Firing Willie …
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- June
- 14
I spent a good part of this afternoon writing about the Mets firing Willie Randolph in preparation for what seems like the inevitable. If not now, then after the season should the Mets not make the playoffs. It’s such a miserable story to write.
No, Randolph is far from a perfect manager, but the Mets are a better team now then when he took over. He should get some of the credit.
I can’t see the Mets pulling the trigger on Randolph during the season for the following reasons:
-Who is better out there? Let’s forget Bobby Valentine. Buck Showalter, maybe. But seriously, what’s an interim manager going to accomplish?
-I would think paying Randolph not to manage would be distasteful for the Wilpons.
-As bad as the Mets are playing, they are still within distance to make a run. Maybe improbable, but not impossible.
-Firing Randolph exposes Omar Minaya and the team he put together. Let’s call it as it is. This is Minaya’s team. It’s loaded with aging, injured, unproductive and expensive players. Their window was 2006.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 at 3:04 pm by John Delcos.
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I'll bet you a stack of Bob Evans pancakes that you're wrong about this.
so JD, what are the chances of Omar being removed? Willie can only play the guys that Omar gives him. I think if Willie goes, Omar should go too
Great work, and absolutely right on where responsibility lies for the broader architecture of the teams. I took a look at the ages of the starting team in New Orleans last night; at least half the team was 30 years old and, I believe, no one was under the age of 26.
That's as good a definition of a bankrupt minor leagues as I could offer. The contrast with the Red Sox, who seem to draw an inexhaustible supply of young talent even as they have expensive free agents and veterans, is not pretty.
And this is all the province of the GM. Keep up the good work. I'm a daily journalist in NYC, and it's very much the responsibilty of writers to keep questioning authority, notwithstanding the carping of gutless wonders.
Average age, 2008:
New Orleans Zephyrs 28.8
Pawtucket Red Sox 28.0
Tiffany,
I want to thank you for exposing another uninformed, semi-dishonest "daily journalist." Mr. Powell, apparently, is still looking for the WMD.
JD, your point about Wilpons not wanting to pay Willie if he is not here is right on the money. They just don't pay people for not working.
I'm not crazy about the idea of firing Randolph but you have to remove obstacles that prevent the team from winning. Right now much of the talk is about this subject and it could be affecting the team. I saw this happen in early 1990..Davey Johnson's status became so debated that I couldn't listen to WFAN except for Bob Murphy's pregame. The season is not gone yet. They are only 6 1/2 out of the wild card and none of the teams in front strike fear into me. But the Wilpons have to decide quickly. Either replace him or loudly tell people he is manager the rest of the year no matter what.
Randolph gets credit for not being Art Howe. When he was hired I shook my head in amazement like I did when Jeff Torborg was hired "What are these guys thinking?"
you know, the mets may not have had number one picks because of the FAs but they have had a number of PICKS. Other teams draft good players in their top 20. Omar has NO EXCUSE!!! The majority of players in this league are not first rounders.
Pawtucket's median age may be high now, but when you look at the talent that the Red Sox have been able to draw upon in the last year, only a fool would argue that the systems are in any way similar.
We have no one at Triple A, pitching or hitting, who offers the prospect of a real upside. At Double A, Carp gives some hope, as does Murphy. But F-Mart is injured for I believe the third time in three years. Further down, it's pretty barren, and we seem to have a bad tendency to rush players.
The elementary fact is that teams like the Red Sox have built from inside and from outside. I'm a tribal Met fan but the Yankees are taking an intelligent approach to that as well, even if their owner's patience may run out before it bears fruit.
As for WMD, you can't really be as stupid and kneejerk as that sounds, right? I say I'm a journalist and therefore I was in favor of this insane war? So cool. Subtle, really really nuanced analysis.
Not to beat a dead WMD, but even after pulling up Buchholz and Lester and Masterson, not to mention a pretty damn good relief pitcher in the last few years, the Red Sox have the # 2 rated system in the nation, according to Baseball America.
And altho,yes, the Pawtucket team now is long in the tooth, they have two younger and genuine prospects, Chris Carter and Brandon Moss. And a third, infield prospect Jed Lowrie, was just called up.
Look at the folks we've called up: Tatis, Raul C., et al. There is no such analagous talent in New Orleans. And, while I like Omar, that responsibility falls squarely on him. Willie Randolph can only manage the talent he has …
Mikey—Your points are all well taken. But if we're going to look at this fairly, then we have to consider the Mets' organizational philosophy of keeping their best prospects at AA and using AAA as a holding pen for insurance policies. That philosophy, in and of itself, is going to skew the numbers and, by extension, the talent pool at the AAA level.
The Mets' AA affiliate has the youngest team in its league and boasts five legitimate prospects in Martinez, Carp, Murphy, Evans and Niese. (Eddie Kunz, last year's top draft pick, could count as a sixth prospect, but he's been less than overwhelming to date.) Of note, all of their top performers are 23 or younger. Moreover, most of the Mets' top prospects of late—Wright, Reyes, Gomez, Pelfrey—have either jumped directly from AA or took a brief detour to AAA. Organizationally speaking, AA is where the action is for Met prospects. And, anyone focusing on their AAA team without acknowledging this organizational philosophy is doing a disservice to the Mets and to themselves as baseball luminaries, prognisticators and psychics.
Point well taken
Except …
Overall, none of the reliable analysts of the minor leagues rate the Mets organization highly; almost all rank the Red Sox very highly. I use the Red Sox not because I'm a fan of the team, particularly; I just admire the way they have integrated very expensive veterans and terrific young talent. The influx of young talent into their pitching staff, in particular, is striking.
Second, I suspect that you're describing reality rather than a philosopy. That is, our minor league system is pretty barren and so to the extent we have talent, it happens to have collected in Double A. I very much doubt there are many scouts who would recommend bringing Niese or Murphy to the majors without puting in a year at Triple A. Carp might-
MIGHT-be an exception, if this .360 of his is real. He didn't show signs of this last year; then again, he's 21, so maybe this is one of those leaps talented players make … we can hopeThey rushed Milledge because they had no one else, and he never had a chance to dominate Triple A and arguably that set him back. Gomez would have spent most of last year in Triple A but for the fact of his injury. Pelfrey, to my mind, clearly could have used a confidence building year in Triple A, rather than bouncing up, down and around.
So, again, I suspect this is more reality intruding than a philosophy.
As well, there's a real danger in not letting players experience great success. That's why most organizations DON'T rush prospects like F-Mart. They'd rather have the prospect dominate Single A, with all the confidence that engenders than struggle at a too high level, with the risk of injury and loss of confidence. The Mets are betting otherwise—I hope they're right. But as of yet there's not a lot of evidence (No, check that. Reyes made that jump if memory serves, and it worked. And long ago Strawberry did the same. But those are rare birds. The Carp's and Murphy's of the world typically progress on stage at a time)
But I'd be the first to say this all debatable
It's a philosophy. The Mets believe AAA is akin to minor-league hockey: Populated by frustrated has-beens whose hostility towards young prospects makes for a bad environment.
Ask yourself this question: When's the last time they left a bona-fide prospect at AAA for a full season? They don't do it.
Nevermind firing Willie. Get rid of Sandy Alomar, Sr who's gotten more players thrown out at home than Meatloaf!