Mets Fire Randolph-Even Though He Shouldn’t Have Been

I just woke up, but I feel that I should comment on this any way. The best analysis of the situation, and why the Mets are failing was done in the comments section on the post about it on one of my favourite blogs, The 700 Level. It was done by the anonymous poster J13 and re-printed here for your reading pleasure:

Their woes are not related to the manager – they’re related to that team’s complete lack of character. They don’t need a new manager, they need a heart transplant. They’re the New York Tin Men.

I don’t like Charlie as an in-game manager (although I loved the Rollins benching move), but more and more I’ve come to realize this – the reason why he works with this team is because the Phils are all heart. They all play hard, they are all incredibly motivated (see: Bruntlett or Victorino running over catchers, every single at bat by Chase, outfielders diving for balls, Chris Coste’s clutch hitting, Old Man Moyer’s grit, Rollins stealing second AND third to start off the last game of last season, etc. etc. etc.) – they don’t need Larry Bowa firing them up, they need a man holding the reins to pull back and steer. Charlie makes a lot of in-game moves that make me angry, but he’s clearly been great in the clubhouse, and is a first-rate mind when it comes to batting.

The Mets, on the other hand, have NO heart, save for a few guys (Wright, Pedro). They need someone to shove them into the breach, because they don’t do it willingly themselves. They have some fundamental problems with aging players, but to me the complete lack of character is the real problem. The phils, on the other hand, have for the past several years placed a higher premium on intangibles than on lazy numbers (although they clearly have numbers players, too, with the past 2 MVP’s and a strong candidate for this year’s top individual award).

If I were the Mets, the first thing I’d do is trade Reyes for value, because as impressive as his skills are he’s #1 on the heartless list, and I’d imagine they could get a mint for him. It would be like the Phils getting rid of Abreu – a bad move on paper, a great move on the field. I’d throw whatever I needed to give to the Pirates to get Nady, especially now that Church AND Alou are hurt. I’d hire a manager that yells a lot but is competent (Pinella-style), and clean house of anyone that didn’t fall in line.

The mets have a *lot* of movable pieces, that you could definitely get some value for so long as you them out to a lot of different teams. If I were them, I’d start moving those players and replacing them with talent that has a different state of mind.

So there you have it, a well thought out rationale, not that I want them to follow it…