batmagadanleadoff

This just in: Gary Carter said that if he was given the Mets managerial position, he'll never play the race card.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I don't have any opinion on the current version of Tim McCarver, but the guy who did the Mets games in the 1980's was the best thing since bacon in a box. And speaking of broadcasters coming out of the booth to manage, McCarver consistently received serious managerial offers while announcing the Mets until word finally got around that McCarver was not interested in managing a baseball team. I thought McCarver was a great Met announcer.

The New York Times also reported this story. ______________ Carter Has Eye on Randolph�s Job On �The Mike & Murray Show� on Sirius Satellite Radio, the former Met Gary Carter campaigned to replace Randolph. Carter, a Hall of Famer, is the manager of the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League. According to a transcript of the program, Carter said that when he heard of Randolph�s troubles, he �immediately� called Jay Horwitz, the Mets� vice president for media relations, and asked if he should call the team�s principal owner, Fred Wilpon. �I just want them to know of my availability.� Carter said. �I�m only a phone call away. I could be in New York tomorrow.� Carter referred to comments by David Wright about the team�s lacking spark. �You know my enthusiasm, and hopefully I would be able to bring that to maybe help turn that ball club around,� he said. �There�s way too much talent there for them to be a game under .500 and to lose four in a row to the Braves. I think that they�ve just become complacent in some ways ever since their demise of last year. And if you look at Willie�s record, it is right around .500 since June of last year. And when you have that much talent, there are a lot more expectations than where they�re at right now.� (NYT)

] Carter had openly campaigned for Art Howe's job as well while Howe was still at the Mets' helm. Carter also campaigned unsuccessfully for the 1986 NL MVP award and continued to do so even after it was awarded to Mike Schmidt, and even though Carter wasn't even the second best player on his own team that year.

]Carter had openly campaigned for Art Howe's job as well while Howe was still at the Mets' helm. Carter also campaigned for Keith's team captainship throughout all of the 1987 season. He campaigned by whining and sulking, and then by openly denying that he was ever interested in the thing whenever Davey Johnson would ask him directly. In the end, Carter was able to manipulate the situation to his favor by getting Johnson to finally give the big spoiled baby the captainship that he so jealously coveted (co-captainship, really) a year later without ever having to specifically ask for it.

Carter would love to take Shea reins as Mets manager BY ADAM RUBIN DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Friday, May 23rd 2008, 10:23 PM DENVER - Gary Carter, who is managing the independent Orange County Flyers, is again talking his way out of a job - a job that still belongs to Willie Randolph. Asked about his interest in managing the Mets on "The Mike and Murray Show" on Sirius Satellite Radio, Carter said: "Boy, I'll tell you what. I would love that, guys. When I saw that on ESPN today ... I got on the phone and I called (Mets VP of media relations) Jay Horwitz and I asked Jay, 'Should I try to call Mr. Wilpon?' If there is this going on I just want them to know of my availability. I'm only a phone call away, because my contract allows me to leave the ballclub. I could be in New York tomorrow, if necessary, because if there's anything at the major league level I can leave this job." Carter added: "The comments that David Wright made saying that, you know, there's no spark, there's no fire - if anything I would love to bring that to the table because you know me, guys, I love the game, have a great passion for it and you know my enthusiasm." Carter had openly campaigned for Art Howe's job as well while Howe was still at the Mets' helm.

What did Reyes do on the basepaths last inning? I missed that play.

Gwreck wrote: I would consider putting [Wagner] back out there if we take the lead in the 10th. Maybe Casanova could pitch. We have three catchers. And one outfielder. You know you're going bad when you're concerned about a Marlon Anderson injury.

I posted this in the new managerial candidates thread, temporarily forgetting that this (more appropriate for my post) thread exists. I have one theory (among others) that Willie's already done and that the Wilpons just need the time to finalize whatever contingency needs to put in place to replace the manager. The Wilpons strike me as very conservative people that would be deeply bothered by the idea that Randolph might have played the race card, even more so than others. If the Wilpons believe that Willie did in fact play the race card, than that might've been the last straw, barring some miracle. Under this theory, he's done. It's official. But it hasn't been disclosed yet. Under this theory, Willie would need SteveJRogers' 20 out of 25 game run to wriggle out of this one -- only he'd need to get these 20 wins over this weekend because he no longer has 25 games to fix (t)his mess. Under this theory, Willie needs to win 20 out of the next four games to save his job.

Frayed Knot wrote: Replay rules always work better in theory than in practice. Doesn't everything?

Rockin' Doc wrote: I know that Willie's days as manager of the Mets appear to be numbered. Personally, I don't see him being able to motivate and turn this team around. Willie certainly is not the game's best strategist, but he's not the architect of this mess. I think Omar needs to share in the blame for the disappointing mess that this season is rapidly becoming. I have one theory (among others) that Willie's already done and that the Wilpons just need the time to finalize whatever contingency needs to put in place to replace the manager. The Wilpons strike me as very conservative people that would be deeply bothered by the idea that Randolph might have played the race card, even more so than others. If the Wilpons believe that Willie did in fact play the race card, than that might've been the last straw, barring some miracle. Under this theory, he's done. It's official. But it hasn't been disclosed yet. Under this theory, Willie would need SteveJRogers' 20 out of 25 game run to wriggle out of this one -- only he'd need to get these 20 wins over this weekend because he no longer has 25 games to fix (t)his mess. Under this theory, Willie needs to win 20 out of the next four games to save his job.

I'm all for instant replay for those too close to call HR's/near-HR's. But the replay rule won't work as well when an umpire mistakenly calls a HR that shouldn't have been. In that instance, what do you do with the runners that might've been on base? I suppose that the batter will be credited with a ground rule double with all runners advancing two bases. But then the faster runners will claim that they could've scored had the play not been terminated by the botched HR call. And a fast runner (like our Reyes) might claim that he's been robbed of a triple. Umpires might be given the discretion to place baserunners wherever the umpires believe they would have reached had the play not been botched to begin with. I suspect though, that whichever team is on the short end of the umpires' discretion would be just as unhappy as Delgado and the Mets were earlier this week when Carlos was unjustly robbed of a legitimate HR. So even the proper use of instant replay won't clean up every botched HR call. In the grand scheme of things though, I suppose that the use of replay here would still be an improvement -- but it'll come with a new can of worms. Or perhaps --- in the event that umpires are given discretion on where to place the baserunners, replay might have the unintended effect of inhibiting umpires from calling HR's on those too close to call shots, once they realize that it's simpler to give back a HR than it is to deal with the messy situation of having to determine where to properly place the runners after reversing a mistaken HR call.

Nymr83 wrote: ]Perhaps it was when Carlos Beltran went down swinging for the last out of 2006 I could swear he went down LOOKING, way to get your facts wrong. yeah, i'm sure me and everyone else on this board has occassionally made a similiar mistake, but when you're a professional writing a column you just need to research things better. I don't know if I'll ever be able to read Marchman again. You should march on over to Marchman's house and beat the living shit out of him.

I think I'm safe starting up a new thread for this one. Marchman's no hack - he has a professional command of the language even though you might not agree with his views. And where else are you gonna stick this article? Don't answer that last one. The question was rhetorical. I know where I'd like to stick this. __________________________ Randolph's Mets Perilously Close to Rock Bottom By TIM MARCHMAN May 23, 2008 An honest question for readers of The New York Sun: What was the precise moment when this Mets team, by which I don't mean the 2008 edition but the Omar Minaya/Willie Randolph team more generally, ceased to be the hot new thing and became a flaming catastrophe? There had to be some exact transition; it's just difficult to narrow time down to a single, before-and-after point. Perhaps it was yesterday, when ESPN Radio reported that owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon refused to return a Wednesday phone call from Randolph, using Minaya as a go-between. Perhaps it was the day before, when Randolph had to apologize for accusing SportsNet New York � which not incidentally is likely worth more than the Mets, and in which the Wilpons hold a majority stake � of racism. Perhaps it was two days before that, when the Bergen Record ran the Ian O'Connor column in which Randolph compared himself to Isiah Thomas and instructed critics to judge him by his track record. Perhaps it was when Tom Glavine threw a ball into left field in the first inning of the last game of 2007. Perhaps it was last Memorial Day, since which the team has lost more than it's won. (This is presumably not the part of Randolph's track record by which he should be judged.) Perhaps it was when Carlos Beltran went down swinging for the last out of 2006, or minutes before then, when Aaron Heilman surrendered what would prove a season-ending home run to flyweight hitter Yadier Molina. However it breaks down, the shark has been jumped and the Mets are no longer your new bicycle. There was a brief time in which it seemed as if the Mets, with several of the best young players in baseball, a new television network, Citi Field on the rise, and shrewd, even-keeled management, could not possibly botch things up. There was also a brief time in which it seemed that Gregg Jefferies would join Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden in leading the Mets on a thousand-year reign of terror. In one case as the other, the natural order asserted itself, and the franchise continued its long history of agonizing farce. The worst thing about all this, of course, is that the team isn't even entertainingly dreadful, as the Jeff Torborg/Dallas Green Mets were, but rather relentlessly dreary, along the lines of Art Howe's clubs. If the Mets are doomed to follow a cyclical pattern of tantalizing success followed by miserable under-performance, as they have as long as I've been alive, the least they can do in the down years is be truly wretched. Luis Castillo and musings on SNY's camerawork are a long, long way from Anthony Young and threats to show reporters the Bronx. This team isn't even any good at being bad. At least in this last failing, though, there is an upside: The team isn't done for the year, even following on being dealt their traditional humiliating thrashing by the Atlanta Braves. They may look like they're swirling down the drain, but they still could win the division, the pennant, and the World Series. They might do so with Randolph managing the team. (At least this seems possible as of press time; events could dictate otherwise.) It is awfully hard to be very bad with David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and Johan Santana on your roster, any team that isn't very bad has a chance to win the pennant in this league, and any team that does that is an even shot to win it all. Baseball is complicated and mysterious, and almost no one really understands it. A World Series trophy is still at least possible, and it would certainly make talk of flaming catastrophes seem silly. Here, though, is a second honest question: Does anyone really believe that this team is going to do as much as win 90 games? That would require a .580 pace for the rest of the year, consistent with a 94-win pace over a full season, which is about what most observers thought they'd do coming into the year. It's a relatively modest goal for the best-paid and most talented team in the league, and yet seems completely out of reach. That says it all about the depths, though not yet perilous, to which the team has sunk. If a year ago some visitor from 2008 had described this state of affairs, I wouldn't have believed him or her at all. Given the team's age and Mets history, though, that would have been pretty foolish of me. One last question that everyone from the fan listening to the games on the radio this holiday weekend to the owners in their box should be asking is whether, just maybe, this team wasn't as good as everyone thought after all. You can blame a man for managing a 95-win team to a .500 record, and you can, and probably even should, fire him for it. What happens, though, if it was just a .500 team all along?

metirish wrote: I'm not sure if I heard correctly but I think I did , early in the game Gary brought up the comments Wright made about how the team is playing , I am certain he said that " they are the kind of comments that can get a manager fired" , anyone hear that? Maybe Wright would like to come up with two men on and nobody out in the first inning once in a while. And how is that supposed to happen with Willie managing? As soon as Reyes leads off a game by getting on base, Randolph goes into his robotic bunt invoking trance. Rey.........es is .... on ...... base. Mmm...uuuuuuuh..........ssssssss..........ttt......... buuuuuuuuuhhnt.

Well there's something we could agree on. I'm not familiar with Ruddick, but that piece was very hackish. Except for the part about Randolph being a moron.

*In this interview, Joe Torre never actually says that Willie Randolph is not a moron. But Torre doesn't say that Willie is a moron, either. And that's gotta be good for something these days. __________________________________ Torre feels for Mets skipper Randolph Dodgers manager weighs in on controversy in New York By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com LOS ANGELES -- Perhaps nobody can appreciate what besieged Mets manager Willie Randolph is going through more than Dodgers manager Joe Torre. "I feel bad for him," Torre said, responding to the ongoing controversy sparked by Randolph's recent comments that raised the issue of race in how he had been depicted by the cable network in which the Mets own a controlling interest. "It's a tough market," Torre said. "Willie is a good man, he's had success as a player and a manager. Unfortunately, with what happened last year, he's having to endure some things tough to endure. "People get caught up on both sides of the equation. He's under a great deal of pressure, as is [Yankees manager] Joe Girardi, as was I [for 12 years as the Yankees manager]. Maybe you're not as well-rested one day and you get a little cranky." Torre said Randolph, prior to his hiring as Mets manager, went on numerous futile interviews that satisfied MLB's requirement for clubs to interview minorities for managerial jobs. "He's gone through that and it's a frustrating exercise," said Torre. "He's had to deal with so much more than the rest of us. I feel badly for him." Torre knows the pressures of the New York fishbowl, but he said he's confident that Randolph wants to remain in his job. "As frustrated as he appears to be, I'm sure he doesn't want to change jobs," Torre said. "That's the excitement of that job -- the highs are high, the lows are low."

Randolph digging his own grave in New York By Chris Ruddick, MLB Editor (Sports Network) - It is not a matter of if the New York Mets are going to fire manager Willie Randolph. It is a matter of when. His asinine comments this past week with regards to race certainly did nothing to help his standing with the disappointing club. For those of you who may have missed it, Randolph wondered aloud to the Bergen Record's Ian O'Connor why Joe Torre never got hassled for his laid back style, something for which the Mets skipper has come under fire recently. "Is it racial?" Randolph asked. "Huh? It smells a little bit." When O'Connor asked him directly if he believed black managers were held to different standards than their white counterparts, Randolph expounded: "I don't know how to put my finger on it, but I think there's something there. Herman Edwards did pretty well here and he won a couple of playoff (games), and they were pretty hard on Herm. Isiah Thomas didn't do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good...I don't know if people are used to a certain figurehead. There's something weird about it." Randolph is a moron, plain and simple. It's a desperate move to pull the race card. I am almost embarrassed to admit that Randolph was one of my idols growing up. You know why Torre didn't take any heat? Because he won four World Series titles in five years. His team made the playoffs every single season he managed. Torre may not have shown a lot of emotion, but there was a quiet confidence about him that his team fed off of. It had nothing to do with the color of his skin. What exactly has Randolph done, other than choke in the NLCS in 2006 and guide his team to arguably the worst collapse in baseball history last season? Randolph also mentioned that coverage on the Mets' flagship television station SNY - which is owned by the team - was slanted against him. SNY may not be the Yankees' YES Network, commonly referred to as Al-Yankazeera TV, but claiming that the network is biased against him is absolutely ridiculous. It is almost paranoia at this point. I used to wonder why it took Randolph so long to become a manager. Now I know why. He is just not that good. There is a reason he was passed over for just about every job in the league. Maybe he doesn't have the temperament to be a big league skipper. Forget Herm Edwards, how about Randolph busting out the Isiah Thomas card? To quote a great man: Ya gotta be kidding me! Thomas ran what was once a top-5 NBA organization into the ground, making it the laughingstock of the league. Thomas could have been white, black, yellow, green, blue...whatever, he was going to get abused by media and fans alike. If you ask me, he has not been beaten up enough for what he did to the Knicks. Randolph can apologize until the cows come home, what he did was inexcusable. His excuse was that he thought his comments were off the record. Randolph grew up in Brooklyn and has spent just about all of his professional career - playing and managing - in New York. You can't convince me that he is not media-savvy enough to just leave that topic alone. The Mets should be better than they are, and appear to have taken on the identity of their manager. Randolph can compare his style to Torre's all he wants, but it doesn't fit with the Mets. They are not responding. Torre's Yankees did not need a rah-rah guy, maybe Randolph's Mets do. I am not saying he should become the reincarnation of Billy Martin, but emote a little bit out there. I know you can't call for a manager to be fired without having a replacement in mind, so I have one for you: Wally Backman. He is exactly the man to light a fire under this team. A lot of Mets fans never warmed up to Randolph simply for the reason that they still viewed him as a Yankee. As dumb as that may sound, it is true. You are not going to find many Mets more beloved than Backman, who unlike Randolph, has more than paid his dues in the minor leagues. Most people believe that another former Met icon, Lee Mazzilli, who works the Mets' telecasts, will be the guy if Randolph is indeed fired. But what evidence did he provide in his brief time with the Baltimore Orioles that he was a big-time, big league manager? Instead of going with a retread, hire someone outside the box. You don't get any farther out of the box than the fiery Backman. Backman would come with some baggage, of course. Backman was as hot as a managing prospect as there was a few years ago, and was even named the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks following the 2004 season. However, reports started to surface shortly thereafter that Backman had serious legal and financial problems, and the D'Backs fired him just four days after hiring him. Backman, who is currently managing the Joliet Jackhammers of the Northern League, has been blackballed by the league ever since, but a lot of people believe he's the best manager in baseball without a major league job. The last time I checked, it was three strikes and you're out. Backman is on strike one and something tells me he has paid his penance the last few years while toiling in the independent leagues. I am pretty sure there are plenty of other managers in the league that have made mistakes (See Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa, among others). If general manager Omar Minaya wants to light a fire under this Mets' team, bring Wally Backman back to Flushing. These things are cyclical. Sometimes a team needs Randolph's laid-back approach, and sometimes they need a "psycho" like Backman to get them going.

="Benjamin Grimm"]And Randolph hasn't returned my calls. I need to yell at him about Eric Heilman. Yeah, but have the Wilpons returned your reader's email?

Telling? Mets' COO Wilpon declines comment on Randolph Embattled New York Mets manager Willie Randolph apologized Wednesday for the "distraction" he has caused his team, but the silence that followed from the team's owners was deafening. While Willie Randolph tries to separate himself from comments he made in the Bergen Record, his team is flopping on the field. Randolph tried to reach out to the Mets' owners Wednesday, getting no response before he publicly apologized for the comments he made recently suggesting he was portrayed in a different manner than white managers. When asked why Mets ownership didn't return Randolph's calls, Jay Horwitz, the team's media relations vice president, told 1050 ESPN Radio's Andrew Marchand on Thursday that "Omar Minaya returned the call on behalf of Mets' ownership." Randolph and Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon usually speak often, which seems to make the Wilpons' decision not to return Randolph's call telling. Wilpon declined to comment Thursday when contacted by 1050 ESPN Radio. The Mets dropped their third straight game Wednesday night, losing 11-4 to the Braves to fall to .500 for the season. The team, picked by many experts to win the NL East before the season, is now mired in fourth place -- 3� games behind the first-place Florida Marlins. Before the Mets' latest loss, Randolph issued an apology Wednesday to team ownership, the club's TV network and his players "for the unnecessary distraction" he created with his comments to The Bergen (N.J.) Record that appeared in Monday's editions. Randolph brought up race when he questioned the way he has been presented by SNY, the team's TV network. "Is it racial?" Randolph was quoted in the story. "Huh? It smells a little bit. � I don't know how to put my finger on it, but I think there's something there." Before the Mets played the Braves on Wednesday, Randolph began by saying, "I just wrote down some notes I want to share with you guys." "First of all, I want to apologize to the Mets ownership, SNY and my team for the unnecessary distraction that I created, that I caused the last couple days," he said. "I shouldn't have said what I said. It was a mistake. As simple as that. It was a mistake. "And there is no excuse for that. No excuses. I own up to it. The fact of life is that we haven't been playing very well as a team. We've been very inconsistent. We've talked about that before. When it happens, you're going to get criticized for that. I understand that." Randolph said he wasn't asked by Mets management to issue the apology. "It's been a tough couple months for my team, for myself," he said. "I understand that goes along with that. I've known that for a long time." Mets infielder Damion Easley said Randolph's comments had not caused a stir in the clubhouse. "I didn't feel like it was a distraction," Easley said. "I only know bits and pieces. It doesn't change the fact that we've got to play better baseball and the sooner the better. So as far as creating a distraction, I didn't feel like that was a distraction." Pressure on Randolph, which began with a late-season collapse to miss the playoffs last year, has increased. "I take full responsibility for what I said out of frustration and hope that we can put a close to this matter and focus on winning a lot of baseball games," he said. "That's what we're here to do, win a championship." When asked if his opinion of the way he has been portrayed by SNY has changed, Randolph said, "Yes. Yes. Again, those guys have a job to do. They get paid a lot of money to do their job. What I feel about that is really not important. At the time I voiced that opinion, again, that was out of frustration. "What I said was what it felt like to me. I feel bad about how this has come about."

Benjamin Grimm wrote: ="soupcan"]His mom is Puerto Rican and his dad is Jewish. http://lavieenrobe.typepad.com/la_vie_en_robe/images/2007/11/30/fro.jpg He looks like Harpo and sounds like Chico.

metirish wrote: Doesn't Tommy not know that it's not Mikes choice. I could be wrong, but my understanding is that the HOF has the ultimate say. However, the HOF will consider the inductee's request, and in a very close case, might even allow the inductee to decide for himself. This would be the case, where there are more than one acceptable choices.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That's a really evil idea. You wanna know what's even eviler? Saying that Barry's better than Willie was.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Barry. And he can have his #24 too, for all I care. It ain't retired, and it doesn't appear that it will be. Hey Lunchbucket: There's your next web-article!

Barry. And he can have his #24 too, for all I care. It ain't retired, and it doesn't appear that it will be.