Divine Secrets of the Minaya-ya Firehood
Today the LA Times got to jump on the Willie Randolph firing story, as it happened out here, far from New York. One of my favorites lines in Bill Shaikin's column was this:
"I don't believe in firing a manager at the game, in uniform," [Mets GM Omar] Minaya said. "That would be more disrespect."
What he failed to say was, "And I simply want to disrespect Willie, not provide him with more disrespect. If the Mets aren't going anywhere, then I figure he shouldn't be able to coach in the All-Star game either. Which just happens to be in New York. Come to think of it, the most disrespect would be to fire him out of uniform, as it's unseemly to fire a naked man. Although Willie did tell me he once had a dream of being at the game out of uniform, as it were, but I told him that as long as he had a Damion Easley to play leftfield and bat fifth he'd never be naked."
Minaya also reported that now that the Mets also fired pitching coach Rick "The Genius (If You Spot Me Hudson, Mulder, and Zito)" Peterson, he was consulting with Bud Selig's office to see if he could get the Victor "The Other" Zambrano for Scott Kazmir trade revoked. The Mets' beleaguered, but still employed, GM said, "By my watch, Peterson had well over ten minutes to fix Zambrano, and since he couldn't do it within his own self-imposed time frame, and since he isn't our coach anymore, we deserve something."
Indeed, there is something Minaya deserves.
"I don't believe in firing a manager at the game, in uniform," [Mets GM Omar] Minaya said. "That would be more disrespect."
What he failed to say was, "And I simply want to disrespect Willie, not provide him with more disrespect. If the Mets aren't going anywhere, then I figure he shouldn't be able to coach in the All-Star game either. Which just happens to be in New York. Come to think of it, the most disrespect would be to fire him out of uniform, as it's unseemly to fire a naked man. Although Willie did tell me he once had a dream of being at the game out of uniform, as it were, but I told him that as long as he had a Damion Easley to play leftfield and bat fifth he'd never be naked."
Minaya also reported that now that the Mets also fired pitching coach Rick "The Genius (If You Spot Me Hudson, Mulder, and Zito)" Peterson, he was consulting with Bud Selig's office to see if he could get the Victor "The Other" Zambrano for Scott Kazmir trade revoked. The Mets' beleaguered, but still employed, GM said, "By my watch, Peterson had well over ten minutes to fix Zambrano, and since he couldn't do it within his own self-imposed time frame, and since he isn't our coach anymore, we deserve something."
Indeed, there is something Minaya deserves.
Labels: mets
posted by George at 2:57 PM
4 Comments:
I was waiting on this post, George. So are you saying that Minaya deserves it more than Randolph? No one got on these gents when they brought in their sulking superstars (I mean Pedro, Beltran, Santana). Isn't it precisely these guys who sulkingly underperform?
I don't understand what the players have against Randolph, one. Does Minaya have more leverage now?
A St. Louis fan who still can't believe Wainright got Delgado on the 12-6.
First, Wainwright got Beltran with that called strike.
Second, there's plenty of blame to go around with the stinkiness of the Mets. Randolph wasn't the best manager--if any group needed someone with more fire it's this bunch--and tactically he was mediocre.
Minaya, on the other hand, has made some fine moves (getting Maine for Benson, say, and signing Johan I'll defend as worthwhile for a big market team) but more bad ones, and the bad ones have always been biggies. The worst part is he never has a plan B. And when plan A is often someone close to 40, that's just asking for disaster.
Simply put, he has no sense about the value at the margins, the kind of thing the Padres, for instance, do pretty well, which is why they have Heath Bell now. It's not all about big moves, even when you have the money to make big moves. Not that Minaya has ever known anything but high stakes drama--you think the Nats might like Sizemore, Lee, and Phillips back for Bartolo Colon?
Ultimately, firing Randolph when they did is the big mistake, and in the way they did, which was classless.
I knew it was Beltran even as I wrote it, but I had to leave it like that (and not look it up, easy enough) because I guess I've always liked Beltran, and identified with him standing there, staring at that 12-6.
But really, is firing someone who is not that good (I'm taking it on your word now) that big a mistake? The evidence for playing the margins is all over the league (right here, ahem, in St. Lou), not just San Diego. Interesting that it was Manuel they hired; as if the bosses refused Minaya the privilege of doing a national search. Either Manuel succeeds or. . .
Jeff, I'm really not defending Randolph, I'm attacking Minaya and the Mets ownership. Baseball Prospectus has shown that the mid-season change rarely helps a whole lot, so it's just dumb business.
Post a Comment
<< Home