Mets manager Willie Randolph has been under much scrutiny the past few weeks, dating back to when the Mets swept the Yankees at Yankee Stadium only to get swept by the Braves and struggle with the Rockies to complete the road trip. Randolph is the manager and needs to accept blame for the team that underachieves, but how much can he really do? The Mets have been riddled with injuries this season, Alou, Church, Pagan, Pedro, El Duque, Castro, Schneider, and Castillo have all missed significant time this season, and the Mets have been playing with the equivalent of minor league corner ofs (Nixon, Evans, Tatis, Aguila.) Also it needs to be noted that the Mets bullpen is absolutely deplorable! Until recently the only solid arm was Wagner. But getting from the starters to Wagner has been an adventure, just last week the Mets bullpen blew a game for John Maine, where he left a 5-1 lead only to see the pen blow it, Santana left with a 4-0 lead after 7 and the pen couldn't hold the lead. I do feel that Randolph does overuse his relievers constantly having many of his relievers pitch to 1 or 2 batters, which keeps there pitch counts low but having them warm up everyday is not good for them either. I think Minaya wants to keep Randolph around because if he does fire him and the new manager isn't successful then Minaya is the next to blame for building this team. If Minaya can keep Randolph around until the end of the season, and the Mets continue to struggle it is more likely the Mets would replace the manager and not the GM in the offseason. Besides bringing in a new manager to a mostly veteran club with many egos, could lead to an adjustment period for the players, and time is not something the Mets have, where keeping Randolph around, and hoping the Mets can get healthy and go on a hot streak might be the better plan. The Mets have a lot of money tied up in this team and can't afford to head into Citi Field next year with a losing team, but I don't think firing Randolph will solve their problems.
