Posts tagged Willie randolph at FanHouse

The Mets have no reason to second-guess their decision to replace Willie Randolph. Since putting Jerry Manuel in charge, the Mets have been one of the hottest teams in baseball and are in sole possession of the first place in the NL East. That said, owner Fred Wilpon does regret the way Randolph was fired, in the dark of night just one game into a west coast road trip. From Bloomberg News:

``I know I screwed up,'' Wilpon told reporters at SportsNet New York's Manhattan studios. ``I should have said, `wait a second.'''

[...] Wilpon said he regrets not speaking up when Minaya told him the next day that he was going to fly to California and tell Randolph in person after the game. Because of the three-hour time difference, the announcement of Randolph's firing was left out of New York newspapers.

``I wasn't smart enough to say, `you are going to cut the New York press out?''' Wilpon said. ``I didn't even think of it.''

This won't make Randolph feel any better -- in other words, all Wilpon is saying is that he regrets not being able to tell the world sooner that he canned his manager. But reading between the lines -- which is always dangerous but so, so fun -- am I the only one who thinks it's interesting that Wilpon is pinning all of the blame on Minaya? It's one thing to say, "I know I screwed up," and it's another thing to say, "I know I screwed up by not reining in my GM." It wasn't all the long ago that Minaya was on the hot seat -- is this Wilpon's way of telling Minaya not to get too comfortable?

Willie Randolph will be attending the All-Star Game tonight. This wouldn't be news if someone told you this a month ago -- Randolph was originally expected to serve as one of the National League's coaches -- but since being unceremoniously canned by the Mets, it seemed like the only way he'd get through the gates would be if he bought his own ticket.

But as it turns out, Randolph won't need to scalp a ticket after all; he'll be in the buidling as the personal guest of the Steinbrenner family. It's no secret that the Yanks' ownership still has an affinity for their former player and coach -- Hank offered Willie a job just days after Omar Minaya's axe came down -- but this is still a bit unexpected. From William C. Rhoden of the New York Times:

"George invited Willie Randolph to the All-Star Game," said Howard Rubenstein, the spokesman for George Steinbrenner. "George urged him to attend and he accepted."

[...] "George had some great things to say about him," Rubenstein said. Then, referring to the entire Steinbrenner family, Rubenstein added: "They truly love him."

Should this be interpreted as some kind of snub to the crosstown rival Mets? Probably not. Randolph has a long history with the Yankees, winning a combined six titles as a player and coach. And besides, while some feel that Randolph was unfairly branded a scapegoat for the Mets' troubles, the decision to fire him seems to have paid off: the Mets have gone from two games under .500 before his dismissal to seven games over now, thanks largely to their nine-game winning streak heading into the break.

In all likelihood, this is just a nice gesture being extended to an old friend -- though I wouldn't be surprised if the Yanks still hope to convince him into returning in some capacity down the road.

When Willie Randolph got fired as manager of the Mets, it created an opening on Clint Hurdle's coaching staff for next month's All-Star Game. The New York Post reports that he'll do so with a move that kills two birds with one stone. Lou Piniella, skipper of the NL-best Chicago Cubs will get the call.

Not only does Piniella deserve it based on his record this season, he also replaces Randolph as a NL manager with close ties to Yankee Stadium. The two men were teammates with the Yankees from 1976-1984 and Piniella managed Randolph for two seasons and change after that. The Post reports that MLB is trying to find a role that enables Randolph to still play a role in the festivities. Pitching batting practice has been suggested but I wouldn't spend too much time trying to figure out a spot for Randolph.

Sure, he's a Yankee notable but so are dozens of other former players who won't play any part in the Midsummer Classic. He wasn't going to be there because of his Yankee ties, he was going to be there as manager of the Mets. Even that seemed a courtesy extended to the other New York manager given the way the Mets were performing under his tutelage. It's too bad that he won't get to take part but, well, so it goes sometimes. If not for the way he lost his job, I doubt there'd even be much hand-wringing about Randolph's absence.

(H/T Metsblog)

There are some pressing questions surrounding the now unemployed Willie Randolph. Should he walk the dog and then catch up on the stuff that's piled up on his Tivo or vice versa? Is he still going to coach in the All-Star Game? Once he settles those, he can move onto deciding if he wants to go back and work for the Yankees.

Hank Steinbrenner says that the team would find a place in the organization for Randolph if that's something he'd be interested in discussing. Not as manager, of course, but something to get him out of the house every day. Furthermore, Lil' Stein says that there's no ill will because Randolph left the team to manage the crosstown rivals.

"If he had left to take over the Red Sox maybe I would have had a problem with that. He's a Yankee. He'll always be a Yankee. Even the Mets never completely accepted him because they thought he was a Yankee."

I'll assume he's joking, it's hard to know with Hank, because I've rooted for the Yankees since I first discovered baseball and, for the life of me, I can't figure out why it would matter if Randolph went to manage the Red Sox. I get it, they are pure evil, but was he supposed to forgo opportunities to advance in his career because it might rankle the team that had no place for him to advance? That's the kind of ambition that would really warm the cockles of my heart.

"It's your fault. It's all your fault."

Later, Willie, John, John, and not Ozzie. You were all bums.

It's funny how something as universally reviled as the way the Mets fired Willie Randolph turns out making the guy who got canned look like a prince among men. It's like The Shawshank Redemption, Willie crawled through a river of s--- and came out clean on the other side.

The latest salvo in one of the most one-sided public relations battles ever waged is a first-person account of the final days from Randolph in today's Daily News. Randolph recalls asking Omar Minaya to fire him before the road trip if that was the decision, laments his decision to inject race into the discussion and somehow manages to stay well above the belt in his comments while still painting the Mets as buffoons.

In the whole thing, there's only one part that doesn't come across as believable.

Call me naive if you want, but I never saw it coming. I was sitting on a sofa across from Omar Minaya, the Mets' general manager and the man who hired me.

OK, I'll bite. You're naive. Never saw it coming? You asked the guy to fire you.

Because the actual firing was handled so badly, it has completely obscured the fact that there were real and reasonable reasons to fire Randolph. The obliviousness to the world around him exhibited above lent itself to too many of his in-game decisions and played a part in the team's failure to stem last season's collapse. He's handled the firing better than the job which has, oddly, served to make him look better.

You clearly heard about all the drama surrounding Willie Randolph and the wrongful axing peaceful separation of the Mets organization and most of its coaching staff. One of the men without a job is Rick Peterson, the former pitching coach. But Peterson might not be out on the streets for too lengthy a time.

This is because a previous stop on his resume -- Oaktown. Namely because of a certain pitcher he coached there.

However, when asked what type of relationship they had, Zito noted that as far back as college, he and his family hired Peterson for private coaching. When the A's drafted Zito, Peterson was their pitching coach.

"I had success from the start there in Oakland," Zito said. "There's a lot to be said for your first coach in the big leagues, too. He moved me on the mound and did something also with my hands, stuff like that, stuff I still do today."

Now, this is primarily speculation, as noted by a no comment from Zito. However, it does make a ton of sense. The likely move -- because clearly Dave Righetti is doing a good job -- would be to pay Peterson to coach Zito, and Zito only.

I'm starting to think that Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya aren't going to be seen together at any charitable functions anytime soon. Eamonn already schooled you to Willie asking to be fired before flying to Anaheim if indeed the axe was falling. Randolph also gave an interview to one of the other papers in town, and re-iterates that he was surprised that he was erased from the picture.

"No, I thought he [Minaya] was talking about whacking a couple of my coaches," Randolph told reporters in the driveway of his Franklin Lakes, N.J., home.

"That's why I was stunned," Randolph said. "The way he was talking to me, I thought I was secure for the time being."

It might be interesting to note that Randolph knew that it might be his coaches, yet never hinted (at least in this interview) that he would stick up for them (especially Nieto, seemingly fired for being a "Randolph guy" according to some radio speculation here) or take the firing on their behalf. I'm not judging ... just throwing that out there.

Change has been the theme in Major League Baseball this week. Bill Bavasi is out in Seattle and Wille Randolph is through in New York. As we near the halfway point of the season, expect more change on the horizon as teams begin to realize what they are, or, more accurately, what they aren't.

Did the Mariners and Mets make the right moves? What can these two teams expect from the rest of their seasons?

Join me today at 3PM ET to talk about the fate of these two clubs and everything else that's going on in the baseball world.

Getting fired is no fun. As Jon Stewart notes above (via Baseball Musings),it's even worse when your employer flies you 3,000 miles from your home and fires you at 3 a.m. Ow.

Of course, with a little resilience, Willie can bounce back. He's good enough, smart enough, and gosh darnit, people in New York want to give him advice:

Taj Shaw's advice was to stay in California and do what Mr. Shaw did when he got fired from his job at a department store in Minneapolis. "I went straight to the airport and got drunk," Mr. Shaw recalled. That gave Mr. Shaw, who now works in operations for a Wall Street investment firm, another idea for Mr. Randolph. "Maybe, drunk, dial Joe Torre and ask him for a job," he said.

What's funnier: That the Times doesn't know how to punctuate "drunk-dial" -- which is clearly what Mr. Shaw was trying to say -- or that that advice is quite possibly the most trenchant anyone could have offered. Just get drunk for a while, Willie. The shame fades eventually. Promise.