Firing WIllie Randolph

While there is really no good way to fire someone there are right and wrong ways and you’ll find almost unanimous agreement that the Mets dismissal of manager Willie Randolph was handled poorly and showed a lack of class. Randolph was finally put out of his misery at around 3 o’clock this morning our time after the Mets had beaten the Angels in the opener of a three-game series in Anaheim. Also getting “pink slips” were pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto. Bench coach Jerry Manuel takes over as interim manager for the rest of the season while Mets Triple A manager Ken Oberkfell and pitching coach Dan Warthen along with Luis Aquayo join the coaching staff.

There is no argument that Randolph was on thin ice and his firing has been talked about for weeks with rumors really heating up over the weekend. However why would the organization make him fly cross-country after a Sunday game in New York to fire him on the left coast after a victory? The answer is pretty obvious….to avoid the media circus that would have taken place back home and to give Manuel time to get things together before the team returns to Shea Stadium next week. While one can argue the validity of that the Mets treated Randolph like a second-class citizen when he has shown nothing but dedication to the organization. He was allowed to twist in the wind with luke-warm votes of confidence from General Manager Omar Minaya with Minaya finally pulling the plug on New York’s first black baseball manager in a west coast version of a “midnight massacre.”

Whether Randolph was a good manager is not the issue because he did provide plenty of fodder for second guessers. However he has been a beloved figure in New York for the way he conducted himself as a player and coach during his Yankee career and most recently as manager of the Mets. Unfortunately the Mets did not conduct themselves very well here and the organization takes a big step backwards. They and Minaya showed a lack of class and character which of course will be completely forgotten by fans if the team starts winning because at the end of the day…I guess that’s the only thing that counts.

Willie Survive The Season?

For now the status of Willie Randolph as Mets manager is not the lead story but rather the uninspired and inconsistent play of a team with the highest payroll in the National League. If Memorial Day weekend is a time in the season to begin getting a feel for teams than you can’t have a good one for the Mets. Under .500 and 6 ½ games out of first place in the NL East they show no sign of snapping out of the lethargy that’s plagued them for the better part of a year.

While many assume the Mets decline began in September it was really well before that because over the last 162 games (covering two seasons) they are
79-83. For the first time even loyal fans have to admit this may be a summer filled with discontent and the final season at Shea Stadium may be remembered for disappointment and plenty of empty seats.

Opening Day!

It’s finally here…opening day of the 2008 season for my beloved Mets.

Sure there are a host of questions surrounding this team but you can say
the same for the other National League contenders. To me it all comes down to one player….Carlos Delgado. If he can put up good, not even great numbers then I think we will the NL East. Give me 25-30 homers and 100+ RBI’s from him and we will 93-95 games and that should be good enough to take the division. Wright and Reyes will be terrific but Delgado has to drive in runs and play 140 games.

Santana, Pedro and Maine will win at least 50 games between them and Wagner will save 50 as the anchors of the pitching staff. Everyone has concerns about middle relief and it’s a crap shoot because many of these guys are good one year and bad the next.

Hey the Phillies will be very tough but mark it down. Santana pitches a
great game in Florida today and might finally become the first Met to throw a no-hitter this season.

World Series…here we come.

Feeling Good About The Mets

Spring has officially arrived and opening day is just around the corner.
I feel pretty good about our team with one BIG exception and that is the
Injuries that have kept too many of our key players sidelined. Sure most of them are getting better and by opening day should be in the starting lineup but it’s scary to know that our trainer might have to be the MVP this season.

Pitching has looked very good of late with Pedro, Santana, Perez very sharp in their most recent spring outings. Along with Maine and either Pelfrey or El Duque you have to like this group….again if they stay healthy. Hamstring Injuries have been a problem with catchers Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro and plenty of other players have spent a lot of their Florida
time rehabbing injuries rather than playing every day, especially Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran.

As we get ready to start the season I still think the Mets are the team to beat in the National League East but only if they can count on their regulars to be in the lineup every day. The Phillies and Braves will be tough enough with out best “9”….if we’re forced to use bench players too much then the final season in Shea Stadium will be one of disappointment.

However let’s put the negative thoughts aside….spring brings excitement and optimism so let’s play ball!

Mets Sick Bay

I want to get excited about the start of the season but I’m really concerned about the growing list of injuries with Moises Alou headed to surgery to repair a hernia. The 41-year old leftfielder will miss the start of the season and under normal circumstances should be back by mid to late April but with Alou you never know. He was out half of last season with a quadriceps injury and does not seem to recover quickly.

Besides Alou the Mets are missing starters Carlos Delgado (hip injury), Ryan Church (concussion) and Brian Schneider (hamstring). In addition Carlos Beltran and Luis Castillo have yet to play a spring game while recovering from off-season knee surgery and pitcher Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez has not pitched in an exhibition game while he rehabs from toe surgery.

It’s only March and there’s no reason to panic yet but this is clearly not the start fans were hoping for. The Mets are not a young club and many of the injured players are on the back end of their careers which makes the situation all that more concerning.

Let’s hope that some of the walking wounded get back on the field and begin producing.

A Positive Spring

The Mets opened Grapefruit League play Wednesday against the Tigers with Mike Pelfrey getting the start. Pelfrey and all the other pitchers are expected to throw just an inning in their first spring appearances and then add an inning each time they go out.

Since acquiring and signing Johan Santana everything with the Mets has changed and it seems like the collapse of last September is officially old news. While Mets fans were probably alarmed when Santana appeared on the cover of “Sports Illustrated” last week (there is a so-called jinx associated with this) the article itself was very revealing. Even ownership was having a tough time getting over what happened late last season but with Santana in the mix it’s officially “out with the old and in with the new.”

I don’t get really excited over spring training games and even performances because often what takes place in Florida in March is meaningless in Flushing come April. However there will be a lot of attention focused on Jose Reyes, who was an MVP early last season and a disaster down the stretch. Reyes is the igniter of the offense and when he’s on base good things happen but for the final six weeks of 2007 he was popping-up far too often. A return to form by Jose and Carlos Delgado are the keys for the Mets this season.

The Answer To Pitching Questions

The Super Bowl has come and passed, the NCAA Basketball Championships are still weeks away, the Nets aren’t good, the Knicks are awful and everybody makes the hockey playoffs. So with that said what’s the only thing that will get me excited this month? The Mets open spring training on February 15 in Port St. Lucie and Johan Santana will be in OUR uniform. Hard to believe but a pitching staff that was full of question marks now has the answer for the Phillies….Johan!

Look this guy may not be Tom Seaver (nobody ever will come close) but he is the top pitcher in all of baseball and should handle the National League very well. With that said Met fans if he turns out to be a disappointment please don’t say “I knew he wasn’t that good” because there is not one of you out there who doesn’t think we made a great deal. Actually it’s not “we” but Omar Minaya who played the waiting game to perfection…even if we did second guess him to death.

So let’s get ready for the sound of “play ball” because the Mets are once again the team to beat in the National League.