May 27, 2008
MAYBE it is not the manager.
Maybe this is not about the leader as much as it is about the led. Maybe this is about something that looked good on paper, but is dispiriting in reality.
The most expensive Met team in history is ineffective, indifferent and in big trouble.
Willie Randolph is a lame duck, but the team he is managing is just lame.
After learning Randolph would not be fired - at least not yesterday - the Mets were inspired enough to again be the second-best team in a game. They lost 7-3 to the surprising first-place Marlins, who now lead the Mets by 6 1/2 games.
There certainly is enough season left to make up 61/2 games, remembering, of course, that the Mets blew a 71/2-game lead with 17 games to play last year. But it is becoming more and more difficult to envision this conglomeration of players rallying regardless of their manager's identity.
That is not only because the Mets are 23-26 through Memorial Day. It is because the Mets are now 79-83 over the last 162 games, the equivalent of a full season. That record cannot be simply explained by poor managing.
Without swift change, Randolph soon will pay with his job, sacrificed to the anger of the Wilpons and the fury of the fans. Those left in the chagrined Shea crowd chanted "fire Willie" in the ninth inning.
But when Randolph is gone, what will remain is these players, the team Omar Minaya built, a team that now is that 79-83 record and not the NL East favorites portrayed on paper.
Minaya and Randolph met with Jeff and Fred Wilpon for more than two hours yesterday, then Minaya and Randolph sat side by side at a late afternoon Shea press conference.
The Wilpons asked Randolph to explain his remarks last week in which he suggested that race might be playing a factor in his harsh assessments and that the Wilpon-owned SNY was purposely portraying him in a negative hue.
The other part of the meeting was left for Randolph to describe how he might get this roster to play more consistently and competently. Randolph has shown no gene to extract the best effort, and this roster has demonstrated no ability to rise to excellence on its own.
Minaya, ostensibly, came to the press conference to offer support for Randolph. However, he refused to endorse Randolph to manage the rest of the year, and kept suggesting the roster is of championship timber.
"I think we have championship talent," Minaya said. "There's a difference between championship talent and a championship team. But we do believe, and I think across the board if you talk to most people in baseball, we have championship talent."
The translation to that might as well have been: "I put it together well and Willie is managing it badly."
But has Minaya put it together well? The majors' oldest roster has played that way, with too many key injuries and too many diminishing performances, none worse than that of Carlos Delgado.
Minaya gambled Mike Pelfrey could handle the fifth starter's job, but Pelfrey lost his sixth straight decision last night. Minaya invested that Carlos Beltran was an indomitable star, when it turns out he is merely a very good player capable of turning Luis Gonzalez's flyball into a three-run double. Minaya was willing to build around Jose Reyes, but has a player inconsistent enough to homer twice and deliver a costly error, as he did last night.
The group overall is sick, and the manager - tepid support yesterday or not - will suffer the consequences if that persists. His successor, however, will get the sick team.
