Minaya's firing of Randolph is pitiful

By: Byron Parker

Disgraceful, Pathetic, Classless.

These are words that can describe the way that Willie Randolph was fired from the managerial position of the New York Mets. It's really a shame that Willie had to hear his name in the air like this for these past several months; especially after the terrible collapse that the Mets suffered from the last 17 games of last season. They had a seven game lead in the NL East division with just 17 games to go but his players struggled to hold it by going 5-12 during those last few weeks and they ended up losing the division on the last day to the Philadelphia Phillies. But how much of that should be put on Willie? He had his team playing good baseball up until that point and they were arguably one of the best teams in the NL in 2007. They just happened to go into a funk during the last stretch of the season, causing them to lose the division. The fact of the matter is that they still finished at a 88-74 record, two games under 90 wins and 2nd in the NL East. Not a bad record for somebody who was in their 3rd career year as a manager.

Yes, it's understandable that New York wants their teams to be on top of things but it can't always happen. The way that the Mets got impatient with Randolph is ridiculous. Firing him when they were only one game under .500 (34-35) and winning 3 of their last 4 games was just classless. Randolph was literally a base hit away from the World Series in 2006, when Carlos Beltran had the opportunity to send the Mets to the promise land, but instead he decided to look at a two-strike pitch right down the middle of the plate. Ever since that, the Mets have had expectations that have been very high but they haven't been able to meet them. Is that the manager's problem or the players? If you've seen the way the Mets have played for the past 9 months, then it looks as though the players are responsible for that because they've looked like a mess at times this season. Just mental blunders that can only be fixed by the players, not the manager. We know that the Mets are a skillful team, but they haven't had their heads together since last years meltdown.

Whether or not it was Randolph's fault in not getting his team in the right mindset to battle with the NL East, the way he was fired was pathetic and classless. They waited until they got to the West coast to fire him so he can't at least be comforted by family when he recieved the news. The guy has been under scrutiny for the longest and he has had pressure on him since last year. If there was a right time to fire the guy, it was after last years meltdown. Therefore, he could of had the opportunity to find another job in the time that he was unemployed. But instead, he has to wait for the right job opening which we don't really know how long that will take. The Mets weren't playing terrible baseball when he was fired; they were just falling behind quickly. But Omar Minaya was just too impatient and he decided to hit the panic button, well before the season could have been decided. They have yet to fall out of contention and they still have the team that can get them right back in the race. With the Phillies running away with the division, they Wild Card spot is yet to be decided and the Mets have a chance to take that spot away. But for some reason, the Mets management feels that they should be like the Yankees and be the team that owns their division, but just because they're from New York doesn't mean that they have to be like the Yankees.

They could've waited until the all star break to see where they were at. Minaya should be gone because he is the one that put together this team who he thought would've been the "new" NY Yankees. Instead, it's full of a bunch of overpaid, overachievers who never showed any disliking of Randolph and they've continually stated that Randolph wasn't the problem with the Mets struggles. He has had their support over the past year or so, and Minaya still feels that it's Randolph's fault. Yeah Omar, you're real classy.

With this going on, I hope that the Mets go on to play terrible baseball and go on to finish under .500, just to show Minaya the mistake that he made. Karma will play a factor in this firing. I'm hoping an NL team will hire Randolph so that he can beat up on the Mets every year and knock them out of the playoffs. That is how much I am disgusted in the Mets management.