Posted on 06/17/2008 8:04:59 AM PDT by NativeNewYorker
In a bizarrely timed housecleaning, Minaya fired Willie Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto shortly before midnight West Coast time (3 a.m. in New York) after all three had just returned from a 9-6 win here over the first-place Angels.
Randolph was replaced by bench coach Jerry Manuel, a former AL Manager of the Year with the White Sox, while Triple-A New Orleans pitching coach Dan Warthen is taking over for Peterson. New Orleans manager Ken Oberkfell also is joining Manuel's staff along with Luis Aguyo.
Minaya, who had flown to California during the game, delivered the news to Randolph, Peterson and Nieto when they arrived at the team hotel. Why Minaya allowed all three to make the long trip to California instead of firing them in New York on Sunday made the timing all the more baffling.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Overdue...but very poorly handled.
The Mets never fail to entertain. LOL. Randolph never seemed like a good manager to me. There’s a reason it took him so long to get a gig. That said, the Mets team is pathetic and the Mets front office is getting richly deserved scorn. But hey, it’s entertaining! Willie’s got a few million bucks to ease the pain.
Hard to think of any aspect of this that was handled professionally.
Hopefully the Yanks will bring him back into the fold. ...where he belongs.
They should have pulled the trigger weeks ago when they had that dumb meeting. The thing had reached critical mass already. They needed to make a decision then and there. No surprise though. The Mets are a loser organization.
No thanks. I didn't even think he was a good 3rd base coach. He has no authority. He's simply a bad choice. Let him go manage in the minors for a while. He needs experience, and probably a little more age on him. Plus he needs to make better in-game decisions.
Best NY baseball analogy I have heard:
The Yankees are Broadway - the Mets are evening dinner theater in the ‘burbs.
Talk about treating someone like a...
I agree. The Yankees are gay.
Remember Randolph played the “race card” about three weeks
ago.
IIRC, the “race card” line was in response to a specific question from the press, not something he said spontaneously.
Gay as an Easter bonnet. Gay as the 1890s.
Willie Randolph got fired? The Mets and Yanks should have traded managers. At least Franconia is safe in Boston!! :-)
I am a Yankee fan. I absolutely want to see Cashman fired. And I am still forming an opinion of the the Baby Boss. But that said, as long as the Mets ownership and management keeps stumbling and bumbling,it allows the Yankee management to appear better than it probably is.
How about-That’s for Kazmir,Peterson.
Maybe he had a point... and maybe he didn't. Either way, can the bastard or shut up and keep him... anything less is personal smear on the individual himself.
1. This is literally 3 Up -- up in the middle of the night with the news that the Mets have fired their manager. If you are a Met fan this is a sad day. Not because of the removal of Randolph, booed heavily the last time he was seen at Shea. But because the organization for which you root does not seem to have any game plan -- and apparently has no heart, as well. They actually made Randolph plus coaches Rick Peterson and Tom Nieto fly the charter 3,000 miles to California on Sunday night simply to be removed on Monday. Met management had to know what it intended to do because the Mets won on Monday. It was not as if some last straw was dropped. This made the people in charge of the Mets look aimless and petty. The least Randolph, Peterson and Nieto should have gotten was frequent flyer miles.[emphasis supplied]
2. In the end this decision was about this: The Mets have their own network and a new stadium is being built beyond center field in the parking lot. The ownership of this team is aghast at what a losing season might mean to revenues in these two ventures. So the management of this team decided to sacrifice Willie Randolph and two coaches as much to higher Nielsen ratings and luxury suites as to the poor record they feared would jeopardize the gravy train.
3. Here is my hunch: In the next few weeks the Yankees will at least attempt to hire Willie Randolph to some position, possibly one like Tino Martinez has now that has both on-field and executive duties. The Yanks always like to bring back to the pinstripe flock personnel from their championships. But this is also about taking a shot at the Mets. Randolph is scheduled to be a National League coach at the All-Star Game, which is being held at Yankee Stadium next month. It would be delicious for the Yankees to have Randolph get a huge ovation at Yankee Stadium as a former Met manager and a current Yankee employee.
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