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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 “embarrassed” of this organization. No one has to answer me, but everyone has to answer to themselves. What’s embarrassing is that out of the 3,000 or so people who read this site and vote in the polls, less than 10% has the brain capacity to think for themselves and make rational decisions, while the rest are puppets who accept what’s told to them and their “feelings” are nothing more than acceptance of words etched into their heads by the writing of pissed off journalists who missed their morning headline. Don’t answer me, fine. Feel embarrassed all you want – but at least try to understand why…
“What’s embarrassing is that out of the 3,000 or so people who read this site and vote in the polls, less than 10% has the brain capacity to think for themselves and make rational decisions, while the rest are puppets who accept what’s told to them”
Thats the statement of someone acting superior…
RTS is spot on – the media tells everyone this is a travesty, they buy it. What is the big deal? Better they should have canned him at home? Who cares? Willie can go straight to Hawaii and crash at Joe Torre’s place for a week.
Lost my post…basically I’m saying that the move was inevitable. The fact that this exact scenario, down to the replacements, was laid out by the press a few days ago suggests to me that this decision was made a fe days ago, and I believe Willie knew it (and alluded to it during Sunday’s postgame). Doing it in LA is better for Willie, so he can avoid the NY press until he is ready to address them.
A lot of people are going to be going after Omar here, but I don’t think its his fault. He wanted to build a young athletic team, but was charged with putting together a competitive ballclub. Thats why he has brought in guys like Church, Maine, Pelfrey, Beltran and Perez, as well as guys like Alou, Wagner, Pedro and El Duque.
As a side note, does anyone doubt that Manny Acta will be the Mets manager in 2009?
nah, i’m not sure that paul depodesta is all that familiar with his work
i do. i’m not sure paul depodesta would hire him.
boooooooooooooooo comment moderation…lol
The Nationals might have something to say about that.
I think you and Olney should take each other’s hands and jump off a bridge. All you people are writing is how this is embarrassing and that is classless and you’re upset and it’s a circus…BLAH BLAH BLAH Can you tell me why?? WHY?? Isn’t that an easy question to answer when you’re coming out with such strong words? Anyone can write the words – but can you explain why? Can Olney explain why? Did you sit at the meeting that Omar had with Willie? Did you sit at the meeting Omar had with Wilpons? You people are losing more and more credibility with every post that’s coming out. YOU, my friend, are an embarrassment
Olney, a former Yankee writer, loves the chance to stick a knive in the Mets, I have no respect for him what so ever.
Zero relax man
i think the reason its embarassing is just the events that lead up to this. The dragging out of willies continued employment ever since the meeting after the yankee series. One day they would say willie is safe the other they would say hes hanging by a thread. Then ultimatly to be flown out to LA and in the middle of a major league series be fired. I understand your point as this may have been a favor to willie but the media is still going to be in ny when he returns anyway. Why not wait until the offday to fire will? What did willie do that made it so pertinant to fire him on the first day of a series out in LA with two games left to play? I just hope this doesnt affect the players(it shouldnt but lesser things have). And the embarassment comes from the media pretty much having a field day with the indecisivness of the FO. Thats the embarassment.
But how do they or you know how indecisive or decisive the FO was? How do you know that when they came out of that meeting two weeks ago that Willie wasn’t told that he has 2 weeks to show some life? How do you know that Omar didn’t speak to Willie yesterday morning or Sunday or Friday and let him know that they’ll take it to LA to avoid the NY media? By the time they return, the frenzy isn’t going to be here. The news will be old and the fire will have died out. And I’m sorry, but 2 weeks isn’t “dragging” of anything…it’s 2 weeks! not 2 months! Why wait until the offday? So they can all spend their offday fielding question after question? What’s the point? It’s looking more and more like this was done deliberately to spend as little time as possible dealing with the media and they accomplished the goal beautifully.
And by the way, I’m totally relaxed, I’m just perplexed at all the people who are embarrassed and ashamed to be Mets fans, but have no idea why…
I dont think people are ashamed to be met fans i think they are just embarassed at the situation. As far as how much i know about the situation i can reflect those questions on you and we can go round and round speculating as to why the did this when they did and their reasoning. I doubt we will get an answer from omar in the press conferance but bottom line may people feel embarassed and feel the mets had no class. Im over it already, what happened happend and now we can focus on the team. Like you and i agreed before this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as fixing this team is concerned. Guess we will see how this plays out. Im just weary as to how long im going to have to hear this from announcers and the media who are still bringing up the collapse like it happened yesterday..
Exactly. No one knows except Omar, Willie, and the Wilpons. So everyone is speculating. Perhaps there was plenty of embarrassment earned in this situation, but perhaps behind closed doors, it was settled peacefully and this course of action was decided on way before any of it ever came out. That’s what gets me mad – there are too may journalists who instead of reporting the news and providing real sports related opinions are riding the anti-Mets wave and bashing the franchise. Myself, as a fan of the franchise, no matter how much I don’t like Omar or the Wilpons, or whatever else, I will ALWAYS defend this team against all of the outsiders who are out there with a chip on their shoulder just because they see an easy target.
That said, I’m with you on the moving on part. This will all blow over sooner rather than later (that’s why I’m actually very happy that there isn’t going to be enough time to have a million reports come out on this). I don’t think this will have as much lingering impact as the collapse – I mean after all, it’s just a manager getting fired… The way I look at it is, if they continue to play at .500, nothing’s changed, if they do better, then it’s a good thing. I just hope and prey that it doesn’t get worse…cause then…oh boy…
“Myself, as a fan of the franchise, no matter how much I don’t like Omar or the Wilpons, or whatever else, I will ALWAYS defend this team against all of the outsiders who are out there with a chip on their shoulder just because they see an easy target”
couldnt have said it better myself me 2
“I just hope and prey that it doesn’t get worse…cause then…oh boy…”
lol you and omar lol
Maybe so he go straight to his Dodger interview on the Mets dime?
To be fair, he got numerous chances to turn this team around. They should have fired him last year, but they gave him this season with a fresh start and a bonified ace to fix things and nothing has changed. Maybe they view that as respectful enough? Also, maybe they spoke to him before this all happened and he said he’d prefer to go out on the road with a free trip to LA. Who knows, we’ll never know the hole story. Firing people is never a good thing and there really isn’t a good way to do it.
The biggest thing that surprises me is why clean house of 3 managers. Maybe 1 manager/coach would have been sufficient.
Anybody know who the pitching coach is and what his credentials are?
i think they’d had enough of peterson, but they also wanted to bring oberkfell up, so someone else had to go.
Had this been announced for the first time right now, I’d completely agree with the decision. They made it public at the wrong time, but oh well.
maybe it was the wrong time from the media’s viewpoint, but the right time from Willie’s…
Good point. Maybe this was exactly what Willie wanted. Either way, I’m not embarrassed to be a Mets fan today. I expect Johan to beat the Angels tonight and get these guys back to .500.
Lets see…Lackey’s no slouch….I do like what I’m seeing from Pelfrey though…He is giving Santana the opportunity to sustain momentum and winning streaks (as he did last week, until Wagner time), as opposed to stopping a skid.
They made it public at exactly the right time! Just in time to avoid Willie getting blasted on the front of every NY newspaper. That was actually a CLASS ACT, not a classless one.
See above.
Exactly, if you think about the Mets are geniuses. They made everyone feel bad for Willie and saved him from embarrassament. So they pretty much sacrificed there public humalation for Willie.
You are in the deep minority with this opinion.
That’s just because the majority are listening to the pissed off media and reading the papers and are just repeating the message without thinking about the situation clearly.
I won’t say a class act, but thats just beause I don’t think that he deserved to lose his job. They carried it out the best way possible, in my opinion.
I wonder how Fred will feel seeing Willie attired in Fred’s beloved Dodger Blue when he shows up in Yankee Stadium as a coach of the NL All-Star team after being hired by Torre
I’m sure he will feel fine. I’m pretty certain that there isn’t one person on this blog or in the Mets organization who doesn’t wish Willie all the success in his future endeavors. So things didn’t work out with the Mets, so what? If he goes to LA and has a good coaching career, hat’s off to him – and good luck!
Fred’s Dodgers were the Brooklyn Dodgers which no longer exists! Anyone who really think the Dodgers out in la la land are the same Dodgers as the ones that ceased to exist in 1957 don’t know baseball at all.
I agree that the Mets handed this in a embarrassing and classless way. But it is no surprise to me that the first person to rip the Mets is Buster Olney (a huge Yankee fan himself) . Any chance he gets he will rip on the Mets and it annoys me that he has to make it even worse then already is.
Hard to take an adult named “Buster” seriously unless his last name is Douglas.
what a waste… what a mess…
The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.
Tony Blowhard needs his a$$ kicked out the door as well.
huh?
Bernazard??
get rid of Omar and Tony Blowhard next!!
Bingo on Acta — I called this two weeks ago and still feel the same way. I don’t know what his contract situation his, but as a DC-area resident I can tell you that the Nats have a very long road ahead of them, they are not getting much bounce from their new stadium, and it’s not clear whether Acta still has the stomach for it.
As to the Mets, my poorly informed speculation is that Willie was the sacrificial lamb in a PR battle between Minaya and the Wilpons (Fred’s “talk to Omar” runaround this morning is very telling). Long story short — Jeff wanted Willie out, Omar did not but felt his hands were tied, so he executed the decision in a way that would drag the Wilpons into the spotlight whether they wanted to be there or not.
Wow, NOW we’re humiliated? It takes a firing of Willie to feel humiliated to be a Mets fan!? Let me get this straight, we weren’t humiliated after the collapse? We weren’t humiliated after the last two and a half months of mediocrity to start the season? Holy cow! Perhaps many of you should check your priorities. Unbelievable.
Tony Bernazard reminds me of that pale, crooked death figure following King Rohan around whispering death into his ear…
Wormtongue . . .
The outrage at the outrage is really lost on me. This is not about firing someone at 3 a.m. The entire handling of Randolph dating back to last Sept. has been suspect at best, embarassing at worst. And looking at the big picture here, this front office, and most specifically this ownership, just never seems to learn from their mistakes. For a family that is so PR-conscious, they always seem to put themselves in a position to take a PR hit when it comes to decisions like this. We saw it with Art Howe. We saw it with the Kazmir trade. We saw it with “meaningful baseball.” It seems for the last 20 years or so, the only thing our ownership has ever been able to build, is expectations, followed by letdowns. I honestly don’t even think a FO consisting of the best baseball minds out there will ever change the culture of this franchise as long as the Wilpons are in charge.
Wow, an entire paragraph that said nothing. Good job…
Reading comprehension is as important a skill as shounding out the words. I suggest you work on that, or maybe both.
Hmm, reading comprehension, huh?
Well how about backing up your statements when you make them?
“The entire handling of Randolph dating back to last Sept. has been suspect at best, embarassing at worst.”
Really? Why? Care to say why?
“We saw it with Art Howe. We saw it with the Kazmir trade. We saw it with “meaningful baseball.”
What was wrong with the way Art Howe was fired? Do you really think that they had the final word on the Kazmir trade? That was a GM mistake all the way. And are you really blaming the ownership for the lack of “meaningful baseball”??
The ownership is there to provide money and the GM is there to do the rest. Your whole paragraph is just lashing out without really saying anything factual. You need to go back to high school and learn how to structure factual arguments.
No, you are zero here zer09, as your name correctly implies.
actually, constanza is absolutely on the mark, it’s posters like zero09 that need to stop posting the same bs argument. it’s not about willie getting fired, it’s in the manner that it was done. the wilpons do this over and over and constanza gave specific examples.
What manner? Do you people even think for a second why it was done when it was done? Jeez, so blind, so blind….
All of you guys supprting the way this was handled have zero class too. You don’t fly a guy out to the west coast to try and avoid the media to fire him. This only serves to fan the media flames. You do it upfront and deal with the situation head on and then move on. The Mets are the laughingstock of baseball because they showed zero class and crapped all over their manager the last 3.5 years, the first manager to lead us to a division title in 18 years.
Yea, zero class. But then again, show me one instance where someone getting fired is classy!
Tell me, oh wise one, who exactly do you think is avoiding the media frenzy, Willie or the FO?
You are kidding yourself if you don’t think this firing was concocted by the FO, in particular Jeffie Boy. Do you really think Willie wanted to fly 2500 miles to be fired, just to avoid a media circus. The media is going to be all over him anyhow.
I have no doubt in my mind that avoiding the media circus is in the best interest of the TEAM. I don’t give a damn about anything else. That’s why I think it was handled correctly. That’s why I feel no shame or embarrassment. This course of action will only help people move on faster with less garbage. And Willie saves face and becomes a martyr….
18 years??? Is it 2018 already??? WOW!!! I over slept!!!! I do recall something called a World Series in 2000 with the Yankees and the Mets. And by the way, if you don’t know already I’ll tell you…the media would have and will jump over everything and anything the Mets would have done right or wrong. And I believe keeping Willie after last year was a sign of respect and belief.
Can you read? I said division title, that thing the Braves won for 15 straight years.
who cares? Whats the big deal, its just baseball. There are bigger problems then this in the world! I love baseball and the mets as anyone else, but all this trivial nonsense is getting way out of hand. Let’s just move on and forget, because that is exactly what Willie is going to do!
I think, beyond the obvious mishandling of the situation, the thing that bothers me the most is that Willie –like his managing style or not– carries himself with immense dignity. He’s a true baseball lifer, and you can see it in the way he acts with his players and with the media. Sure, fire Ozzie Guillen this way. He doesn’t really come off as a very dignified person. I see and, i think, the public sees him as a cartoon or a character. Willie is a man, though, that shouldered the burden of managing (and getting paid well….) with due diligence.
I don’t care who gets fired in the front office to get it done, but these leaks have got to stop. It completely undercuts the decisions made, and as Buster points out, it has made the Mets come off as morons. The players, except for maybe Wagner, have shown much more class than the front office has ever shown.
if olney is correct, then this is just an indication of why the mets haven’t performed well for mets fans in general. (similar to dolan and the knicks).
mets farm system is barren.
mets better win right now or else tearing this down and building it back up may take a while.
it’s funny that the mets finally seem to be getting in some sort of groove (winning 4 of 6) that this happens.
the jerry manuel era begins…
“…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… ”
Brandon, just stop. Please. Humilated over this? Just stop. Everyone is making this worse than it really is. Willie was fired AFTER the game, which by the time the showers, interviews and whatever else they do after a game was when Omar had the chance to meet with Willie. So what if it was at 12:30am. Listen if we fired a guy that has brought us five or even one WS ring(s) like the Yankees, then I would say yes it is humiliating. But for this? No way. What was more embarassing was dealing with the death watch. Let’s not get caught with media hoopla and hang our heads down there is no reason for that.
Gotta agree Tug. Woudl it be significantly better if the news came down at 1pm today instead of 3am last night?
If the answer to that is yes, then what does it matter if it was handled last night or this am? It does not matter.
You can be upset he was terminated after flying to Cali to start this series but all that smacks of is indecision on the guys making this call. It does not smack of vindictiveness or a lack of class. Just seems like they could not make a decision and then finally made it and moved on.
The one thing I can not square though is that news of the AAA shakeup went down yesterday but they still flew Willie out there and had him coach the one additional game.
That is hard to square with indecision isn’t it?
Willie should have been fired last october, not 8 months later, traveling 3000 miles across the country, after a win, at 3:30 am (12:30 pacific) however you look at it, it just looks bad
I am the most cold hearted, business oriented, results over anything human being on the planet. I have actually looked forward to firing people that werent getting their jobs done. I feel as though Willie was not getting his done. I really dont know however, if it was time for him to go just yet(I guess we’ll find out soon enough)….
With that said, there is something called ‘business ethics’. Even the most ruthless organizations in the world dont parade the person getting the axe in front of the company. You get taken aside, told why you are being let go, they shake your hand, let you gather your stuff and say goodbyes, and then you leave with your head up….and more importantly your dignity.
What the Mets have done is given the world a glimpse as to how they run their shop. Anyone that doesnt think this is a mirror and a microcosm into whats going on behind the scenes, has NO business acumen. With organizations 99% of the time what you see is what you get. If it appears that its dysfunctional, it usually is. HOW COULD A DECISION THIS BIG BE BUNGLED THIS BAD?!?….Its cause no one took hold of it. It was many groups voicing their opinions. Basically I’m saying the people in charge of Accountibility…have no accountibility over how they do their jobs. They are only looking out for what they believe will help the team, and its clear to me that no one cared about the image and perception of the ‘team’(THE METS) organization as a whole….
Thats a very bad thing. Too many cooks in the kitchen. No ‘voice’…call it whatever you want….They are one pretty disjointed lot right now…
Okay Saltzy, I agree on the business ethics part about not parading a dead man walking but how exactly was this decision “bungled?”
Last I checked, the source of the parade is the media, not the front office. Sure, there might have been a leak but we DON’T know for sure that it was done purposefully by the front office. Moreover, every corporation, big or small, have to deal with leaks. It is just the nature of the business. As long as you have rumor-hungry media personnel out there, there will always be leaks.
I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with how they fired Willie. If Willie felt he was slighted in the way the Mets canned him, he can speak up for himself. As he said, he’s a big boy. There’s no need for media people and others know might know nothing about the situation to speak for Willie.
if you really believe the media concocted the story from start to finish, you really are naive or just refuse to delve into reality,
it’s bungled because if you are going to fire someone, you just do it the way saltzy explained. what’s the purpose of letting randolph sit there amidst all this? is that fair to him? a guy who brought you a division championship in 2006? no it’s not.
the wilpons screwed this up. everything else is hyperbole.
Yea okay, Omar took Willie aside on Sunday and said “Willie, I have no choice. As much as it pains me to do this, I’m going to have to let you go. Sorry it had to happen on Father’s day but the circumstances left me with no other choice. You can gather your stuff and use the back door if you’d like. I think the press won’t catch you there.”
Yea, that’s definitely doable! How can I be so naive!?
“Willie, I’m really sorry but I cant protect you anymore. Its done. I’ll do what I can to keep the vultures at bay, but we have to go in another direction. Know that I did what I could to protect you, but nothing could be done any further.
Now lets decide the best way to handle this transition so we all come out looking the best we can, and you have your dignity. If you want, you can make the trip to the coast and we’ll announce it after the first game. If you just want to do it now and get it over with, we can make the announcement during the post game news conference today. You’ve been a valuable, hard working, dedicated employee and we want to make this as easy as possible for you, in what is a bad situation for everyone.”
BOY that was hard huh???
Please….they fired him like he was working the late shift at McD’s
So you know firsthand Willie was forced to fly out west instead of choosing to fly out west?
You are an idiot.
No, you’re right. He chose to fly out west, coach one more game, get back to the hotel at 12 AM and find Omar sitting in the dark corner with a cigar in his mouth…
Thats much more logical…
Im glad I dont work at your company if you think flying to the west coast, only to be canned at 3 AM is an acceptable way of firing someone…
So obviously Willie has zero clue he was going to be fired, ZERO!
And I wonder how Chuck Prince, Martin Sullivan, Stan O’Neal, Erin Callan, Zoe Cruz, and many more lose their jobs…clearly they all were let go/demoted in a classy way.
But if they were to let Willie go in NY, wouldn’t he end up being paraded around, but in front of the media? By doing it in LA, they at least allowed him to go on his way without being hounded by the press. I see this as a big issue which the media of course has not touched on.
Plus, I really have to believe that Willie must have known what the deal was a day or two in advance…Hell my roomate found out through a co-worker whose friend works at Shea..He gets a nice vacation, a nice severance, and was able to end his Mets career after a strong win.
Well…as far as the leaks go, theres a solution…
“Anyone to be proved to have dissemenated sensitive organizational information to anyone not associated with, or privvy to said information will be reprimended with punishment up to and including termination”
Not that hard…
How come no one knows d*ck about Apple products before Steve Jobs’ press conferences? Umm…CAUSE THEY HAVE ORGANIZATIONAL CONTROL….
ACCOUNTIBILITY…
Wille was held to it….how come the organization as a whole has none???
The Mets from the top down have MAJOR business org issues….This firing(about the biggest ‘controlable’ news story a team has, i.e. a manager/coach change) and the way it was handled is absolute proof that no one has a hold on this team. Like I’ve said before….they are a rudderless ship, with 20 people fighting over the wheel…
Are you kidding me!? Engadget.com has been spreading the 3G iphone rumor for months before Jobs made the announcement!
Sigh…fine. Bad example. Differences between humans and products…
How about a nice statement from the FO stating they cannot control heresay, and an official announcement will be made when deemed appropiate..but there is nothing to report now…
They did NOTHING….Omar wasnt even available for comment…
How abou this…Why dont you tell me what bungling a firing DOES look like, so I have something to compare it to, cause if this dog and pont show isnt a freaking bungled mess(with every media outlet in the country calling us Mickey Mouse) then I dont know what is…
Honestly, I don’t think you can EVER bungle a firing because it’s already bungled to begin with. It’s a firing and there’ll always be negative reaction to it (unless you somehow stand to profit from it). When companies announce layoffs, who’s applauding besides certain shareholders? Can you ever name a good firing?
Like it or not, the Mets are one of the most covered sports organizations. NEWS sells, controversy sells! This is all happening simply because we are the New York Mets and not the Kansas City Royals! You think the media knows who the Royals’ manager is without having to think about it or do the research? This is New York and this is what happens in NY!
The old saying goes that fish stinks from the head down. The Wilpons are clueless. Bring back Nelson Doubleday — the Mets owner who cared and knew what he was doing.
We certainly do deserve to get humiliated again and again, because we stand for it.
Hey you bunch of girls – (and Brandon that means you as well) grow some testicles and stop whining. Willie was done and had to go. You want to feel embarrassed? Personally I was embarrassed by the end of last season if you want to know the truth. A firing is never pretty and there is never a perfect time to do it. Fact is this team has played without fire or good fundamentals for over a year now and they should be better off with a clean slate. Get over yourselves, suck it up, and
LETS GO METS!
I wouldn’t quite put it this way, but I agree. Having the sports media turn into one giant, festering Miss Manners is . . . how to put this . . . ironic?
I am not humiliated. Period. I will be a Mets fan forever.
My one concern is that, and this has been proven over the last 10 months, this team (and I’m talking the players here) is emotionally fragile. I actually had hope after last night’s game that they are putting together a “run.” Will they be down or up after the firings? This, in my mind, will tell the tale.
Here’s hoping they take it out on Lackey tonight. A win tonight would put a different spin on the press coverage.
Ditto. If anything, the only person who should be humiliated is Willie for the job he’s done. In certain cultures, people in Willie’s shoe would have stepped down in shame for the collapse.
is there something wrong with me just because i don’t feel “embarrassed” and “humiliated” about being a mets fan at this moment? I feel like I’m out of place because I’m not self-conscious enough. because I don’t give a crap what other fans think about me or my team i guess. is there some cleansing effect to wallowing in your own misery that i’m missing out on?
The “embarassed” and “humiliated” people are probably just exageratting. I think most fans are just pissed that the front office can’t even seem to fire their manager right.
Gotta love the bumbling Wilpons. Firing Willie was the right decision…….back in November. Firing him in May during the lousy start was the right decision. Firing him directly after the sweep to the Padres was the right decision.
Firing him at nearly 4 am after winning 3 of 4 in California, the furthest possibly destination away from the city……….was just chicken ****.
Manuel’s gonna suck worse than Willie; he’s proven that in Chicago. But Omar’s not going to leave that interim label on him long, he’s his manager for the rest of the year, which totally blows. Oberkfell should have taken over and the entire coaching staff canned, Hojo included.
It’s a shame they make us all look like 2nd rate fans with their antics. The Mess are the laughingstock of the Majors.
i think wright would have crapped his pants if hojo got fired..its his “baseball dad” so i think he stayed on for that reason to be honest. Why else would he still be there?
I think the wheel will turn against the media for blowing this out of proportion. It looks like it already is, judging by the comments.
I am not surprised. The Mets do not handle these things well. Haven’t for quite a while. Don’t forget they fired Art Howe with about a week or so left in the season and forced him to manage the rest of the yr. Who does that?
I am a die hard Mets fan but this organization hasn’t shown much class since Frank Cashen stepped down as GM almost 20 yrs ago.
It is the unfortunate truth.
Eddy, Olney, et al.: Get over yourselves. Running a business is not all fun and games. Much uglier than the firing is the huge line forming to make self-serving, self-righteous comments about the way this played out.
I am not embarrassed or ashamed to be a Mets fan. So the terms of the firing did not suit the sensitivities of some people (IMO< still the media that is PO’d they got beat out of a story).
The majority of fans and the press seemed to think that Willie had overstayed his welcome. So the important part is that he is gone, and the team is actually showing concern about how the season is going, and looking to make improvements.
Manual is not a logical change, but he is the guy that was in place, and interim, by definition, means temporary.
Man, the rest of this noise sounds like a bunch of 14 YO girls at a sleepover, wailing about their boy friend troubles!
get over it. Volunteer at a charity or something until you recover from the emotional scarring.
And the team on the field will be fine. If anything, they will relax now that the death watch is over.
I totally agree. You know when I was embarassed? The last day of the season last year. Today? Not so much. I feel bad that he got fired because I had hoped the team would be in better position at this point. But it was inevitable, so let’s turn the page and get on with it. There is never a “good” time to fire someone.
What I really don’t understand is all of the people saying “but they won yesterday”. That is just irrelevant.
Mets were not moving into new ballpark next year Randolph is still the manager. Funny how since SI cover on Minaya and Reyes it’s been downhill since then..SI curse lives on..
I guess there is no more willie poll….is there going to be a manuel poll?
Jesus guys get over it. I mean, i’m sad to see willie go, but there isn’t really much else they could do. I’m interested in seeing how people on the site would go about firing Willie. For everyone who thought it was classless, how would you do it? I’m just curious I’m not trying to be a dick like some people feel is necessary. The Willie era has come to end, so lets hope the mets can figure out who they are and salvage this game.
Oh, i gotta say Angel fans suck. They seriously get to the game in the 3rd and were all gone by the 8th. And they still had nerve to say how much the mets suck after the lost. Stupid californians…too bad I am one =(