Willie Randolph
Reports that the Mets plan to hire Willie Randolph to be the new manager are disturbing. Apparently all he needs to do is not completely botch his interview tomorrow.
The main problem with this is that Randolph has not even interviewed for the job yet. How can the Mets decide that he will get the job before even speaking with him?
Originally I wanted Randolph, John Stearns or Bobby Valentine to be the manager. Last week I posted that Randolph appeared to be losing momentum; that post was immediately followed by all the rumors that Randolph was the clear frontrunner.
Now that the Mets front office wants to hire him before even speaking to him, I have a bad feeling about Randolph. He reminds me of Buddy Harrelson, who was a beloved Mets hero before succeeding Davey Johnson as manager. Harrelson was also a nice guy with no managerial experience. Hiring a Yankees favorite to be Mets manager is sort of like the Rangers hiring of Bryan Trottier as coach, something that failed miserably.
That said, if Randolph blows Mets GM Omar Minaya away in his interview tomorrow, then by all means he should be hired. The interview process is designed to give a number of candidates a shot to articulate how they would turn the Mets around. That process should have included Stearns and Valentine, but apparently won't, even though mediocre outcasts are being brought in for reasons nobody can figure out.
Giving Randolph the job just because the Mets think it would be a good PR move is eerily reminiscent of all of the Mets mistakes and calls into question the notion that Minaya really has "full autonomy."
posted on 10/24/2004
