In Defense Of Willie Randolph Or, Why It's Cool That The Mets Didn't Fire Their Manager

Either way the Mets went on the Willie Randolph question today, I was prepared to defend their decision. This was one thing about the end of the 2007 year that they couldn't really screw up.

As long as they didn't choose to replace Willie by bringing back Art Howe. Or Dallas Green. Or Jeff Torborg...you get the idea.


If Willie had gone, it would have been a perfectly reasonable reaction to the biggest collapse in baseball history. As I mentioned last night, when these things happen it can be and is sometimes absolutely necessary to make a change at the top, if only to say symbolically that things will be different next year in at least one regard. Head coaches and Managers often don't deserve to be the fall guys, but in these situations they become scapegoats for this reason.

And Willie didn't deserve to go. If the Mets had chosen to go in a different direction, though, I would have felt good about Omar Minaya's capacity to bring in a better replacement for Randolph, and that fresh face's capacity to lead the Mets next season.

But now that they've decided to keep Willie, I'm convinced this is the right decision, because I think Omar made it for the right reasons. Willie's a winner. It wasn't just Omar's personnel additions that turned this team around; Willie's no-nonsense approach for the first year, and cool confidence he projected last year transformed this team from a mediocre fringe contender at best to front-runners, the guys at the top, the team that was supposed to go the World Series the past two years.

And of course, we didn't make it. We rolled over in the NLCS last year, but I don't think it was for lack of heart, or passion, or even poor managerial decisions. Can't blame Willie for that one. Guillermo Mota, so reliable down the stretch, gave up that 2-run double to Scott Spezio. Steve Trachsel ate a bunch of you-know-what in game 3. Yadier Molina. Adam Wainwright. I still don't blame Beltran for strike three.

This year was of course a different story. No need to say anything else. Everyone knows what happened and everyone's stated their opinion as to why. Willie's to blame because he was stubborn, allowed his unwavering confidence to permeate the team in a negative way, and in a very Tom Coughlin-like manner, failed down the stretch to get his team to practice the focus and discipline he preaches.

Basically, we've seen the best and worst of Willie Randolph over the last two years. In 2006, the Willie attitude caused the Mets to play with a cool, superior swagger that won them games because unwavering faith in their ability to win made them play hard until the last out. I don't buy that anyone could have pulled off 2006 with that team. Willie set the entire tone for how they approached and played each game.

Somewhere between strike three and June 1st this year, the Willie attitude was corrupted. The Mets' cool, superior, swagger was replaced with an over-confident, superior sense of blind faith in their talented team that caused them to lose focus and assume everything would be alright even if they didn't play as hard as they could. The Mets got off track and in the end this attitude had infected them too much for the team to be able to regroup once they began collapsing.

In 2006, the Mets believed they were going to win every game as long as they played their game. In 2007, the Mets thought they could win every game just by showing up. Big difference. And we got what ended up happening as a result. Willie tried to guide us through it by saying and doing the same things as he did a year ago, but it didn't work because this year's was responding to his message completely differently.

"You guyyyyys that's not what I mean!"

Here's the thing, though - seemingly, at least, there's no way the Mets can possibly carry the '07 attitude into '08. They now know, hopefully, at least, that treating the season the way they did this year won't work. They're sure to return another talented squad next year, one that you've got to imagine will respond to Willie's message much more like the '06 team than this year's.

When your Manager's been given a second chance, the stakes rise. If Willie doesn't get the Mets back to the playoffs next year, he's gone. He knows this. The team will know this. You've got to believe that if there's any motivation on the part of the players, or any affection at all within the team for Randolph, that this will serve to bring focus and discipline back. And you've got to think that if anyone on next year's Mets has any pride, they come back and play a lot harder for whoever's at the helm.

This team is tainted, no doubt. Changes need to be made, and next year's team needs to look a lot different.

But I think that as much as this could have happened with a new manager, Willie Randolph himself isn't tainted. He can still lead this team.

Of course, the jury's still out on that one. In the meantime, though, I have full faith that the Mets can take the next step with Willie in '08 and beyond.

(Photos courtesy usatoday.com, tienmao.com)