Willie Randolph

So for people who don't know, I am a huge NY Mets fan, I love them. I love sports in general and I have my other teams, the NY Knicks and the NY Jets, but the Mets have a big hold on me and I live and die with them. My father is big fan as well and we usually agree on most aspects and topics of the Amazin's season. Here is the thing, the Mets hired Willie Randolph 4 years ago, with no prior head coaching experience (his only managerial experience was a bench coach/1st base/3rd base and assistant with the Yankees). The great thing for Willie, is that the Mets also hired Omar Minaya as their General Manager at the same time and Omar gave Willie the tools to win the World Series. Omar went out and did what every NY GM should be doing with his owners money, spending it for the top talent he can get for the most money he can spend. Omar lured Pedro Martinez away from Boston, Carlos Beltran was ready for a big pay day and Omar gave it to him. He then brought in Billy Wagner for the cheap price of $43 million....Carlos Delgado came over as well and those guys joined the Mets talented young twosome of Jose Reyes and David Wright to create a real contender of a team in Flushing, NY. In 2006, the Mets came as close as one strike to going to the World Series. They won the National League Eastern Division and made it the championship series against St.Louis and Carlos Beltran struck out with the bases loaded in the final game. The Mets, although they didn't win it all, were back on top and winning, which was something they hadn't done for a while. But fans and media people began to question Willie's decision making when it came to managing the pitchers during the game, removing and inserting relievers when need be. He has been getting worse in my eyes, he has made so many bad decisions that they have directly cost the team wins. This season, 2008, things have not changed. Willie again is struggling to pull the trigger when a pitcher is getting roasted on the mound and he again is picking the wrong reliever to come out of the bullpen during crucial times in the game. He also has a really, really bad habit of acting completely delusional when he speaks to the media about the concerns for the team. For instance, during the "memorable and forgettable collapse" of last year (2007) Willie was constantly quoted as saying things like, "I think we are going to be fine" and "There isn't anything to worry about yet"....when in reality, the team had lost complete control of first place at the time and they were laughing and acting oblivious to what was going on. The Mets went from first to out of the post season picture in two weeks and their free fall was never taken responsibility for by anyone, especially our wonderful manager. This year, throughout Spring Training, some of the highly paid, older, players began to get injured and fans were fearing the worst. That Omar Minaya had lost his edge with managing the talent and their contracts and he made vital mistakes handing out bloated, long term contracts to guys who were looking like short term options. So when the media, searching for any answer from Willie, asked him about the injuries, his answer was "It's a long Spring"...... Thanks a lot Willie. Look, NYC is the toughest place to win or lose if you are a sports franchise, the Mets will always be second place to the Yankees until they show they can dominate like the Bronx Bombers did. But Willie has played and managed now for both NY teams and you would think he would be accustomed to the way things go on here, but, unfortunately for us, the fans, he hasn't. My hope for the future of the NY Mets is that they get a guys who has some passion, some energy, some valor, some maturity when it comes to taking responsibility and some more baseball management skills so that we can finally bring the ring to Flushing.