By MARK HALE, SAMUEL GOLDSMITH and DAN MANGAN
May 27, 2008
He's safe! For now.
A grim-faced Willie Randolph kept his job as manager of the floundering fourth-place Mets yesterday after meeting with the team's owners at Shea Stadium.
"Willie has a contract for this year, he has a contract for next year and I hope he'll be our manager for many years to come," general manager Omar Minaya said at a press conference. ."
But the absence at the press conference of owner Fred Wilpon and his chief-operating-officer son, Jeff, after their meeting with Randolph spoke volumes about how shaky the ground beneath the Mets' skipper remains.
Asked if the Wilpons had assured him he would remain on the job for the rest of this season no matter what happened, Randolph said, "No, they didn't say that."
But Randolph added that the Wilpons "have always been very supportive of me, and that's the way it came across to me today . . . I didn't come in thinking I was going to get fired."
Still, Randolph acknowledged his team's dismal on-the-field performance.
"The bottom line is, we haven't played up to our capabilities," he said.
In addition to losing seven of eight games, the Mets and their $140 million payroll - the highest in the National League - had a 23-26 record following last night's 7-3 loss to the division-leading Florida Marlins and were 6½ games out of first place.
The Mets began 2008 coming off a historic late-season collapse that kept them out of the '07 playoffs. Randolph did not help his status last week when he suggested that racism played a part in the criticism of him and that SNY, the Mets' TV network, portrays him as too laid back. His remarks - and subsequent apology - sparked speculation the team would give him the boot.
Minaya insisted that yesterday's meeting with the Wilpons at their insistence was because "they were disappointed in the comments and they wanted to be able to sit down with Willie and pretty much have Willie explain himself."
"Willie has my support, the support of our ownership," Minaya said. "Willie's job was never in danger going into this meeting."
But many fans were furious that Randolph had kept his job.
"I had a feeling they would keep him, but it's a bad decision," griped Cramer Pineman, 25, of Manhattan. "Randolph keeps showing that he's not up to the job."
Lara Meyer, 43, of Connecticut, said, "If I did my job as bad as Willie Randolph does his, I would get fired."
But other fans were glad to see Randolph remain in the dugout - if only for a while.
"Management is right to keep him around," said Mike Schaefer, 52, of Rockland County. "I have total faith in Randolph."
Dennis Lavorato, 48, said, "I wouldn't fire him. I say give him one more chance."
