While this might be Willie Randolph’s final day in charge of the New York Mets, Keith Hernandez, as quoted by Newsday’s Neil Best, takes a dim view of former teammate Gary Carter openly campaigning for Randolph’s job.
“I have great respect for Gary as a player,” said Hernandez, on Ch. 11 yesterday. “He’s a Hall of Famer. When Johnny Bench left the game, he was the premier catcher in the National League.
“But that being said, and I’ve kept quiet for such a long time, but for the people out there listening, just go in the dictionary and look up ‘unconscious’ and you’ll find a picture of Gary Carter.
“I know that’s strong, but it just happens too many times and it’s just, you’re walking around unconscious.”
Carter said in a Sirius Satellite Radio interview Friday that he reached out to the Mets when he learned Randolph’s job might be in jeopardy. He softened those comments Saturday in an interview with WFAN.
Before Hernandez’s shot at Carter, play-by-play man Gary Cohen said: “Regardless of what happens, you can’t be any more indelicate or graceless than Gary Carter was in saying the things he said about being available to take over the job. I just cannot believe that Carter said what he said.”
I’m gonna take a very wild guess. In the event Randolph is fired, the Mets are more likely to opt for someone whose managerial/coaching resume is slightly longer than one year in the Gulf Coast League and less than a week in the Golden League.
You’d at least want to hire someone who was semi-conscious if not fully awake. Someone should tell Keith Hernandez that Weekend at Bernie’s was not a documentary. George Steinbrenner aside, you actually have to have a pulse to run an MLB team. Perhaps he meant ‘unconscionable’ but that’s not as funny.