ABOUT AT BAT

MSNBC.com baseball analyst Ted Robinson gives his take on the hits and misses by players, managers, umpires and owners in Major League Baseball.

Robinson has an extensive background in covering the sport. He called the play-by-play on NBC's Major League Baseball Game of the Week telecasts from 1986-89. Additionally, he has been the lead play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Twins, the television and radio play-by-play voice of the San Francisco Giants, and a member of the New York Mets broadcast team.



Randolph must get Mets to next level

Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:53 PM

There is no blueprint for what the Mets endured over the last week of the season. Nor is there really one for the Padres, one strike away from the postseason and twice watching their beloved closer fail to lock up a playoff-clinching win.

I have some empathy and a touch of understanding for the Mets and Padres. In 1993, I broadcast the Giants, winners of 103 games but left out of the playoffs on the season’s final day. The clubhouse that day at Dodger Stadium is still the most somber I have ever seen. And the flight back to San Francisco was the numbest flight I have ever taken.

Most of those emotions likely flowed through Shea Stadium this weekend and through the executive offices of the Mets. It’s one thing to blow a sure title. But it’s a whole another universe to do it in New York in the same year when it looked like the Mets might eclipse the Yankees on the field for the first time since the late 1980s.

It’s a whole different galaxy to be embarrassed in a city with two ruthless tabloids that mock and exploit failure to sell newspapers.

The normal remedy: find a scapegoat.

To the Mets’ credit they did not pull the trigger on making a managerial change. Willie Randolph will return for a fourth season. From all accounts there is no unanimity within the ranks on Randolph. But from what I saw on a regular basis in 2005 when I worked the Mets' telecasts, Randolph brought accountability to an organization with none. He brought authority to a clubhouse that believed ownership was calling the shots. He brought a winning mindset to an atmosphere mired in negativity.

Now it is fair to question whether Randolph can take the Mets to the next level. But it is also fair to question whether the team he has been given by general manager Omar Minaya is one good enough to make the climb to greater heights.

It is fair to question why Randolph played 41-year-old Moises Alou, known for his fragile legs, every day in April leading to an injury that cost the six-time All-Star a signifcant chunk of the season. But it is also fair to question Minaya's signing of Alou to play nearly every day.

The same questions can be asked in both directions about Orlando Hernandez, who again this year went down to injury at the most crucial time of the Mets' season. And the questions don't end there over Minaya's moves since there were a series of poor decisions that cost the Mets promising arms like Brian Bannister and Matt Lindstrom as well as the reborn Heath Bell while bringing in flops Guillermo Mota and Ambiorix Burgos.

What this means is that Randolph shouldn't bear the brunt of this failure alone. And it is right that he be given the chance in the spring of 2008 to prove he can pull this franchise out of what will be a winter malaise. There will certainly be some new faces in uniform, probably more of them on the youthful side. Randolph should be judged on how he gets the players he's given next year to respond to a historic collapse, the hangover of which will not be anywhere near easy to shed.

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments

I think it's time the Mets began to focus on the youth. The bullpen needs to be rebuilt or re-worked. The Mets have always been known to give up promising arms. Alou still has stuff, although his legs are giving out, I'd see him more of a DH for the AL. He did have a 30 game hitting streak though. It's hard to say where all the blame falls. I'm just glad they didn't get rid of Randolph. He's a good manager, made some mistakes but he's done a hell of a job otherwise. My vote is go for the youth, some fresh new pitchers. Cultivate Milledge, Chavez and some of the younger guys. I hope the Mets don't keep Glavine, Hernandez, Alou and our other aging players.

Mikey, New York, NY (Sent Thursday, October 04, 2007 11:10 AM)

I am glad the Mets did not fire Willie Randolph.  That would have been an overreaction and it would have meant firing a good baseball man, who is a proven winner, because a clearly deficient team failed to get the job done.  I don't think Omar Minaya should be fired either.  He has also done a great job in bringing the Mets to the brink of something special.  Now it is time for Minaya to step back and make some solid moves to give Randolph a team at least as talented as the 2006 Mets.  The 2007 Mets were not as good as the 2006 Mets and it showed down the stretch.  Minaya needs to make some big changes in order to give Willie a team he can win with.  1. Minaya and his assistants need to stay out of the locker room.  Their interference is totally uncalled for with a seasoned manager, who has the kind of pedigree Randolph has.  Randolph is a capable manager and can run his own clubhouse.  2. Minaya needs to improve the pitching staff. The pitching staff was a major concern for some sports analysts and fans coming out of spring training.  Miraculously that shaky staff managed to get the Mets into a position where they could have won 95 games if they had played decently down the stretch but the truth is that would have been overachievement.  The staff needs to get younger, get rid of the TWO 41 year-olds Glavine and El Duque from the starting row.  Keep Martinez, Perez and Maine and sign/trade for two new pitchers who are least bonafide starters and younger. Willis?  Santana is pipe dream.  3. Keep Rick Peterson. Look at what he did with Maine and Perez.  Both pitchers will not be as good without his continued tutelege.  Perhaps Peterson should lay off the pitch counts a little so the bullpen does not get worn out but that's an easy adjustment he can make.  4. Strengthen the pen.  Dump Mota and Schoenweis, even if the Mets have to eat some salary.  They need to get a new set up man.  Keep Heilman and Feliciano and Smith.  Move Wagner if you can get a better closer or keep him and get a set-up man that can also close in case he falters.  Francisco Rodriguez or Chad Cordero might worth looking into.  5.  Revamp the lineup.  Not enough pop this year. Keep Reyes, Wright, and Beltran.  Reyes needs to a kick in the butt and the manager and GM should sit him down this winter and talk about his problems.  Ask Delgado to get into better shape.  Let Castillo go.  Please.  He's did a good job but he's got shaky knees and is just a singles hitter. Get a second baseman with more pop.  Keep Alou, but he cannot be counted on to play everyday. Let him take on the Julio Franco role.  Sign an outfielder with some pop in their bat for the corner and let Alou platoon with one of the kids.  6. Trade Milledge at some point unless Willie and Omar can sit him down and get him to grow up and to listen. 7. Make David Wright the captain 8. Let Lo Duca go unless he absolutely cannot be replaced. If Pudge can be had, bring him in. No brainer. 9.  Willie has to discipline the team more and run a tighter clubhouse.  Bench Reyes if he does not run out ground balls.  Randolph may need to revamp the coaching staff.  10. Minaya needs be careful about signing too many latino players.  He has to make sure that he is not overdoing it.  Latin players are great but he does show a tendency to give too many of them chances at the expense of white players and black players.  He needs to be careful because the NY fans will jump all over him if he is being unfair.

Robby D, Brooklyn, NY (Sent Thursday, October 04, 2007 9:28 PM)

As someone who loves  statistics and delights in analogies, I can't help but think that while the '93 Giants/Braves comparison might indeed have been appropriate for the AL East this year if the Red Sox had been caught by the Yankees, it isn't so much for this season's Mets or Padres; Afterall, the Giants won 103 games in '93 and didn't so much blow it as much as the Braves came charging back(much like the Red Sox/Yankees scenario *almost* played out this season), while the Mets and Padres pretty much just folded, neither of whom won even 90 games.

Mark, Brookline MA (Sent Friday, October 05, 2007 12:09 PM)



SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.): 

 Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private)