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In his blog for ESPN.com, Buster Olney writes that the Mets needed someone to stand up scream, “NO,” prior to their decision to fire Willie Randolph following last night’s game.
According to Olney:
“In the past month, and especially in the past 96 hours, they needed GM Omar Minaya to bluntly say to everyone in the room that what they proposed to do was embarrassing for the organization, beneath the dignity of any professional business. They needed Minaya to insist they come up with something else. But instead, the circus played out fully, without the elephants or the tigers but with plenty of clowns lurking in the shadows. Minaya and his assistant, Tony Bernazard, walked around the lobby of the team hotel Monday “like grim reapers,” in the eyes of a staff member. And after weeks of leak-fed speculation and boardroom backstabbing and indecision, they did their bidding, fired manager Willie Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first-base coach Tom Nieto. Even the writers of “The Sopranos” could not have invented a more recklessly handled hit.”
…from the writers to the fans, i share the same sentiments…how can business have been done in such a manner…why do the Mets constantly act like a second -ate, clueless organization…look, i have never taken a liking to willie, but i respected him…i thought if he was ever going to be fired it should have been after last season…however, when my alarm went off this morning and i heard the news, i wanted to the throw up…we, as fans do not deserve to be humiliated like this…again and again…
I think it is a self-defeatist attitude to be upset today. I am happy the organization is moving forward on this. That they did it after a win or decided to screw the media back by waiting until they got on the road does not matter to me, and Willie is a big boy. I care about the Mets winning and this move helps that. And for you Omar haters, this move also is a step toward him being shown the door. Omar was not getting let go before Willie, so this is the natural order of things. Get over the fact that poor Willie was fired in a manner that did not involve petting and coddling. Willie is not a Met anymore, I root for the Mets.
I completely agree.
While you can complain about the handling, there isn’t anything that can be done by that.
The organization needs to move on, and I think we’re better off.
Ridethesnake…my problem with your statements, is that we are not a better team now. Not by a long shot. If you were going to fire him after last year, and bring in either Joe Torre or Tony LaRussa, then fine. If you were going to IMPROVE the position of manager, then I’m fine with it. #1 they did it like disgusting, despicable, COWARDS; with how it was carried out. #2 i do not believe that Manuel is any better than Randolph. I have NO EVIDENCE to show me that!
Manuel is the interim manager. Unless you heard the 5pm presser already, they haven’t said anything otherwise.
Randolph lost this team. Replacing him is the first step toward being a better team. They are under .500 right now and I think they should be better.
Also, is it possible they wanted to go straight from Randolph to the new manager but don’t have him yet? Media leak made them pull the trigger on Randolph at an inopportune time, and now they have to bridge the gap with Manuel. I really don’t see what the Mets did wrong here, except for being terrible at trying to hide their plan from the media.
You hit the nail on the head, Brandon. As humiliating as this has been for the entire Mets organization, we, the fans, share the humiliation, and in no way do we deserve this.
Speak for yourself. I (and I’m sure many more like me) feel no shame or humiliation whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty happy that Willie was allowed the privacy of being in LA and the media got screwed on their press deadline.
Ugh….keep on double posting the entire morning…what is it with this site today…too much traffic?
I agree with Zer09. I posted this in another thread:
I agree. Given all of the information coming out, I actually think this was handled the right way. This is the timeline as I see it:
Sunday–Willie is told there will be a meeting Monday morning to discuss his future and that a decision will come that day.
Monday–Omar gets to Anaheim. Sure, he could have fired Willie before the game and we would have been short three coaches for the game. That would have made no sense.
After the game–Again, Omar could have fired the coaches immediately following the game and you know what a circus that would have turned into for Willie, Peterson, the players, etc? No one would have gotten out of there until 5 in the morning.
So they fired him at the hotel. In private. Instead of turning this into a feeding-frenzy after a game.
Plus, given that they had just had a meeting about Willie two weeks ago I really can’t believe that when Willie was informed of this Monday meeting he didn’t know what the outcome was going to be.
Good point, I agree.
Speak for yourself. I (and I’m sure many more like me) feel no shame or humiliation whatsoever. I’m actually pretty happy that Willie was allowed the privacy of being in LA and avoiding the NY swarm of cameras and microphones, and the entire media contingent being rocked off their beds after their press deadline passed. WELL PLAYED!
I saw this news first thing this morning. Look its embarassing and all of that but whats done is done. We will move on…let me rephrase that…some of us will move on and focus on baseball. Wilie watch is officially over and now theres not scapegoat and no more excuses. I honestly dont think this will change much as there are many more holes on this team than just the manager. Im over this now but the only thing that is going to bother me is i believe this will come up time and time again with announcers just like the collapse.
even the writer of busty olney’s hacky columns could not have invented a more recklessly corny pop culture reference.
seriously, metsblog is demeaned by links to this pinstripe humper.
LOL, well put.
give me a break. the “whoa is me” attitude around here is ridiculous. everyone got what they wanted.
the poster in one of the other threads got it right. doing it this way, gives willie the opportunity to talk about it when he wants. not getting pounced by the media instantly.
its “woe” is me not “whoa” is me
I’m personally not humiliated. Maybe I’m being too Tom-Glaviney, but this is really just a front office move handled very poorly. It’s not like they brought in Osama bin Laden as his replacement or dumped a bucket of manure on Willie on his way out. Could it have been handled better? Of course. Am I devastated? Not even close. As long as they don’t follow this up with a Kazmir-for-Zambrano panic move or start a smear campaign against Willie, this will blow over soon enough.
well said, and they also have a 5pm presser to say explain things, which has not happened at all yet. All we have heard is from the screwed-over media.
I’ve felt that Willie should have been fired awhile ago, but the way the Mets went about doing this has been an absolute atrocity. It’s always been tough being a Mets fan, but when they do something like this, it’s embarrassing to us as fans of this (dis)organization.
Can you tell me why exactly? Or are you just jumping on the bashing the mets front office bandwagon?
They are told it is embarrassing, so they are embarrassed. On paper this is a home run for all parties involved, EXCEPT THE MEDIA.
You have no idea how Willie was treated. For all you know he was told before the plane ride but agreed to manage one more game to avoid the media frenzy. May be unlikely but you have no idea. Either way, he avoids the frenzy and comes out a hero here.
Why?
Because the Mets allowed Willie’s firing to turn into a circus, that’s why. They turned the normal task of firing a manager of an underperforming team into a sideshow and soap opera. This is not how successful organizations are supposed to be run.
Brandon - I think you are right on.
The point in this to me isn’t whether you wanted Willie fired, or not, and who his replacements were. It is the way this was handled. There’s been a lot written about it in the last 12 hours so I won’t repeat.
But as a fan, as much as I love the Mets, they offer not so subtle reminders of why they are second-class in the way they handle things.
I’m asking everyone today…can you tell me WHY you feel that it’s second class?
I am only answering for them because they don’t know the answer…. the media told them it is second class. That’s because the media is the only part of this whole thing that got screwed over.
Yeah, I’ve been posting this question since 9:30 and have yet to get a real answer from anyone who’s “embarrassed”….give me a break…clowns…
zer09
Nothing to do with the embarrassing thing, but who the hell are you that anybody has to answer to you? Who are you to be calling anybody “clowns” just because they think differently than you and dont find you important enough to answer you? Great you dont feel embarassed. Ridethesnake isnt embarrassed. I’m not embarrassed either but I dont feel superior than these other people to question them on their feelings or opinions.
Well said mudville.
Who said anything about feeling superior? I am here defending my team, and here speaking out against everyone who is putting me and others into a general category of a “fan base” that is “emb