NY Mets Owners Shame Themselves in Firing Manager

The owners of the New York Mets baseball team have proved themselves to be classless yahoos. Fred Wilpon and his son Jeff fired, or rather had general manager Omar Minaya fire, manager Willie Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first-base coach Tom Nieto. Naturally as owners, they can do as they please with their personnel. What is shameful is the callous and stupid way in which the sackings occurred.

Dan Graziano of NJ.com explained what happened as well as anyone, the Mets “flew Willie Randolph to the West Coast and let him manage last night's game even though they knew they were firing him win or lose. They flew GM Omar Minaya out to Anaheim to do it even though he'd publicly supported Randolph over and over again. Minaya didn't even go to the ballpark, instead hiding in his hotel room and doing it there - sending out a 3:14 am press release through the media relations department.” Firing by press release, how very cowardly.

Now, this is not to defend Mr. Randolph’s performance or those of Messrs. Peterson and Nieto in the last several months. The collapse of the Mets at the end of last season was perhaps the great example of choking that baseball as ever seen. And coaches as well as players were responsible. Had they been sacked after the season ended, no one could have complained. Additionally, the Mets inability to play .500 ball this year is sufficient cause, if one really believes it’s a manager problem. The fact that Mr. Minaya has hired the oldest roster in the National League is likely a bigger factor. Jeff Wilpon thinks he knows baseball inside and out, and those who know him and the game say he doesn’t – which is a dreadful thing given that he’s the chief operating officer. Still, one can’t fire the owner’s son.

So three cheers to owner of Georgi brand vodka, Martin Silver, who sent Mr. Wilpon five raw chickens and his four season tickets. The birds were not on ice. “The chickens portray [the Mets management] are chickens. The more they smell, the better,” he told Newsday. And a salute to Mr. Randolph who had the grace to say after this whole episode, “My heart is still with this team. I’m just disappointed I won’t be the one to lead them.”

What’s really disappointing is the Mets front office has made the Steinbrenner-run Yankees and the Dolan-ruined Knicks look like models of efficiency and professionalism.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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