Way to take responsibility for the biggest Mets P.R. disaster since Vince Coleman’s M-80 parking lot party, Fred.  ESPN 1050’s Andrew Marchand claims Mets owner Fred Wilpon has characterized last night’s firing of Willie Randolph as “Omar’s decision”, helpfully adding, “you’ll have to ask Omar about that.” While Newsday’s Wallace Matthews makes a compelling argument the Wilpons’ treatment of Randolph was even scummier than the Knicks’ dismissal of Don Chaney, no one is more saddened today than persons who unlike Wally, don’t actually relish the Mets going into the toilet.

Did it really all go to hell in a cab in Miami? Was Duaner Sanchez really the linchpin of this operation? Did one dopey trade after another have to be made to get to October only to have October crumble while the bats went cold and unswung? Couldn’t anybody get anybody to run to first? To give a damn?

Did Willie Randolph, who was never anything but Willie Randolph when he was hired, when he was maintained and when he was fired, really have to be kept hanging on after the worst September performance anybody’d seen since Poland’s in 1939? Was it necessary to parade Willie to a microphone in early October 2007 to confirm that a man with a contract was still employed? Did it have to be top priority for the New York Mets to look like they knew what they were doing instead of actually knowing what they were doing. – Greg Prince, Faith & Fear In Flushing

Instead of learning from the Art Howe debacle, among others, the Mets organization destroyed any credibility it had left.  What was the purpose of sending the entire staff on a cross-country flight – the night after a doubleheader, mind you – to axe them the next morning after a win?

I’ve wanted Willie out for a long time – but this organization is a joke.  How do you explain making the biggest decision in years when 90% of your fan base is counting sheep?  The mismanagement and laughable decision making that goes on within this ball club has reached new heights.

Midnight firings?  Minaya still having a job?  I’d say the rest of baseball is laughing at the Mets, but I really think there’s just one huge collective cringe going on at this point.  Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 New York Mets!  What a fucking joke. – MP, Ketchup On Your Ice Cream

It™s becoming the old M. Donald Grant days all over again all we now is for Jose Reyes to get gaught boffing an underage school in a van (a la Cleon Jones) and trading David Wright to the Cincinnati Reds. I can’t wait to hear the line of bullshit that will be served up at 5pm today. – Steve Keane, The Eddie Kranepool Society

The Wilpons have allowed Omar Minaya to build his team, and have given him millions of dollars to build an organization.  He has repaid that trust by building an imperfect roster, hiring a incredibly divisive assistant in Tony Bernazard who lacks even the minimal skills to perform his duties (and whose lack of skill and decorum in dealing with the media is legendary), and who has undermined the manager on many occasions.

The same GM and front office (and media) who say they are wary of Waly Backman’s œunprofessionalism and discount his obvious expertise at developing young (and cheap) talent, are now not pointing the finger at an organization that has built their farm system around cronyism.   So, a bare system with completely untradeable chips (sans Fernando Martinez) at the deadline (and you can’t count this year’s draftees until they play, so spare me) for the upcoming trade deadline is a result of what? Bad management. Across the board. – Mark Healy, Gotham Baseball

Make no mistake – Willie Randolph isn™t the right man for this job. He never really was. He is far too passive to be leading a clubhouse full of egos and fragile personalities. He wafted smoke where these men needed fire. He gave reassuring pats on the back when asses needed to be kicked. We needed brute, honest strength, and he gave us limp tales of fortitude and resolve.

Willie was very much into excusing the past instead of explaining it, and making promises that no one believed they could live up to in the first place. Randolph™s post game mantras of œ¦we battled, œquality innings, and œpositive signs were never going to work with the NY faithful. Too trite¦too loose¦too meaningless for anyone who ever picked up a ball or watched a game.

n the end, we all know that the real blame lies in the front office ” the men who deemed it appropriate to sign a broken second baseman to a ludicrous four-year deal, when a young, healthy Orlando Hudson will be a free agent next season. These are the men that continue to pay large sums of cash to Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez and Pedro Martinez – three guys who have played somewhere between 15-20 games this season. Total. – Brad Bortone, Bugs & Cranks