As a Mets fan, I’m embarrassed this morning, and I feel a little dirty.
I understand why Willie Randolph was fired. In fact, due to the time I spend talking to people connected to the team, I am probably aware of why he was fired better than most people.
The problem is that, like in so many cases during this team’s history, the story today will not be about replacing Randolph with Jerry Manuel and moving forward, it will be about the way this situation was handled – and rightfully so.
On one hand, most things end badly – otherwise they wouldn’t end, especially in baseball.
I have already been sent e-mail from Yankee fans mocking the Mets, which is pretty funny coming from a team that ran Joe Torre and his four rings out of town, and is notorious for the Billy Martin Merry-go-Round.
Nevertheless, the Mets took so long to make this decision that it made them look foolish, classless and disorganized.
For instance, I’m convinced information was intentionally leaked to the media in an effort to force Omar Minaya’s hand, which is quite disingenuous, because I still believe Minaya would have preferred to keep Randolph – all while having to spin the media night after night. There are reporters I have talked who all feel the exact same way.
What’s worse, from what I can gather, several people in the clubhouse, from players to trainers to security guards, all knew Randolph would eventually be fired on this road trip.
Lastly, yesterday, a person I know, who talks with the team’s front office on a regular basis, asked me when I feel Randolph would be fired. I was under the impression that Randolph would be fired on the off day between Los Angeles and Colorado later this week – win or lose. However, the way the question was asked, I could sense it was going to occur a lot sooner than that.
In other words, this was not a secret.
And so, the team’s ownership should stepped up and fired Randolph last week, when it is was obvious they had already reached a decision.
Instead, they dismissed their manager at midnight in a hotel room, after he had just won four of his last six games.
That said, I do not feel bad for Randolph. He will live to fight another day, he’ll get another job in an industry based on a kid’s game, and he’ll earn close to $3.5 million doing so, which is a lot better than you and I will ever be treated.
I know this is all part of the deal, in business, but especially in baseball. But, like I said, it just makes me feel a little dirty and a bit embarrassed knowing that so many people knew of this in advance, and that it occurred in the middle of the night, making it all stink of an extra level of smarminess.
I’m not totally sure why I feel this way, but I do.
I’m probably just being emotional.
{ 203 comments }
Let’s just turn the page and start a new chapter. The Mets had a great win last night and we aren’t even talking about it? Come on boyyysss…….
LETS GO METS!!!
Agreed. Even as an ardernt firing supporter, I spent about w minutes questioning the timing. Now, it’s time to move on. Let’s keep this momentum going.
yes, I jut posted below how it’s maybe nicer for Willie to go out on a winning streak of sorts. Four games means nothing in the overall determination of if he stays or goes — it’s just four games in a four year span, but for the Mets, going into a new regime with some momentum is a good thing too.
Momentum? How can a team with players, that have emotions by the way, play well after their manager has been fired?
I think personally that this could ruin our season. A season that so many were looking forward to.
It’s a damn shame.
Because they wanted Randolph gone and now they will play loose. Unless you were hoping for a sub-.500 season, I don’t see how this ruins anything.
Snake, are you saying you think the players wanted him gone so they tanked the season thus far? Eh, I guess it’s possible….
I wouldn’t go that far. It was not conscious. Think about how you are at a job with a boss you like a lot vs one you didn’t like as much. You never tanked your responsibilities, but if you could stay late to make something perfect, you might go home to your kids if you don’t like the guy or especially if you knew he was going to be fired soon.
Gotcha…. good point, makes sense…
Nonsense. The assumption that the core of Mets players dislike Willie and wanted him gone is completely unfounded.
At this point the timing is irrelevant, probably shoulda been done on Friday, but it wasn’t…agreed, now just move on and win games. It’s sad, the Mets be one of the best teams in baseball last night, with another gem by Pelfrey and all we have to talk about is firing Willie.
This was an absolute disgraceful way of handling this. I wanted Willie fired as well, but the way they handled this was Mickey Mouse at best. I am glad the NY Times had an article this morning that called the Mets out as t the amateur hour operation they are.
This firing is not going to change the way this organization operates and instead makes them look like an absolute embarrassment. Easily the most bush-league front office in baseball right now.
Oh and why was Hojo not fired as well? He did a worse job than Rick Peterson!
Ask David Wright.
OMAR MINAYA SHOULD FIRE HIMSELF!!!
THIS IS HORRIBLE!!!
You hit it right on the head Jim, the problem in this organization is Minaya. The cream rises to the top, and soon we’ll see the real problems: no team chemistry, no leadership, old players in decline. I really hope Willie gets a good job somewhere else, and watch, he’ll get to a world series.
I agree with you, Almar1965. If Minaya knew Randolph’s days were numbered, shouldn’t the plug have been pulled before boarding a plane to California? Don’t get me wrong, I supported the overhaul of the coaches and manager.
And I agree, shouldn’t the majority of the coaching staff been fired too? HOJO gets a reprieve! What the F’ is that? I dunno what to think. If I was embarrassed about the Mets play earlier in the season. I am embarrased to be a Mets fan over the higher ups handling of Church’s concussion and Randolph’s firing. This is bush league and indeed it’s lacks class!
I agree completely. This front office is despicable!! Not only do they not know anything about running a baseball operation, what’s even more scary is that they pretend they do. They didn’t have the balls to take a stand or have a plan for Willie they had to cowardly wait til they are on the West Coast away from the fans and media to fire him. And I agree too that HoJo should have gone too but most of all Omar. Yes he made some good deals but he also made some VERY bad ones. I have been a Mets fan since they started and Matt is right, I am embarrassed, angry and dirty!!!!!!!!!
Last night, Baseball tonight has a round table discussing the Mets.
They indicated that that Tony Bernazzard and Willie never got a long, and that may have been a big part of the issue.
I think the move was wrong, but other will disagree.
What is absolutely clear is that the Mets bungled this and made themselves look cheap and unorganized.
I am embarrassed for them.
What gets me is that the team was playing with a lot of emotion.
That is what you want.
Its not like they are just going through the motions.
I thought the team was battling.
Thats what you want from you players.
Hi Matt…I cannot answer the second question to the poll. While I agree Randolph should have been terminated, I do feel that the question is a bit vague! The way it was handled was classless. Randolph definitely didn’t deserve that. I know I am going to get some flack for saying that, but c’mon!
I’ve been a Met fan since I was 10 yrs old. I’m 50 now. I’ve seen alot to be embarassed about. THIS IS THE WORST!!! Willie never had a chance ! all he’s ever done is win and now he has to go? BULL! The Wilpons are a joke! And I don’t look foward to thier new too expensive stadium! Here’s the best… IF Willie was white he’d still be there no doubt in my mind SHAME ON THE ENTIRE MET ORGANIZATION!
No surprise here, but why did it take so long? This should have been done at the end of last season (not last week). Instead, this organization mucks that up just like they muck everything up.
Now I actually feel sorry for the guy. I never wanted him as this team’s skipper (and it has nothing to do with his Yankee “roots”), so I’m glad this era is over. But this was not the way to handle the situation.
Now it all falls on Omar’s head. Now if they fail to make the playoffs, Omar has to be held responsible for the team he has put together this season. Then I wanna see sonny boy, Jeff Wilpon, step up and can him!
And why the heck was Nieto canned?!? Who the hell is he? What has he done wrong? What about Alomar? He’s done an AWFUL job at third, yet the first base coach goes? What was that? A throw in?
Also, as much as I don’t care for Peterson and his ‘I can fix anyone’ attitude, he doesn’t deserve to be fired. Although I can certainly understand why he has to go. I don’t think he can stick around if Willie goes, so I get it.
I just don’t get the timing. The timing is awful, and these men deserve to be treated better then this.
On a better note, the Oberkfell era begins! Would love to see him get a shot to manage the club. I think he deserves it.
I assume they wanted to keep Alomar because players respect him. So, Nieto was canned to make room for Oberkfell.
SHould have made it a trifecta of coaches and replaced Hojo with the AAA hitting coach too.
At least it seems that they have set Obie up as the ultimate successor. No way Manual gets the permenant job, and no reason to bring up Obie if he isn’t being groomed. May also happen during the season.
Let them respect Alomar as a 1st base coach. He is horrible at 3rd base. Actually, nobody really talked about him much during the offseason because we all got caught up in the Randolph saga. But it was clear last year that he was indecisive and showed bad judgement in sending runners and that runners were often ignoring his signs. I thought that the willingness of the Mets to accept this poor level of performance showed that they just weren’t going to hold people accountable and I thought it was an omen that bad things were on the horizon.
Completely agree on many of your points. Willie should have been gone last Oct not mid season.
Alomar should have been given his walking papers a long time ago. His reads on sending/holding runners is terrible. How does he continue to make the wrong call.
I also think that Hojo needs a kick in the pants. Our offense has been inconsistent since he took the rank of hitting coach.
Unreal. So it finally happens and they make a move like that. Really unprofessional and classless how they handled this one. I just hope the move of the jacket doesn’t come back to haunt them.
It will. Peterson gets more blame for the Kazmir thing than fixing pitchers like Perez and Maine.
True about OP and Maine, but what about the bullpen? Who has he helped in there?
HoJo and Peterson should share in WR’s fate.
You can also look at the bright side I guess — a classy guy got to go out off a big road win and his team playing well. Had he lost five straight games he would not have the support he has now, which has to feel a little better. Not much, I know, but so many people are on Willie’s side based on how this was handled, and I’m sure he’ll read/hear about how everyone agrees this was mishandled. Even the people (like me) that thought it was Willie’s time to go because he lost the team for good believe this was done completely wrong and makes the Mets look like the bad guys here.
Omar should be a talent scout. He is great at it. He is not a front man, he lacks the know-how to do the right things publicly and doesn’t know how to handle tough spots.
Willie had Yankee blood and deserved to be fired in true Yankee style!!
Once a Yankee… Always a Yankee!!
LETS GO METS!
RE…
TARD…
ED.
Willie was a Mets fan long before becoming a Yankee player. Once a Mets fan…
Could have been worse. Imagine if they did it after the doubleheader on Sunday, ruining the poor guy’s father’s day?
Hi Freddy
You stay classy, Omar Minaya.
I wouldn’t blame this on Omar, all reports say he was Willie’s last line of defense. More than likely the Wilpons wanted Willie gone but didn’t want to do it themselves so they forced Omar’s hand with the constant leaked media reports, all of which turned out to be 100% accurate.
This entire circus has Jeffie’s finger prints all over it.
You got that right. What’s it going to take to get Boy Wonder under control here? Absolutely zero class, and even less savvy. Ugh.
I can’t believe that when I woke up at 6am this morning, I turn on the TV to find out Willie was fired. I mean could they atleast have waited until the team returned to New York? Why even make Willie pack and go out to Cali, win the game and then fire him. This was so weird and I think so tasteless. I’m reall disappointed.
Imagine the moral of the team. They’ve actually won 3 of 4 and I would have to think this kills some of that momentum. This was done so bad.
I don’t think the players care that much. If anything, having the death watch over with might relax them!
I disagree. Willie is being fired because these guys no longer play for him. Wagner was quoted last year as saying he has no idea what the team thinks. Delgado and Beltran’s quotes this year were lukewarm support at best. But more importantly, on the field it was clear — these guys underperformed under Randolph this season, off the collapse. They needed to turn the page on the collapse last year, and this mentality may not have been Randolph’s fault, but he had to go to remove the collapse, which spilled over to 2008. Winning 3 of 4 is a microcosm of the big picture. The collapse was huge.
And most importantly, momentum in baseball is the next day’s starting pitcher, which in this case is Johan Santana.
I agree with stickguy, disagreed with the post above it…
So who will be the NL East team to sign Peterson this week?
Phils? Braves?
I’m sure they will do well with his knowledge of the Mets staff in their jacket pocket.
What’s the deal with firing the first base coach??? Let me guess . . . the Wlpons probably felt they needed to fire at least one Latino coach to cover themselves . . . but even that they screw up, since the logical candidate for that should have been Sandy Alomar . . . more classless ineptitude from Little Jeffy and Fredo
Just call this time of year the Ides of June for the Mets.
If you remember Tom Seaver was traded on June 15th, 1977. June 16th is pretty close to that.
I think Omar was involved in that deal too.
At least Willie’ll be free to visit Dublin in honor of Bloomsday.
I agree with what you say Matt. But I will say this to though. Omar should be fired as well. This team is horribly constructed and Omar is to blame. So I want Minaya gone now. As well as the jackass Tony B. Get him the hell away from this team.
I think we need to give this team a chance to see how they can do with a different manager before also firing Omar. If this was his fault they will continue to lose. Either way Willie was gone too, because a new GM would hire his own manager. Time will tell if Willie was the one who was given the bad team to work with or not, but you have to give Omar a fair chance with at least a second person in charge of his personnel.
My question is why does Tony B have any say in ANYTHING? What has he ever done regarding finding talent. He seems to be the cancer around this ballclub…well aside from the two idiot owners.
Please fire Omar at about 4am tomorrow Morning to finally close the door on this mess known as the 2008 Mets. Please don’t let Omar ruin this franchise or future Mets teams anymore.
He needs to go!!!!!!
Agreed Slappy.
“For instance, I’m convinced information was intentionally leaked to the media in an effort to force Omar Minaya’s hand, which is quite disingenuous, because I still believe Minaya would have preferred to keep Randolph – all while having to spin the media night after night. There are reporters I have talked who all feel the exact same way.”
People, if the Mets plans weren’t leaked by ownership, we wouldn’t think Omar mismanaged the team. Haven’t we learned from how bad ownership made Valentine and Phillips look that its the Wilpons who are running this franchise to the $h*tter.
SHAME ON THE WILPONS
I’m not proud to be a Mets fan today
that woud be “into” the $h*tter, not “to.”
Also, your boldface quote is heartily supported here.
now you want to fire omar? that would be throwing in the towel for 2008
Yeah I want to fire Omar, because not doing so will just result in throwing in the towel for 2008, 2009, 2010…etc until he stops ruining the Mets’ farm system, although I don’t know how he could do so anymore than he already has. This is the second franchise’s farm system Omar has ruined, before NY it was Expos/Nationals.
So, yes I want to fire Omar. I’ve been saying this for a while, not just today.
This was terrible timing. How do you let a guy who wins last night, has a post game conference where he says ”we can build on this” and then fire him early in the morning.
Exactly, I thought it was classless. This should have been handled much, much better.
Once again the Mets look like a bunch of bufoons. They can not even fire somebody the right way! OK Omar its all on you now.
a classless organization for a bunch of classless fans.
classless post
(crickets)
Ha, this reminds me of my southern aristocrat grandmother who always used to tell me “Those who use the term “classy” are lacking in that very concept.”
i wonder if wagner did not blow those two games, if willie randolph would have his job right now…
Actually this firing is very “classy”–it’s an exercise of the whims of the decadent upper class!
Well…the spotlight is on you now Omar….you classless rat! No reason to make these guys fly five hours out west and then fire them on the west coast. And the Wilpons are cowards, hiding under there security blankets for the past two weeks.
While I’m not so upset Willie was fired, something had to be done. It was just handled disgracefully. This is another public relations nightmare to hang over this team. When will it end.
If you are going to fire the coaches Omar, then fire all of them. Alomar, horrible 3rd base coach, why he is still on? So you have someone to share some taquitos with? Just pathetic. You make yourself look racist by keeping Sandy here, especially after that gaff play on Sunday sending Schneider home on a popout.
This goes deeper than Willie. The spotlight is on Omar now..and I hope he gets blasted for this debacle and eventually loses his job at the end of the season when the team does not make the playoffs.
question, did you read matts post and just not believe it? that the reason this took so long is because omar did not want to fire randolph and ownership forced him to? why is omar classless? because he was trying to bide time for randolph to arguably win four games in a row if alomar had any skill being a 3rd base coach?
Did you not read that this was decided a week ago by the Wilpons and should have been done then? This is a mishandled, classless firing by the Mets. The only reason you can argue Minaya wanted Willie to stay on is so that his head wouldn’t be under the guillotine. Well..he’s on the chopping block now. And deservedly so.
this is not mishandled because this is exactly what all of you have been CALLING FOR! there was an internal struggle going on here, and an ultimatum was given. omar probably wanted to bide time for a streak, and the wilpons just didnt want that and gave him the order.
who cares when and where it was done. getting fired sucks all the time everywhere.
man, i hate this hypocrisy with a red hot hate.
As if this is all on Omar, read the post!
“For instance, I’m convinced information was intentionally leaked to the media in an effort to force Omar Minaya’s hand, which is quite disingenuous, because I still believe Minaya would have preferred to keep Randolph – all while having to spin the media night after night. There are reporters I have talked who all feel the exact same way.”
Well that goes along with Bill Madden’s comments on Mike and Mike this morning.
There is a broken front office now and Minaya and Bernazard are apparently shuffling for supporters. Bernazard has Jeff Wilpon in his pocket if you believe Madden.
Across America and the globe the Mets just took one of the biggest blows to their integrity as a baseball business.
The Mets let Randolph take a flight to the west coast, do pre-game press, manage the game, win the game and do post-game press, get on the team bus and get to the hotel 2 hours after the game had finished, only to be pulled aside in the hotel lobby and told to meet Minaya in his hotel room, not a conference room, and fired.
If there is any met fan that feels proud on this day then I am ashamed of you as I am of this team.
It is tough loving a team that is as slimy as the New York Knicks.
Winning had better start soon.
Agreed.
hahah this is unreal. when did you guys think he was getting fired? after a 5 course meal? i mean you get fired you get fired. this is what you all wanted, right? now all of a sudden its wrong the mets did it? get over yourselves. it was going to happen, so why should he sit around possibly winning games, so he can get fired? that makes no sense. ownership wanted him fired, omar didnt.
man, this FAKE outrage is disgusting. i have to sit here and listen to the majority of you like broken records for the past two years drone on and on about firing randolph, and now it seems now its going to drum up for omar. you guys make it seem like you are rational in this fight. no you arent. admit that you are still scarred by the collapse and you want blood. you want someone to pay. you cant handle having experienced that loss. it makes no sense right now to act like you are outraged that the mets fired randolph on the road after a win, after a 6 hour plane ride. you didnt care about his feelings when you booed him. you didnt care about his feelings when you called his intelligence into attention. you dont care when you constantly misinterpret his comments for the sake of a joke. you put all the blame on him when you lose, you dont give credit when he wins. you dont get to take the high road anymore. you clamored to stay in the muck, dont act like you deserve to be better than this firing. its just what you you wanted, so live with it.
a classless organization for a bunch of classless fans.
It has nothing to do with Willie deserving to be fired. It has everything to do with how he was fired.
If you are dumb enough to see that the WAY he was fired makes the Mets look bush league then that is your problem.
No one wants to root for a team that is enept at handling a simple action like firing a manager.
By the way, I never called for Willie to be fired period. Much less at 3:14 am.
Well, the Knicks are something else. (Not unless you have a story about JW & Julie Donaldson?!?!)
You point out a severely insulting true scenario. Ugh.
If this was handled smoothly and correctly, I would be able to move on very quickly… as would most fans. all we would care about is how the Mets play from here on out.
But it wasn’t, and now the fans, media and players will dwell on this topic for a month… disgusting.
I hope this doesn’t affect the games.
This was about as clean a break as a compound fracture.
Another embarrassment from the Met organization.
As much B S as the front office wants to feed us, this will be the same joke of an organization as long as the two Wilpon clowns remain at the top.
They had 5,000 chances to fire Willie, and they do it at 3:15 AM after the first game of a road trip having won two games in a row? Granted he made the same mistake as he did last time Pelfrey started by leaving him in too long, but come on. Clearly they had already made their decision, and didn’t want to do it on Father’s Day, but come on.
Pathetic. Jeffy boy wanting to fire Randolph and repeatedly leaking info to force Minaya’s hand…you already have your stink all over the organization’s moves, just fire him after the Padres sweep or one of the tons of chances you had already. Oh right…you want to keep fooling us into thinking Omar has “full autonomy”. Not biting. Certainly not after this fiasco.
BTW if you think Willie will ever manage again, having had an underachieving team in a crappy league and constantly playing the race card, you’re crazy.
Omar was probably tired of answering to reporters, media has way too much power.
Willie lost his job cause of the reporters, i hate reporters and analysts, they stir up too much sh*t. make something out of nothing type
Willie should have stayed, peterson, hojo should have been fired in NY, not in Cali. Now all we need is the media to start stories on Omar being fired. I hope the Wilpons are reading this
no willie lost his job because he didnt win, and arguably costing the mets and their owners millions, being on the cusp of next years new stadium. they had numbers they had to meet, and the collapse gets in the way of that.
this is a business. my problem is with the fans, the stupid classless fans, who constantly bitch and moan about things that are out of willie’s power. well, you got your dreams: jerry manuel. enjoy it.
i dont even really fault omar or the organization. they were obviously at odds with each other, and it would seem omar was trying to bide time for willie, who almost pulled it off by winning four games in a row.
Now Omar is on the hot seat. Now he will be scrutinized by the media, and rightly so.
I am sooooooo proud to be a Mets fan today
simply unbelievable! wilpon and bernazard should be ashamed! watch a nationals game against the mets and see bernazard hanging out with manny acta! that must have made willie feel good… mr. wilpon, are you pissed cause willie beat you on his contract? were you looking for an excuse to fire him? FIRE PTERSON???? crazy! 4th best era in the NL. perez and pelphrey would be in AA ball at best without him.. im embarrased to be a met fan today!
The Mets have gone from clueless to classless. Make a guy fly 6 hours overnight to LA, handle the postgame press and then fire him in the middle of the night so the papers can’t get it? Nice. I have no problem with the move, they should have done it last October. The only real changes from last year are Omar’s retreads and AARP guys are all a year older and can’t take uppers or steroids anymore. This move won’t change that. There needs to be a total cleansing.
madden was on ESPN this morning. Looks like Bernazard has his fingerprints on the knife. He implied that Omar better watch his back.
I’d love to see Omar call out Jeff, or better yet Willie call out Jeff for Omar.
Unbelieveable.
Well, I guess since the Mets have been absolutely MASHING this year, and there have been no over-conservative holds or overly-anxious go’s at 3rd, it makes sense for Alomar and HoJo to have been spared ???
A real head shaker from the Mets.
Cut the team some slack. Obviously this was a tough decision, and at least some parts of mngment didn’t agree that they should be firing him now.
Plus, internal company politics always take a while to play out!
THis also wasn’t a cut and dried situation. The team was still right around .500. It’s not like they were 20 games back already and playing like the bad news bears.
COuple that with the injuries on the minus side, but the big payroll/expectations on the up side, and lingering feelings from last year (get over a bad 2 week stretch alreay people!) and this was a weird situation.
Still, while maybe it could have been handled with more grace, Willie still was a mediocre manager, and the team had not, overall, been playing well this year. So, reasonable to make a change.
Hopefully Obie is names the permenant guy soon so they can get the house in order. Can’t see why he would have been brought up otherwise.
“Hopefully Obie is names the permenant guy soon so they can get the house in order. Can’t see why he would have been brought up otherwise.”
What makes you think that the Mets front office is going to make the smart move of having Oberkfell become the permanent manager, when they can’t get out of their own way? I think you are confusing this organization with a real major league operation.
thank you. this is why its so frustrating for me. the fans are so overwhelmingly anti randolph. the mets are not! he has fans in the organization and realize that he hasnt done a bad job here. and arguably , there is little this will lead to. so i can see this being a struggle and then after getting the maelstrom of media making them look stupid, omar was given the command to fire him now. being that omar likes willie, he then gave him fathers day.
on another note, i think rick peterson deserved to get fired with how this bullpen was last sept and so far this year.
The Wilpons made a circus of this from the start and capped it off in extraordinary fashion. they are such a JV organization and never miss an opportunity to make themselves look stupid.
I really dont understand the heaping on Willie given the total underperformance of the players top to bottom. if you cannot handle your professional responsibilities, regardless of how you feel towards your boss, you not worth the millions you are getting paid
I dont know what drove this, but i can tell you that the Wilpons were foolish to try and create their own content for SNY because the loudest calls for willie’s head were from their own station from complete fools like Adam Shine, Joe Benigno, Chris Carlin, and the rest of the clowns.
I am not saying do up a YES channel propaganda, but SNY is built for the retards who want to yell and scream over nothing. i.e. “Loudmouths” and Scott Furrell. their shows dont work without controversy, so they create artificial arguments and the easiest targets for fat lazy slobs who dont know the first thing about reporting is the manager, who in my mind ALWAYS showed class, despite stupid about the race thing.
this mess starts with the Wilpons, moves down the chain to Omar and Tony B, who constructed an inherently flawed team with a totally depleted farm system, and then moves to the players before getting to WIllie.
totally ridiculous. that is why the Giants are the class organization and the Mets are a sputtering jalopy, because they make sound business and professional decisions, rather than give the peasants a public execution of their coach.
would have been nice to see this team turn it around and win it this year with Willie so that he along with Tom Coughlin could serve as shining examples that Dumb Dumb calling the FAN from his parents basement does not know anything.
I hope Willie drives up to Dodger stadium and takes a job with Torre. Willie is a class guy all the way and deserves to work with those kinds of people. THAT is why he did not belong with the Mets
Did I forget Mark Maloosis? I mean these guys cannot even get shows on the FAN.
Harold Reynolds was a great hire, always enjoyed his analysis and was treated very poorly by ESPN….another organization lacking class
final point: this soon will just be a blip in history. All the passionate fans will go right back to rooting (or booing!) the team, focusing on the uniform and the players (and of course Omar). A couple of weeks from now, and Willie will just be a distant memory.
I also though don’t see why Alomar is still coaching 3rd. Oberkfell could have taken 3rd, with ALomar taking 1st. Hojo is also a bit of a head scratcher.
the fact that the Willie watch is over we can only hope this will have a positive effect on the club now they know who will manage them the rest of the season,but why do it at this point it should have been done before they left NY why go all the way out to Calif. to fire him?I guess it’s so Manuel wont have to debut in front of a home town crowd. Now the next order of business has to be Omar
Matt, two questions…
1) what was the real reason he was fired that you seem to want to keep a secret?
2) what makes you feel that the “Yankees make the Mets look foolish, classless and disorganized”?
billy martin. joe torre. buck showalter. the joke that is george steinbrenner. did you read what his idiot son said yesterday about the DH? its really not that hard to see how the yankees can be clueless.
huh? Did you even read what I said?
well it was for Matt to answer anyway, which likely wont happen…
i did, and i answered your question, which must have been rhetorical. the yankees have had a history of being dysfunctional.
Because they do. For all of the weird goings on in the Bronx, the Yankees have been a pretty stable organization for 10 years or so. They have built a good feeder system while staying competitive. I hate the Yankees, but you can’t argue with success. At least they look like they know what they’re doing.
you know i am really tired of the hypocrisy. there have been people bitching for months about firing randolph and now they are calling the team stupid and not professional for actually firing him? you guys are a bunch of idiots.
AGREED!!!!
I am beginning to hate some of the people (around 50%) on this site.
Bitch, Bitch, Bitch about Willie. Now Omar is the a-hole.
I’m ashamed to be associated with such narrow-minded buttheads.
That includes some people who runs other sites and the folks who own my team.
Good job omar! Matt – end the love fest with Willie. If you want to feel dirty, feel dirty for what Willie put us through last September. I feel like a million bucks! FIRE WILLIE! LETS GO JERRY! A REAL MANAGER! JERRY WILL LIGHT THE FIRE THAT THESE BUMS NEED!
Now who’s classless?
I hope YOU get fired.
How HoJo gets to keep his job as hitting coach through all this is rather inexplicable…
Matt, I am with you. The way this whole thing was handled was an embarrassment and is simply inexcusable. I was not a huge Willie fan and do not mourn his firing, but he deserved more respect in the way they let him go. What a disgraceful past week by the team’s ownership and front office. We have become the circus spectacle of MLB.
This whole thing has Jeff Wilpon written all over it. No doubt he is the one who leaked the info about Willie’s firing late last week and was clearly trying to force Omar’s hand. I don’t think Mets fans truly understand how ignorant and incompetent Jeff is when it comes to owning a baseball team, and I fear we are in for a lot more of these kinds of bush-league antics over the next few years as he takes over more and more control from his father. What a disaster…..
Jeff = jim dolan.
we are in for hard times
The Wilpons have to learn that wealth doesn’t equal class.
In the late 70’s when the Giants were the laughingstock of the NFL and the two cliques of the Mara family wouldn’t even talk with each other, Pete Rozelle stepped in and basically forced them to hire George Young. The franchise was simply too valuable to be left twisting in the wind.
I now feel that the Wilpons have brought this same sort of fractious, inept, backbiting approach to running their baseball team. I fully understand that Bud Selig has neither the right nor the gumption to force change upon a fellow owner, but maybe we fans do.
The Wilpons should be mocked. They should be booed. They should be made to run the gauntlet of vicious bashing that the New York press is so good at.
…and they should get as uninvolved as possible in terms of running this team. They have forfeited the right.
The collapse in late 2007 was horrendous. But, hey, in baseball unexpected (and often supremely disappointing things) happen. Its part of the sport.
But when ownership starts spreading stories to their favorite lapdogs in the press to further some agenda and then not have the guts to stand up and make a decision in the light of day, that is just wrong.
Instead, they dismissed their manager at midnight in a hotel room, after he had just won four of his last six games.
… and in California, no less. After making the flight and playing all of one game. Winning that game, too.
I don’t know, Matt. I guess I’m with you. I think it was time for Willie to go, but doing it they way they did really put some nasty icing on the cake of his tenure.
I like Willie. I don’t think he was the right manager for the way this team turned out, and I do think a move had to be made. But the way they made it … if nothing else, it’s a classic example of horrible PR.
Maybe Jay Horowitz should stick to wearing that orange jacket. He, too, seems like a great fella, but how often do we complain about these sorts of press/media/public relations blunders?
Oh well. You know what? At least it’s done. Now maybe the team can focus a little more on not sucking quite so much.
It would be nice to get Matt’s real opinion. Making the statement he did (about ” I am probably aware of why he was fired better than most people”) without saying why, makes it look like he is compromised by his SNY connections. Just sayin…
I am proud to be a Mets fan on June 17th 2008, finally Omar, finally! Jerry Manuel is a real original gangster.
Then you really aren’t a real Mets fan are you? You need a gangster to be the coach of the team to actually like the team? I bet you actually are one to chant “yankees suck!” at every mets game.
No, I’m proud to be a mets fan as it only took them 162+ games of sub .500 baseball to realize a change at the top was made. Because Jerry Manuel really IS a gangster. He used extortion to gain respect and make his way to the top.
Can we fire you from this site?
Because … you’re just an ass. But, don’t worry you’re not alone, there are plenty of you guys here.
We are practically a farm for close-minded, irrational thinkers.
I’m so freaking mad … it’s unbelievable.
If I were Jay Horwitz, I’d be asking for a serious raise right about now. Between the Ryan Church fiasco and this, the Mets are in PR hell.
I thought Willie was a good guy that deserved better than this. If you know you are gonna fire the guy, why waste a trip to the west coast? Makes no sense, then again nothing this team has done lately makes any sense.
I’m pretty sure Jerry Manuel was run out of Chicago for lack of pulse. This should go well.
Agreed. Classless bumbling by the incompetent Wilpons. While the move needed to be made, I can’t see Manual as a light the fire kind of guy. While we can all argue with some of Willie’s decisions and the way he treated the Vets, Willie couldn’t:
Get headcase Reyes to swing level from the left side and stop popping up to left field.
Get Beltran to hit in the clutch or steal a base when needed.
Bring Delgado to the fountain of youth.
Get Perez and Maine to stop wasting so many pitches they struggle to go five innings.
Wave a magic wand over Heilman to get his confidence back.
Change Wagner from a guy with stats to a guy who comes through in big spots (see Astros and Phills)
In the end, Willie needed to go because there is nothing else to do. Manuel can’t give Reyes a brain, Beltran a heart or Wagner courage!
Yankee fans making fun of how the Mets handled the situation? Where have these fans been hiding for the last 35 years. This would be a minor offense in the canon of the Steinbrenners. Hell, Hank almost met it with his rant regarding the National League.
Thank you… Like Matt said you just got done running a guy who won 4 rings out of town. I don’t want to hear “ish” from the yankee fans. All I have to say to them is see ya next weekend!
I just emailed with my friend who is a lifelong White Sox fan. He writes:
Think Ghandi.
He’s definitely a laid back type of manager. If the Mets need someone to give them a kick in the ass, he’s not the guy for that. But if they need a calming influence, he’s the man.
He was manager of the year once with the Sox, but they got very complacent on him after a few years… he’s not the inspirational type. It got so bad that the Sox went in the complete opposite direction when replacing him w/Ozzie.
Sandy Alomar is still 3rd base coach? He cost the Mets a couple of wins the past few weeks on very strange decisions at third. I would have liked to have seen a change there as well.
I will miss WIllie, I had high hopes for him. I think he will be a better manager becuase of this and maybe his next go round he will be able to pick his own coaching staff.
He helped them climb out of being a Joke, and unfortunately they are a joke again.
What a crappy way to end the final year at Shea.
Can we fire the Wilpons?
Okay as a huge Mets fan, I still do not see how bringing the Yankees into this discussion is at all relevant?
I hear the same crap when I go to Mets games, when you all chant “yankees suck!” Unless we are playing the Yankees why don’t you get a clue and concentrate on your own team, seriously!
Okay because I do not want to talk about any other cross town distractions I’ll make my point about the firing of Randolph.
I understand why it had to happen, but I am a little surprised when it happened during the middle of the night it is almost like the organization wanted to be able to dodge a huge bullet from the press by doing it in the middle of the night. But they’ll have to deal with it today and this AAA Coaching staff that we get better have more of a clue than Willie did. I don’t feel all that confident about the remaining season, but in the back of my head I still believe this can be the year and the dream that we win the world series in the last season of Shea Stadium has not been forgotten.
With that said, the firing of Rick Peterson and the Nieto I am a little confused. Yes Rick Peterson and his pitching staff has been the definition of this team “INCONSISTENT” but I do not get why HOJO stayed and Sandy stayed it was almost as if the METS didn’t have anyone to replace these guys LOL. That is what makes them look like a joke. Yes the hitting is coming around as Beltran hits now, and Reyes has become a consistent threat, but to be honest I can’t help but think maybe Omar kept these guys around to cover his own back, because if they don’t win now who are they going to blame?
They still can fire 2 guys, and Omar knows this which is why i don’t think they fired everyone.
Oh well, we can’t stop believing this team has a great team, maybe not the best hitting team right now, but we have the potential to have a dominating pitching staff and I think the new pitching coach will bring a breath of fresh air especially to Oliver Perez.
Matt,
I do not write here often at all but I do read every posting, everyday. I must say, I am a little bit annoyed by this last posting. For you to say that people inside knew that Willie was going to be fired this week just bothers me. I for one and I believe many people on this site are here just to find out that kind of information before the regular fan. I understand there are some things that you may not be able to say because of your new ties to SNY but this is one of those things where your loyal fanbase should know before we find out in the paper or online. The whole reason I come to this site and read it everyday is to be smarter than the average fan, maybe I am off base here but I think it is ridiculous for you to claim you knew, and even what day it might be and have all of your loyal readers out there playing a guessing game like everyone else.
Well, journalists do learn things “off the record” that they don’t share because they want to keep the contact.
That said, I agree that the post was a bit disturbing for the reasons you cite.
Oh yes, the Yankee ownership is of stable and well balanced mind
example: Hank Steinbrenner yesterday on the Wang injury running the bases during interleague play
“My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century,” Steinbrenner said. “They need to grow up and join the 21st century. Am I (mad) about it? Yes. I’ve got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. . . . I don’t like that, and it’s about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s.”
or maybe as late as 1972 before the DH tarnished the original spirit of the game
Hank’s an idiot.
Can we finally MOVE ON?
I think Omar did the deed in California, like this, on purpose. And it was actually as a fovor to Willie.
Think about it. If they did it in NY at the end of a game, it would have been a feeding frenzy. All the media would have been there, and ripped everyone to shreds.
This way, Willie has a chance for some “Willie time”, and who knows where he decided to go. So in effect, he gets to handle what, if any, public statements in his own way.
Maybe this isn’t why it shook out like it did, but even if it ws an unintended consequence, it was nice for Willie!
Now hopefully they can sort out the front office. If Omar is a lame duck with no power, just get rid of him. If Bernazard doesn’t go with him, that will tell you a lot!
I agree 100% with ya matt. I guess dirty is the word idk but i felt bad when i woke up this morning and turned on espn to see that willie got fired at 3am. The mets did not handle this well at all, especially flying willie to LA only to get fired on the road. Not cool at all. With that said i wish good luck to willie as im sure he will find another job. Thanks willie for the good memories. I hope jerry got the cojones to deal since imo hes going to have a bigger bullseye than willie. IMO this media circus is not going anywhere and i feel thats in part to the way the mets handled the willie issue. Also goodbye to the jacket. Thanks for fixing OP and helping maine realize his potential. Thanks for the contributions to the pitching staff. Im sure you also will find another gig. With all that said lets go mets………
I think they fired Rick Peterson because last year, they fired the hitting coach, Rick Down, and not the pitching coach. This year, they reversed it.
While I question the reasoning for the timing It was time for Willie to go. For everybody crying and blaming Omar. !st off let me just ssay that he works for the the Wilpons and is not the final say. Secondly the only reason Willie had a job after 14 interviews is because Omar Hired him. Omar also had Willie’s back after the collapse and this year’s horrible start. So please all you people wanting to blame Omar just stop. I’m tired of hearing that Minaya is ruining this franchise. The only reason you have a team worth watching is because of Omar. Please tell me the move that Omar made that “killed the franchise”? There isn’t one!
What now?? This year started with such promise and great hope. Now they have conceeded this year because manual is a stiff and they wont be any better with him. This franchise is at a low point and will now have to make a franchise turning decision while going inot a new stadium. let the canidates begin interviewing because this year is over.
Matt,
I do not write here often at all but I do read every posting, everyday. I must say, I am a little bit annoyed by this last posting. For you to say that people inside knew that Willie was going to be fired this week just bothers me. I for one and I believe many people on this site are here just to find out that kind of information before the regular fan. I understand there are some things that you may not be able to say because of your new ties to SNY but this is one of those things where your loyal fanbase should know before we find out in the paper or online. The whole reason I come to this site and read it everyday is to be smarter than the average fan, maybe I am off base here but I think it is ridiculous for you to claim you knew, and even what day it might be and have all of your loyal readers out there playing a guessing game like everyone else.
I tottally disagree with Matt on this one,
First off..who cares when he was fired or where? What’s done is done, many said that he had been left twisting in the wind too long anyway.
Secondly…I think this is a good thing, now the Mets know its all on them and their play, no more excuses
Third..There is no longer a piano waiting to fall on the team’s head…if they don’t pick it up, the players and Omar will be responsible
Finally….For Matt to assume that the ownership put rumors out there to force Omar’s hand is ridiculous….the NY media could easily have made some stuff up, they do it all the time…
thank you, finally an honest opinion. this is what happens when a gm and an owner disagree. things get delayed. and with good reason! both sides had good arguments. and in the end, omar works for the wilpons.
what more evidence do you need that all the wilpons wanted to do was shake up this team. this is not an indictment of willies managerial style. THEY REPLACED HIM WITH MANUEL! this was a message to the players to play harder, because the mets will not tolerate a crappy effort this season.
the manager is the first sacrificial lamb when the crops dont grow.
i wish willie wasnt fired. i wish some of the posters on this blog were.
I agree, Matt is just starting useless whiney drama imo.
hahah this is unreal. when did you guys think he was getting fired? after a 5 course meal? i mean you get fired you get fired. this is what you all wanted, right? now all of a sudden its wrong the mets did it? get over yourselves. it was going to happen, so why should he sit around possibly winning games, so he can get fired? that makes no sense. ownership wanted him fired, omar didnt.
man, this FAKE outrage is disgusting. i have to sit here and listen to the majority of you like broken records for the past two years drone on and on about firing randolph, and now it seems now its going to drum up for omar. you guys make it seem like you are rational in this fight. no you arent. admit that you are still scarred by the collapse and you want blood. you want someone to pay. you cant handle having experienced that loss. it makes no sense right now to act like you are outraged that the mets fired randolph on the road after a win, after a 6 hour plane ride. you didnt care about his feelings when you booed him. you didnt care about his feelings when you called his intelligence into attention. you dont care when you constantly misinterpret his comments for the sake of a joke. you put all the blame on him when you lose, you dont give credit when he wins. you dont get to take the high road anymore. you clamored to stay in the muck, dont act like you deserve to be better than this firing. its just what you you wanted, so live with it.
a classless organization for a bunch of classless fans.
We did give him credit when he won, he finished 2nd to Joe Girardi for manager of the year in 2006. We experiencing the greatest collapse in MLB history and the manager showed no urgency to turn things around, instead he made comments about “the champagne tasting sweeter when we clinch.” Yes, we did want blood, somebody needed to be held responsible after that debacle and the only thing the mets did wrong was not firing this idiot sooner! Looks like LA got themselves a new bench coach! SEE YA WILLIE! JOE WILL TEACH YOU THE DOUBLE SWITCH IN LA. YOU MIGHT BE READY IN A FEW YEARS, BUT GET THE HELLLL OUTTA NYC!
and i rest my case.
a classless organization for a bunch of classless fans.
Guess I’m classless because I expect my manager of a national league club to properly execute a double-switch? I know you just started following baseball over the past couple of years, but stick to hockey, you’re baseball IQ makes you look bad.
You’re an idiot and worse yet, a classless one.
Willie was a good to above average manager, which is saying alot for the Mets. He holds the 2nd best winning pct next to Davey Johnson. So I’m sure he can execute a dbl-switch, Nimrod!
Secondly, you got your wish, so why don’t you try to be gracious (I know it’s hard) and just slink back into the shadows and wait for Manuel to lose 2 in a row, so you can call for his head.
lay off the espresso in the morning bro
im sure the people who wanted willie gone are not upset that hes gone but rather the way the mets went about it. Nobody deserves the hell that guy went thru. The timing and the process was not right and im sure thats the only concerns people are voicing.
oh NOW you care about the hell willie has gone through. . .
the chanting of fire willie on sunday, that wasnt hell. being finally put out of his misery, THATS hell…jeeze!
So says classless fan numero uno.
Didja ever stop to think that maybe — just maybe — there might be different fans who see things differently, and who therefore post with different opinions? No, you’d rather just sit here and feel superior.
Well, guess what? I’m not going to bash you. I feel for you. You’re shaken by Willie’s firing, and probably getting a little misty-eyed. Well, fear not. Your Met fan brethren will be here to shepherd you through someone else’s difficult time. . . .
nice that he reposts this multiple times so he can rile more people up. classy.
I admit I’m still pissed about The Collapse, and I wanted blood for it. What’s wrong with that? It’s called accountability. No one was ever held accountable for that huge fiasco.
That’s why I don’t feel sorry for Willie being fired. He’s a multi-millionaire who failed to get his job done. Boo hoo.
Minaya should be next.
The way it was done was screwed up, but what else would you expect from Omar?
You are clueless, sir.
The collapse wasn’t about Willie. Willie didn’t blow saves, he didn’t strikeout with runners in scoring position.
He didn’t fail to get out of ther 5th inning in his starts … BECAUSE HE DIDN’T PITCH OR HIT!!!!
YOU WANT TO BLAME SOMEONE, BLAME THE FREAKING PLAYERS!!!! BLAME THE WILPONS FOR NOT GETTING A 5TH STARTER!!!
NO, YOU WANT TO BLAME WILLIE & OMAR.
JUST FREAKIN CLUELESS, YOU & YOUR FRIENDS HERE.
I think the collapse was at least a little about Willie and Omar. The collapse was big enough for the blame to go around and around. Specifically, I think Willie misused and burnt out his bullpen ( and is doing it again this year). And when the players were clearly losing it he didn’t have anything except meek assurances that everything would be all right. The manager is at least partly responsible for the mindset of the team and he fell short. I think Omar was (and is) even more responsible since he’s responsible for who is on the 25 man roster and I think the Mets have been hurt bad by their lack of organizational depth
You know, the Mets played barely above .500 ball over most of 2007. They did not win enough games in June, July and August. They really beat themselves in mid-season– much like they’re doing now. The collapse was just a really nice flourish. :P
just to rub more salt in the wound of making randolph pack and travel to CA, only to turn right back after one day, i think the mets should make the firing retroactive to father’s day. Boy those 3 better get a first class ticket back home
Obviously this was poorly handled, we all know that. But Willie needed to go, he’s gone and we all need to move on.
Lets go Mets!
I agree with Matt 100%.
After The Collapse of 2007, Willie’s crazy racial comments, and his “Met fans in hiding” crack, it’s amazing that Omar managed to turn Randolph into a sympathetic figure.
The handling of the firing was, as usual, a complete mess.
That being said, I don’t feel sorry for Willie. He was in way over his head, and should have been canned on 9/30/2007.
Omar just walked into a firestorm, it’s going to be funny watching the media go after him like a pack of wolves now.
Once Omar is gone, hopefully we can start rebuilding the franchise yet again.
It’s gonna be funny, huh?
Like all the puppies you kicked on the way to work?
That kind of funny?
Don’t blame Fred!!!!! He’s curled up in the fetal position in a scale model of Ebbets Field. . . This is all about Jeff, I think. Jeff and Omar.
Eh, who knows? Bottom line, Willie was on borrowed time after the Collapse. Never should have been brought back, and there was no “clean” way to fire him. Heck — giving the media a lead time to concoct their stories to be ready when New York wakes up was the worst time to do it, from a PR perspective. Hardly “sneaky.” (Of course, it does save Omar from needing to answer questions until a prepared time.)
I was suggesting they just keep him until the end of the year because I was sick of waiting for them to act, but they’ve finally acted, and have made the right decision, I think. The waiting could be spun as “careful”, as opposed to capricious, but it looks like bungling, instead — primarily because they had all the data they needed last September.
Anyway, these things are never pretty — hence, feeling dirty. But, if it helps, as Matt points out, this is a very wealthy celebrity who can have a job this morning if he doesn’t choose to take the kind of three week vacation we all wish we could take, but can’t. (Except for the posters who pretend to be playboys.)
Another silver lining — Omar’s apparent bungling provides another rationale for the dropping of the other shoe.
Anyone have a copy of the paper Post or Daily News? 3:15am seems too late to make the back pages? Maybe the Wilpons forgot that there would be papers tomorrow?
So is Willie on the bench with Joe tonight with the Dodgers?
I dont feel bad for Willie, he will be a manager again, prob by 2010. His record speaks for itself.
I really dont feel bad for Peterson as he will probbaly get manager money this offseason as he is an amazing coach, I mean look what he did with Zito, Maine & Ollie, enough said, the guy is a flat out pitching genius.
I feel bad for us fans, as clearly this move was made to inflate Omar’s ego. As someone who was a HUGE Omar guy until a few hours ago, I now think he should be fired. His team was losing and he scapegoated everyone but himself and Bernazard….and if anyone disagrees please explain how his bungled hire HoJo is still around (every single Met has been a worse hitter by like 30 % points since Hojo was hired) andthe only coaches who stuck were Bernazards boys…I mean what did Tom Nieto do, other than not be a personal friend of our co-GM’s.
Regardless of how you felt about Willie, I agree with Matt, today I am sad to be a Mets fan, to see how poorly this team is run makes me want to vomit, and even if they win it all this year (which wont happen because Pelfrey, Ollie and Maine will probably all struggle now) I will still call for Omar’s head just as people on this site clamored for Willie to be fired after game 7 of the 06 NLCS.
At this point I don’t even think they’re co-GM’s. It seems like Omar has become the scape goat for Bernazard and Jeff Wilpon.
I agree with Matt.
Whether he deserved or should have been fired at all, has now become irrelevant after the way this was handled by the Mets. Now all we will hear about is the turmoil in the front office. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t know if this team is strong enough (character-wise) to put their heads down and power thru this media storm that’s about to hit them. Like I said, I hope I’m wrong about that.
I am coming out of retirement for one post. I can not believe how much of a Mickey Mouse organization this is. We all wanted Willie gone but to do it this way is a complete embarrasment to the Mets franchise. I can not understand why you would disrespect coaches that way. Why the helll did you not fire them before they left? Are you so big of a coward that you did not want the media storm? I was all in favor of Omar but unless information comes out that says his hand was forced then Omar needs to be sent to Japan and fired. This is absolutely ridiculous. Did they want negaitve press? We were already a laughing stock to most of the sports world, now how does a Mets fan even show his face? Unbelievable.
I am glad I retired.
yup this about you and your face. GET OVER YOURSELVES METS FANS
It’s hilarious how all of your posts seem self-directed. Grow up, pipsqueak.
Shut up you displaced rockies fan, get outta here, Willie needs help carrying his bags! Don’t let the door hit you!
That was directed towards ghobot by the way…
Oh nooooooooooooo, you are back??? how about looking up the word RETIRED in the dictionary?
thereal: talk to you after the all-star break unless you want to pull a Clemons/Jordan
How was the timing bad? He was fired after the game. Would people have preferred that he be fired during the game? Omar probably had to wait until Oberfell and Warthen reached California.
IS anyone else nervous about Omar? He has to know he is next. I worry that he will do something completely idiotic to try to save this season. Remember, he once traded Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Cliff Lee for Bartolo Colon because he knew the Expos were toast.
There is nothing more dangerous than a desperate GM
omar’s press conference later today: “Jerry Manuel, Ken Oberkfell and a few of his coaching staff will join the mets today. Their actual roles on the team are yet to be determined. However, we do know that they will be at the game and some of them will be coaches. One of them will potentially even be the manager of the team.
yup. nervous, hopefully reyes and wright have no-trade clauses…oh wait, reyes is spanish, he’s safe.
Ugh, it seems like the mets problems run a lot deeper than ever Omar now. From the reports is sounds like the entire front office is an implosion waiting to happen.
Any historians here? Once the guillotine starts falling, it keeps falling.
Ugh, it seems like the mets problems run a lot deeper than even Omar now. From the reports is sounds like the entire front office is an implosion waiting to happen.
This media circus is just the begining im afraid. Good job omar.
A lot of fans have been saying that the manager has to go first. That you can’t fire the GM before the manager. That’s pure BS. Just look at what the Mariners did. They got it right. They fired the guy who put together the team.
If Omar continues to be GM of this team I don’t expect this team to ever win a WS. At best they may make it to the NLCS once again. This is by sheer dint of their ability to spend $$$$. But as we’ve seen with the Yankees, it takes more than $$$$ to get to the WS and win. It takes a really smart GM. Neither Omar or Cashman are really smart GMs.
And unfortunately, it’s not just the lack of a WS title that will haunt the Mets if Omar stays. The farm system is now worse than when Omar took it over. The idea that it is because of a win-now philosophy is also BS. Theo Epstein can win now and build a strong farm system at the same time. What about the Angels?
Omar is an average, second-rate GM at best. If the Mets want to take the next step, he’s the one that needs to go.
am i upset willie got fired? of course, i liked willie and supported him. but do i think the mets did the wrong thing by making him fly out to california? hell no. who the heck cares? yeah, he got fired, and right now, people are a bit upset, but remember hes still slated to receive 3 to 4 million to sit on his ass at home.
The money is not necessarily an object in this – to think that Willie isn’t going to jump to another team and get more seasoning as a manager is ludicrous. If everyone remembers, we hired a fresh new regime (and a manager lacking experience) in 2005 to try to get the bad taste of a veteran manager in Art Howe out of our mouths, and I think as Mets fans we all got a little unsettled with the team’s winning that now all of a sudden we didn’t have a VETERAN manager calling the shots. Well I am one person that has appreciated the way Willie has managed this team. I give Willie the credit for even getting the Mets to Game 7 in ‘06 without Pedro and El Duque (a rookie John Maine and a schizophrenic Oliver Perez pitched the two most important games of the year, remember?!?!) and I blame the players, and solely the players, for their complacency in believing that the playoffs were inevitable last year.
I almost feel compassion for Willie in all this, because there are far better ways to fire a manager. Hell, Billy Bavasi made far worse atrocities in Seattle and at least they fired him before a homestand. You don’t make a man fly 3,000 miles mere minutes after giving him your blessing that he WON’T be fired on that given day, and you certainly don’t fire a manager after the team plays a good game against one of the best teams in baseball. At least give Willie the opportunity to coach during the road trip – if you want, fire him on Monday at a formal press conference at Shea. Regardless of what you think about Willie, you have to admit this was classless. I feel even worse now that it was handled so poorly.
I wonder if the champagne is tasting sweeter for Willie now.
This is more embarrassing than when Estes missed Clemens with the famous behind-the-back 80mph fastball. “Dirty” was used appropriately Matt. This ranks up there with Steve Phillips stabbing Joe McIllvane in the back (different circumstances, but similar methods).
Having said that, the shakeup was necessary (still not sure about Peterson though). Let’s just start/continue to win and forget about all of this. Perhaps we’ll get a good look at Oberkfell, the anticipated future coach. I’m definitely not excited about Manuel, but we should at least give him the benefit of jury deliberation.
does willie need to be employed to coach in the all-star game? the NYT was saying that he was looking forward to doing that but now he can’t….???
I read that too, I don’t understand why not though. He’d definitely wear a Yankees jersey now too. On another note, LA Dodgers definitely have a new bench coach. SEE YA BILL R!
The Wilpons are COWARDS!!! Willie deserved better than that.
as a met fan, i’m very afraid for the future.
jeff wilpon scares me when he takes the reins completely from his dad because right now he’s done nothing to make me believe he has a firm grasp of what it takes to really run a franchise.
don’t be surprised if tony bernazard is the next gm. if that’s the case, that’s a deadly combination for the franchise.
I wouldn’t recognize him from a hole in the wall, but Tony B seems to be an opportunistic, sleazy executive. Looks like he got his wish.
Yes this situation wasn’t handled as well as it could have been. The whole thing is tacky. But it is never a nice thing to fire someone or to be fired. Everyone wanted him out, so he’s out, time to turn the page and move on.
It’s hard to move on when the way this was handled seems to point to even bigger issues in the front office.
Could they at leats had Vince McMahon be in the hotel room to utter his patented ” You’re FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!
I can see it now…Wallace Matthews, Mike Francesca (with his diet coke in hand), Jim Baumbach, Joel Sherman and Buster Olney are cheering in conga line in celebration of the impending media firestorm
Francessa’s going to croke from all that Nutrasweet. Dude must take down a 6 pack during his 6 hour so, it’s literally disgusting.
“I’m not totally sure why I feel this way, but I do.
I’m probably just being emotional.”
Hey, it’s over now. It wasn’t handled right, but he should have been gone at the end of last year. Now it’s time to move on, because in spite of what you’ve been posting the last few days, the success of the team is more important than the success of the manager. Man up.
I love that this “tough guy” comment comes from a person who’s handle name is as sentimental as it is… ah the irony.
Yeah, I’m going to miss a building that my grandfather started taking me to when I was three years old. Sue me. What I’m not going to miss is a boring manager who did and said the same thing every day and expected different results. What I also won’t miss is closet Yankee fans like you who are going to whine about this for a few days and then disappear.
Yeah, I’m going to miss Shea because my grandfather started taking me there when I was three. Why shouldn’t I miss it. I’m not like your kind of “fan” who showed up in 2005-2006. One good thing about Willie being gone is that closet Yankee fans like you will go with him after you vent for a few days. YOU won’t be missed.
I have to agree with you, Matt. I wanted Randolph fired because I thought he was doing a bad job, but I didn’t want him replaced by another AL manager, and I didn’t want him fired in the middle of the night after a win. For god’s sake, fire the man on an off day, in the afternoon.
Willie wasn’t the best manager, but to fire him at midnight?
It’s clear the reason why the Mets don’t win anything, is because of ownership.
These are the decisions of small men in suits using a baseball franchise as a toy. The wannabe Steinbrenners. Disgraceful.
What the hell is wrong with this franchise? WIth every decision they make, they look more and more Bush league all the time.
The awful decisionmaking clearly comes from the top too. This team is winning nothing until the Wilpons go away for good.
I can’t help but think that if this team were in some other city without a 24-hour TV network and too many fans and reporters who are more interested in clubhouse fueds than baseball, the Mets would be doing better and Willie wouldn’t have to be scapegoated.
I know the expectations are higher for this steam than they’ve been before, but maybe we should just love the blue and orange unconditionally for the rest of the season. All this talk about firing people day after day is a Yankee thing.
I feel bad for Willie….
Wow… what a bunch of sallies this fanbase is. Everybody cries for Willie to leave now everyone feels bad?!?!?! Man up, how bad will you feel if this team makes the playoffs have playing sub .500 baseball for THE PAST SEASON!?!?! WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!
I am going to say this one more time because it can’t be said enough. Thank you for doing what you can to keep this place honest. The true fans do appreciate your efforts.
Get your head out of your you-know-what. It’s one thing to want Willie fired; it’s another thing to want Willie fired in a way that’s simply embarrassing for the organization and the fans. What I and others are saying is, yes, fire Willie, but not like this, because this is simply disgraceful. If you were gonna fire Willie yesterday, you had to fire him before the game.
And let’s be honest: Jerry Manuel is not going to light a fire under the Mets.
The firing wasn’t handled the right way. He should have been fired after the collapse. Or he should have been fired after he blamed his problems on the TV network. Or he should have been fired for calling the fans racists or for saying they were in hiding before he got the job. Or he never should have been hired in the first place.
This is a defining moment for Mets fans. We are going to find out once and for all who the true fans are around here. The success of the team is more important than the success of the manager. Anyone who vents about this after a couple of days or so is obviously not in full support of this team. I expect a full third of the posters here to disappear because I think they were Willie Randolph fans and not Mets fans in the first place.
Does he still get to coach at the All-Star game?
Nope.
I wanted Willie out, the semantics of his firing don’t change that fact. I’m sure he’ll land on his feet and I wish him the best.
after the team wins 15 out of 20, everyone will turn thier backs on willie and say it was the right thing to do….
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.
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