NYT: Mets Fire Randolph

No article yet, just a blurb at the top of the site:

"Breaking News 3:23 AM ET: The New York Mets Fire Manager Willie Randolph"

How this news managed to break in the middle of the night, I have no idea.

[Update, by kingcritical] Promoted to front page. WFAN says Randolph, Peterson, and Nieto all are fired. This is just a bizarre move, especially (as Tony Page points out) since the team just won a game after flying out to the west coast. More as it develops.

[Update #2] Adam Rubin got the scoop.

[Update #3] Story link at the top edited to point to short NY Times story on the matter instead of NY Times front page.

over 3 years ago DavidNYC 37 comments 3 recs |

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Comments

Well

I suppose it’s kind of a dick move to have those guys fly all the way out to the coast to get canned, but nothing about this was gonna be easy. Best of luck, Willie, Jacket and Tom. Here comes the Jerry Manuel Era…

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jun 17, 2008 6:57 AM EDT reply actions

No kidding

that was a huge dick move. But for the “fire willie” crowd, this was a nice little wake up message.

i sure hope Jerry can get something out of this line-up that willie could not.

by IanB in MD on Jun 17, 2008 7:06 AM EDT up reply actions

They should have hired Little Bit O'Luck

Because he’s the only guy who could get anything else out of a team that starts Endy Chavez and Trot Nixon in the corners and Delgado at 1B.

by SQUAD on Jun 17, 2008 7:08 AM EDT up reply actions

Little Bit O'Luck

Didn’t he and Pedro have a falling out? He might not come aboard.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jun 17, 2008 7:10 AM EDT up reply actions

This whole situation was handled like shit

Let’s wait till Willie has won 3 of the last 4 to can him? Plus make him fly across the country before we fire him. The Mets ownership should be ashamed of themselves. Unfortunetly they lack enough class to feel shame.

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jun 17, 2008 7:05 AM EDT reply actions

I second this.

by SQUAD on Jun 17, 2008 7:09 AM EDT up reply actions

The butcher and the baker and the people on the street, where did they go? To meet the Mets!

by Rod Gaspar Fan Club on Jun 17, 2008 8:06 AM EDT reply actions

and yeah, it was a dick move

Was that the Wilpons or Omar who flew Willie to Anaheim to fire him?

tools

The butcher and the baker and the people on the street, where did they go? To meet the Mets!

by Rod Gaspar Fan Club on Jun 17, 2008 8:07 AM EDT reply actions

Classless

Shameful. Make him fly all the way across country, win a game. Get the team on a high and fire him. Classy, hope your happy now Jeffy. Omar don’t get too comfortable, you assembled the team with the leaky pen and old useless vets around the core. You’ll be next.

by DoctorK16 on Jun 17, 2008 8:27 AM EDT reply actions

peterson fired?

i guess they want everyone out?

alomar and hojo still around though?

by gogomets on Jun 17, 2008 8:43 AM EDT reply actions

the 2 that probably need to go the most

But I suspect their relationships with Reyes and Wright respectively put them in the safe zones.

by DoctorK16 on Jun 17, 2008 8:46 AM EDT up reply actions

great

Let’s have 1:1 coaching ratio for the stars and turn our best players into divas.

I wish we could fire Freddie.

The butcher and the baker and the people on the street, where did they go? To meet the Mets!

by Rod Gaspar Fan Club on Jun 17, 2008 8:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Gotta Keep Alomar

By holding runners at third, he will prevent injuries that often occur when sliding into home. It also prevents runs, which are totally overrated.

by IanB in MD on Jun 17, 2008 8:52 AM EDT up reply actions

okay, which is it

i’ve heard people call him sandy “green light” alomar and i’ve heard people complain about holding runners at 3rd. ffs people. those sabermetrics nerds don’t have a stat for this! why not?!

by gogomets on Jun 17, 2008 8:54 AM EDT up reply actions

he's generall aggressive IMO

by DoctorK16 on Jun 17, 2008 8:57 AM EDT up reply actions

RSHORTBC

That’s got a pretty good ring to it.

by mmxii on Jun 17, 2008 9:08 AM EDT up reply actions

he holds the faster runners

and sends Brian Schnieder to get gunned out by Board Games.

by DoctorK16 on Jun 17, 2008 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions

ollie

Is anybody else dreading the next Perez start? If you thought he was unpredictable before, just wait until he’s coached by a bunch of guys he’s never met.

Maybe he will snap it all together and win 8 of his next ten. Maybe he’ll never get a QS again. Who knows?

by mmxii on Jun 17, 2008 9:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Any room left on that Rays Geek bandwagon?

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jun 17, 2008 8:58 AM EDT reply actions

One question

When does Manny Acta become available?

by Eric Simon on Jun 17, 2008 9:50 AM EDT reply actions

Am I the only one?

Who thinks that the talk of hiring Ozzie Guillen is completely insane?

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jun 17, 2008 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions

YES

Also completely insane? Ozzie Guillen.

by JoshNY on Jun 17, 2008 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Still don't see why they fired Peterson

by JoshNY on Jun 17, 2008 9:54 AM EDT reply actions

Agreed

I guess Ollie can keep that arm slot as low as he wants now.

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jun 17, 2008 10:08 AM EDT up reply actions

Me neither

I guess Peterson’s the one who gave the Mets Damion Easley and Nick Evans in the corner spots.

by ams258 on Jun 17, 2008 10:09 AM EDT up reply actions

Also

What the Hell does Tom Nieto do, that makes him more of a candidate to be fired than HoJo?

The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

by sireric on Jun 17, 2008 10:23 AM EDT up reply actions

He's not friends with the Baseball Jesus.

It’s HoJo’s ace in the hole, I’d imagine.

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jun 17, 2008 10:41 AM EDT up reply actions

No question

I mentioned this yesterday. As far as I know, Peterson had no hand in signing Fernando Tatis as the primary contingency plan in the event of an outfield corner injury. Considering the strides that Mike Pelfrey has made in the last month I don’t see how you can dump Peterson.

by Eric Simon on Jun 17, 2008 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

I guess the Mets misunderstood

that whole “Vote for Change” thing.

by ams258 on Jun 17, 2008 10:32 AM EDT up reply actions

One of the funniest parts of this...

Is how offended all the Yankee fans are about it.

by JoshNY on Jun 17, 2008 10:44 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

it was inevitable

Of course that was going to happen. We were going to hear endless outraged platitudes about Randolph being a “class act”, a “proven winner”, a “New York guy” and, of course “full of Yankee intangibles”. The righteous indignation will die down after about 72 hours.

Randolph was not exclusively to blame for the mess of the past year, but he sure didn’t help. Running Mota and Sosa out there endlessly. Never playing Castro. Running Reyes into the ground. Running Milledge out of town (he wasn’t alone, of course). Generally acting like an aloof dick to anyone who questioned his way of doing things.

Good riddance. Let’s just make sure we never again hire someone with ties to the Yankees.

Vote change: DePodesta/Acta in 2009!!!

by Greenpoint Ian on Jun 17, 2008 11:09 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

For me...

His failure to grasp the concept of left/right splits was maybe the worst thing of all.

by JoshNY on Jun 17, 2008 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions

castro

dude is hurt all.the.time. tough to make him the starter when his back or whatever hurts every other week

by gogomets on Jun 17, 2008 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions

That doesn't justify Willie's refusal to use him when he IS healthy

I mean, we use Alou when he’s available, right?

by JoshNY on Jun 17, 2008 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions

duly rec-ed

Let’s not forget, just because we’re justifiably pissed at the inept back-channel-gossip way the organization handled this, that many of us had serious problems with Willie’s managing. The guy seems like a nice dude, and I feel bad for him, but on balance I’m glad he’s not the one making in-game decisions for my team anymore. (And his supposed player-motivation skills seem to have evaporated without a trace.) Let him go back to being a bronze plaque in Yankee Heaven if they love him so much over there.

by anonymous on Jun 17, 2008 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions

I hope that Manuel is more unbiased

in terms of who he puts in the lineup. Willie wasn’t just stingy with Castro; he was the same way with Milledge, Gotay (remember him?), and several other capable players.

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

by Prince on Jun 17, 2008 12:04 PM EDT reply actions

To be fair

None of those guys were Proven Veterans. And look at who they were competing with – LoDuca, Green, and Castillo. Veteranness off the charts with those three.

by ams258 on Jun 17, 2008 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions