This morning, at 3:15 am EST, the New York Mets fired Willie Randolph after an embarrassing month and a half of spin and indecision by the Mets’ front office. Randolph’s firing is understandable (though I feel they should have given him at most to the end of this season) as the Mets squandered their NL East lead last year and stumbled out of the gate this year. While Randolph is not playing the games, he is responsible for the overall performance of the team; he did not do what he was hired to do and was justifiably fired. However, the way in which all of this was handled by the front office makes me wonder if NY Mets fans can fire the front office and ownership for their shoddy performance over these last few years, capped off by the poor manner in which they handled Randolph’s firing.
Matthew Cerrone from Metsblog.com(my favorite blog, by the way) cites Buster Olney from ESPN’s Baseball Tonight as saying (click here for Cerrone’s post):
“I think this entire situation has illuminated a cultural problem that the Mets have had for years, for decades. They basically have a lot of infighting and back-stabbing and some times it takes the form of anonymous quotes in the newspaper. One classic example from the last year is that, it’s an open secret, that Willie Randolph has issues with Tony Bernazard, who is the Mets assistant GM, and the Mets never really solved this…It’s just one of those things that seem to fester in this organization.”
Olney has also written a post on his blog (click here; however, it’s ESPN Insider, so you’ll need a subscription) in which he describes the culture of the Mets’ front office and their past bumbles of previous GMs and managers. What stands out from Olney’s post is how the Mets organization is characterized by back-stabbing, rumor-spreading, politicking and news leaks – a lot of leaks. While this may occur in every organization, it appears that it’s exceedingly worse and rampant in the Mets’ front office. The firing of Randolph, then, is no surprise taking into account how Fred Wilpon and gang have acted in the past; rather, it’s only natural for an organization built upon the authoritative word of the head-man and the eager affirmations of his yes-men, and ran on rumors, back-stabbing, and news leaks.
So, Mr. Wilpon, let me be the first to say: “You’re fired.” But, only after I’ve spent a month and a half waffling over the decision, putting spin on my answers to the media, announcing a pseudo-vote of confidence for you and your office, and ending with an announcement at 3:15 am EST (while everyone is sleeping, of course) of your demise.
***UPDATE: I’ve written more on this now with some distance put between the time of the firing and now:
Click here.***
Filed under: Mets, current events, sports | Tagged: Fred Wilpon, Mets, Metsblog.com, New York Mets, NY Mets, Willie Randolph
