Not the first Mets’ mess in firing managers
Posted: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 9:21 AM
Watching chunks of Sunday’s Rangers-Mets doubleheader, I kept thinking of one person: Art Howe. Now the Texas bench coach, Howe, the Mets manager from 2002 to 2004, had to be grateful for being safely insulated from the madness that engulfed his successor from last September on. Yet he couldn’t help but look across the field into the Mets’ dugout and feel empathy for Willie Randolph, whom the Mets finally fired after their win last night over the Angels in Anaheim. News of Randolph’s firing along with that of the dismissals of pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto and the naming of Jerry Manuel as manager on an interim basis was delivered through a press release issued after the game.
The Mets treated Randolph in much the same manner as they did Howe in September of 2004. The scenario is ridiculously similar: a major New York newspaper “learns” that the Mets are seriously considering changing managers, competing media outlets race to find their own angle -- some without conscience hide behind the word “may” as they project a firing – and the manager is left unable to answer questions that never stop from the relentless and unfeeling New York media.
All of this happened to Howe before it happened to Randolph. Somehow, ownership’s feelings and meetings were “leaked” to a newspaper. For two straight days, the media cascaded into Howe’s office, asking questions that everyone, most notably ownership, knew Howe could not answer.
Finally, one night Howe snapped. He said that if ownership had made up its mind as to his fate, it should go ahead and fire him. A cynic would conclude that Howe played right into ownership’s hands as it interpreted Howe’s words as a “dare” rather than a “plea.”
Howe, as decent a man as I have ever met in baseball, was publicly humiliated in his firing and his subsequent acceptance of the unprecedented offer to finish the season as a lame-duck manager.
Anyone who cares about Randolph could only have hoped the ending would have been different this time. Mets’ ownership should exercise its right to determine employment with clarity and dignity, neither of which characterized the Howe firing or Randolph’s dismissal.
Perhaps what had not been forgotten by ownership were Randolph’s comments last month in which he suggested that he was portrayed on the Mets’ regional network telecasts differently than a white manager might be (two days after making the comments he apologized to Mets’ ownership, the television network and his players “for the unnecessary distraction” he’d created).
Perhaps it was those comments that kept him twisting uncomfortably in the spotlight for so long. Perhaps those comments were the reason why ownership was silent through direct quote but eminently heard through the “leaks.”
Perhaps that is why the latest leak says the decision on Randolph is general manager Omar Minaya’s and that the time-tested Mets method of dealing with adversity, firing coaches, is on the table.
All I know from my experiences of four years as a broadcaster around the Shea Stadium maelstrom is that this second episode of managerial limbo that the Mets seem to foster is harmful to the team. The players are floundering with no consistency and no spark. If that was on Randolph then his firing was a move that had to be made. But listening to games from Shea Stadium this past week, what stood out was the silence, the lack of energy from crowds of over 40,000. That silence may be the loudest statement on the state of the Mets.
In the end though I was stunned by some morning e-mails from Mets fans in New York who had heard the news while we Californians were asleep, the outcome is not surprising -- the Mets demand winning now and a sub-.500 record approaching the halfway mark of the season is unacceptable. But the method in which Randolph’s firing was conducted was so horrid that it neither needs nor warrants further comment.
During my four years as a Mets broadcaster, I was frequently stunned by the intensity of the booing at Shea Stadium. I believe strongly that any business must listen and weigh the reactions of its customers. When players like Armando Benitez and Roger Cedeno were booed for their mere presence, I felt they had to be moved to new teams. Well, the customers spoke loudly last Sunday and I wonder if that helped seal Randolph’s fate when he was vigorously booed at Shea Stadium during the doubleheader split with the Rangers.
I only hope those same fans remember how valuable Randolph was in 2005, inheriting a clubhouse in disarray and mired in massive negativity. I hope they remember how Randolph sparked a sluggish Cliff Floyd into a strong season, how Randolph masterfully handled Mike Piazza's farewell season, how Randolph massaged Mike Cameron when the Gold-Glove center fielder lost his job and how Randolph brought professionalism and pride to a team steeped in losing.
Sadly, the Mets have allowed themselves to be portrayed throughout baseball as weak and indecisive. Sadly for Minaya his promise of autonomy in running baseball operations has been compromised.
So here are my questions in the wake of Randolph’s firing:
1. Why does Mets ownership -- so committed to its standing in the community – allow itself to be portrayed as "heartless," "classless," "minor-league" and "Mickey Mouse" (all descriptions used on New York sports radio on Tuesday)?
2. What does ownership hope to achieve? Changing managers involves a new approach, something to trigger better performance. Jerry Manuel is bright, well-regarded and has his impressive credentials from his stint as the White Sox manager, but his calm, even-handed approach seems to offer no difference from Randolph. Is the hope that Manuel's ability to speak Spanish affords him better contact with a large percentage of the team?
3. When will the Mets address the obvious schism between Minaya's staff and the field staff? From 2005 the field staff felt undermined by voices from above -- not Minaya's? This organization has been too willing to participate in and tolerate leaks. That hurt Randolph's standing in the clubhouse. Manuel cannot suffer the same fate.
4. When will the Mets acknowledge the shortcomings of their team? Will they accept that Carlos Beltran can't and won't pick up a team on his own -- isn't that expected from a superstar?
Will they accept that Carlos Delgado is fading fast as a player and has raised concerns with his clubhouse voice, a sentiment echoed last month by closer Billy Wagner?
Will they accept that the need to rely on retreads to fill holes reflects a severe lack of talent in their farm system?
Will they accept their over reliance on the aged and infirm?
Will they accept that none of the above was a reflection on Willie Randolph?
FIVE MORE SWINGS
1. IT ISN’T JUST AT SHEA…where the pain of failure is felt. Washington swept Seattle at home, the M’s have lost seven straight at home and are four games worse than anyone else in the game. Yesterday the team fired general manager Bill Bavasi.
2. A DOSE OF HUMILITY…for the NL West, which has stunningly become the worst division in baseball. Arizona is in first place, yet has a poor 17-25 record outside the division. The Dodgers are seven games below .500 and hold second place. San Francisco has the worst home record in baseball and is only one game out of second.
3. THINGS A FORMER PLAYER NOTICES…During Sunday’s Rangers-Mets doubleheader Texas right fielder Milton Bradley threw out Mets catcher Brian Schneider at home plate. The throw easily beat Schneider, who calmly slid into the tag. My son, a former player with a brief stint in college baseball, immediately wondered why Schneider didn’t barrel into the catcher. An hour later, St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina was carried off the field on a stretcher after being blasted on a tag play at the plate.
My son was right -- about old school baseball. However, the game has changed in many ways at the big-league level. Fewer players are willing to risk injury by hammering a catcher. And a fellow catcher like Schneider carries some understanding for his peers.
Just remember the 2002 NLDS when Barry Bonds stopped short of home plate and allowed himself to be tagged out when the ball beat him easily. Bonds wouldn’t even produce a courtesy slide. And not a word of complaint was heard.
4. THINGS ARE GOING RIGHT FOR…the Cardinals, who even with the Molina injury took 2 of 3 from Philadelphia over the weekend despite the loss of Albert Pujols. The Cards are setting a fierce pace for the wild card (yes, 10 days from the halfway mark of the season, it’s valid to think of these things). And the Yankees finished a 5-1 trip to Oakland and Houston. The move of Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation hasn’t hurt yet although there will be nervous moments in the Bronx as Chien-Ming Wang’s injured right foot will keep him sidelined for at least 10 weeks.
5. SPRING BLOOMS FOR…St. Louis outfielder Ryan Ludwick and San Francisco closer Brian Wilson. Ludwick, a month shy of his 30th birthday, is thriving in his first full major-league season, fifth in the NL with 54 RBIs and helping fill the void left by the injury to Pujols.
Wilson has demonstrated every quality needed to thrive as a closer, albeit in the anonymity of a bad team. He rebounded from a walk-off piece to Pat Burrell last month in Philadelphia with a save the next night, the true baptism for a closer.
