff is being overdone in the press. The leaks to the press and the the now painlfully obvious situation where almost everyone knew it was coming does seem to be very tastless and show a lack of class.
Oh well. I’m still a Met fan.
Still puzzled by the reason to take Rick out at the same time. Another Hmm?
Rick Peterson? See Victor Zambrano…
55% of people don’t know that buying a house with no money down was a bad idea. Or, building a home in Florida in the direct path of a hurricane. So, does that surprise you. Fortunately, 55% of the people don’t run their own teams.
The jacket? See Vic Zambrano.
regarding the jacket, just look up Zambrano (not Carlos) and you’ll see why.
Whoops…
First saw that my posts were not posted and thought it might have been blocked.
Theres an off day 2 days from now at the end of this series. Why couldnt they let willie manage the series and fire him then? What because winning 9-6 against a first place team in the AL was the last straw?
What if we win all 3 in Anaheim? Still fired them?
thats fine but you are telling me they couldnt wait until they finished up the series in anahiem to fire willie.
No, they couldn’t. There’s no good reason to!
Omar came over thinking that they probably had a 50-50 shot at winning. As they are a .500 team. This is not a decision for the short term. Long term decision. I don’t think the outcome of last evenings game has anything to do with the decision. It was made a long time ago. They have Santana tonight. Keep the momentum.
Bad decisions abound. This regime was a disaster. Willie had problems managing a bullpen, young players, veterans, etc. If he was awesome, and everything was going swell, I would be confused. But it wasn’t. So I understand. Midnight massacre. Nice title. Media guy wrote that one up. They always match the first letters. Must be part of their college curriculum.
I was surprised they did it at 330 am.
But I knew it was coming. How?
His daughter Ciara, at 7 pm est, who I had went to school with, had written an away message saying “I am no longer a Met fan :)”
Its too weird to just be a coincidence.
She obviously knew. And Willie of course knew it as well, even during the game. That was why he was so loose, because he knew it was already over.
Willie probably knew on Sunday, that’s why he’s been so much looser. It’s incredibly bizarre.
Minaya goes out and gets Trot Nixon on Saturday. Replaces Alou with a guy who I think is going to be a great Met. Church says he feels good enough to play and will be back on Friday. Beltran is going well. Now, you get the manager shuffle. Maybe, just maybe go on a tear. Get to a couple games above .500 by the end of June. The July, see where you get. You have until July 31st to decide.
Good riddance! Now she can go back to being the Yankees fan that she always have been. No more closet Yankees fan for her!
Matt, maybe you feel dirty, but I for one feel cleansed. Cleansed of the 2007 Collapse. Cleansed of the AL mentality. Cleansed of the passive attitude. Cleansed of the Yankee arrogance and self-entitlement.
I don’t know if Manuel is the right person, but there was only one way to find out. I can’t begin to express the happiness and hope that I feel today.
PS. I do agree that Mets manag3ment handled this awfully and it was like a mob hit doing it at 3 am NY time. I don’t get all wrapped up in the plane ride, but it should have been done over the weekend, since it seems the decision had been made by Friday.
this is the most depressing crap i’ve ever read. I think some people posting on this thread are in serious need of therapy. this is something everyone knew was going to happen even though i disagree with the move myself. being someone who’s been fired a couple of times and has had to fire others as well, i didn’t realize there was a “proper” way to terminate someone. i can tell you from the experience of being on both ends that there is no “proper” way to fire someone. baseball is a business like any other and it isn’t very pretty. im sure willie, being the man that he is, knows that and accepts his fate. as far as i’m concerned, how willie was fired is not an issue with me. that’s just the way things are. we should be more “embarrassed” over the way our team is playing than over something like this… get over it people!!!!!
more depressing and pathetic crap. if there’s a time when our team needs its fans the most it’s right now. now is the time to be at your most supportive. if you’re one of the weak-kneed wimps on this blog who think you’re constantly being “embarrassed” and “humiliated” by a “second rate” organization then i have a suggestion for you… a) become a yankees fan or b) become a red sox fan… sorry but im just sick of all the negativity
I agree with these last two posts. Embarrased? Not me, not at all. Willie should have been fired after presiding over the Titanic last September. Everyone knew this was only a matter of time. And to have bloviating self-important “sports writers” and “sports shock jocks” use gutless, cowardly, embarrassing to describe the firing of the manager and the coaches of a baseball team is the height of bloviating. I don’t care one bit if Joe Beningo and Evan Roberts or god forbid those two other idiots think this was handled incorrectly. What the hell ios the correct way? Give me a break. Willie is a multi-millionaire - get a grip everyone - stop being embarrased. The Willie era is over and I’m one very happy Mets fan.