Francona feels for Randolph

Manager's firing gives him pause

PHILADELPHIA - Terry Francona was sitting back in a chair in his office at Citizens Bank Park yesterday, trying to find the right words of support for Willie Randolph, who had been fired overnight Monday by the New York Mets.

Managers belong to a small fraternity, and when one gets fired, there's an outpouring of sympathy from their peers.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya has received a lot of criticism - and rightly so - over the manner in which he handled Randolph's dismissal and the issue of whether he's actually the person who bears the most blame for the demise of the team.

Minaya waited until the middle of the night in Anaheim, Calif., to send out a release informing the public that Randolph had been fired. Randolph said he was stunned. Minaya said it was a "tough decision" because Randolph is his friend and he had hired the first African-American manager in New York. He also said the decision to fire Randolph was his.

Managerial firings are never done with grace, but this one, involving one of the highest-profile franchises in baseball, was downright classless. Weeks of having Randolph hanging on by a string. Daily questions about whether he would survive. And finally the ax, after a win, 3,000 miles from New York.

"I wasn't there to see how it was done," Francona said. "You know what, way more often than not, the way you guys perceive it or the way it's viewed, whether it's a hard thing to do, they're trying to do it the right way. There's no easy way to do it.

"I know him. He's a great guy. I hope that he's OK. The hardest thing is going through it. Once it happens, well, it's over.

"It's been so public. I hope he doesn't take it too rough. But more often than not, people don't try to make you miserable. It's a very public job."

Francona knows the feeling all too well. He was fired by the Phillies on the final day of what would be a miserable 65-97 campaign in 2000. He was informed of the decision by GM Ed Wade in a Miami hotel room. Francona knew he'd been fired before he managed the final game of the season.

Wade took a lot of heat from the Philadelphia media, but Francona said the GM actually did him a big favor.

"He had me up to his room before the game, and I ended up staying to manage the game," said Francona. "It wasn't a great day, but the reason he did it is that he knew I had a golf tournament to go to the next day and he didn't want me to go off to four days golfing with this thing hanging over my head.

"I actually tried to tell people that, but they beat him up over it. He tried to do a hard thing the right way. There's no great way to do it. I appreciated that he made up his mind and did it."

While Francona didn't have a lot to work with in Philadelphia, the Mets have very talented players who aren't playing up to their potential. Randolph's departure is a sign of the turmoil engulfing a team many thought could be the best in the National League.

"I've known Willie Randolph for a long time," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, whose team edged the Mets for the NL East title last season as New York collapsed down the stretch. "He's been in baseball for a long time. He's a good baseball man. He'll be all right.

"The things you don't have control over, why worry about 'em? I'm sure he'll be fine. When you don't play well and you're having problems, there's a good chance you'll be under .500."

Asked whether the Phillies' rise might have contributed to Randolph's demise and whether he feels somewhat responsible, Manuel said, "Absolutely not. Absolutely not. If I had my way, we'd have beat 'em up by 20 games. This is dog eat dog."

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who has often verbally jousted with the Mets and Randolph over "being the team to beat," had a mild reaction to Randolph's departure.

"I don't know. It's not my team," said Rollins. "Red and white pinstripes, that's where my concern is."

Manuel said he doesn't agree with the notion that managers are hired to be fired.

"Everybody always says that's the way baseball goes, but I disagree with that because Walter Alston had 22 years of one-year contracts," said Manuel. "He lost, he had losing teams. I guess it comes down to what you want to do.

"I think if you look at it, evidently they were upset with the start they've had this year and that probably all started last year when the expectations were high."

Now Jerry Manuel, Randolph's bench coach and a calming figure in his own right, will try to pull off a Morgan Magic miracle. He's the interim manager, a tag that will be lifted only if he leads the Mets from the doldrums to the playoffs.

As for Minaya, sometimes the GM who does the firing winds up with the same fate.

While the Wilpons, who own the team, must be assessed much of the blame for the demise of the Mets, they have allowed Minaya to take the path he did in handling the Randolph situation. Now the shoe is on the other foot. The rest of the season will show whether Minaya is right - whether he has compiled a championship team that is simply underachieving.

Or whether he's compiled a team that really isn't that good.

The next person judged will be Minaya.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe