It has been a long wait for the last Mets manager to be fired and then find his way back into another major league dugout. For Willie Randolph, the ending still lingers: the abrupt firing in California, then no second shot to manage in MLB.
He was dismissed by the Mets with a .544 winning percentage, carrying a reputation for teams that faded and fell short in the postseason. That isn’t all on him, but the absence of another major league managing job has defined the aftermath.
That pattern is not exactly rare. Among the last ten managers who were fired or otherwise removed from their posts, only two eventually landed another major league managerial job.
Jeff Torborg was one of them. Fired in early 1993, he later finished the 2001 season with the Montreal Expos and then opened 2002 with the Florida Marlins.
He was let go early in 2003, before the Marlins made their run to the World Series. After Torborg, just one more former Mets manager would get another chance.
That exception was Bobby Valentine.
Valentine took over for Dallas Green on August 26, 1996. Green had been the man before him after Torborg, and his run did not amount to much.
Valentine was different. He became one of the more respected managers in franchise history, posting a .534 winning percentage in the regular season and leading the Mets to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons in 1999 and 2000.
The Mets had never done that before, and have only done it once since.
He remained in charge through 2002, but it would still be another 10 seasons before he managed in MLB again. In the meantime, Valentine went back to Japan to manage and also worked in the ESPN broadcast booth. Then, in November of 2011, the Boston Red Sox hired him to replace Terry Francona.
That job proved brutal. Boston went 69-93, and the .426 winning percentage was the club’s worst since 1965, when the Red Sox went 62-100 in the only season worse than Valentine’s.
The firing ended up being the right call for Boston, which went on to win the World Series the next year. For Valentine, it was the last time he managed in the big leagues.
Across 16 seasons as a major league manager, Valentine reached the playoffs only twice and never finished first. His Texas Rangers tenure from 1985 to 1992 was steady but unspectacular, ending with a .490 winning percentage.
His Mets run was much better, but even that finished with 75 wins and a fifth-place finish in a five-team division in 2002. The Mets moved on to Art Howe, and what came next was something they could not have been ready for.
In Other News...
Mets Game Turned Into A Brewers Message To Cooper Pratt
A midgame benching is never subtle, and Brewers manager Pat Murphy made the point loud and clear with rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt. The issue was effort and execution on a play, plus a missed bunt attempt after a sign was on, and Murphy used the moment to reinforce how Milwaukee expects its young players to handle the details that often decide whether they stay on the field.
Pratt did not dodge responsibility, acknowledging the mistakes and saying he needs to improve both his hustle and his attention to what the Brewers are asking for. Murphy, for his part, said he believes in Pratts character and treated the whole episode as a teaching moment, which is usually how teams prefer these lessons to land even when the message is delivered the hard way. [Read more 🡒]
Mets May Have Missed Something Big With David Peterson
Freddy Peralta has had a rough introduction to Tampa Bay, and David Peterson has looked more settled since moving on from the Mets. While Peralta has stumbled to a 7.17 ERA in four starts with the Rays, Peterson has posted a 3.93 ERA over 50.1 innings with the Cubs, a stretch that has come with the benefit of sharper defense behind him. For the Mets, it is the kind of comparison that naturally invites a little second-guessing, especially when a pitcher seems to find cleaner results shortly after leaving Queens.
Petersons turnaround does not prove the Mets got everything wrong, but it does keep the conversation alive about whether context helped shape his uneven run in New York. The larger question is whether the teams handling of these pitchers, and the support around them, played a part in those inconsistent performances. For a club always trying to balance development with immediate results, that is the sort of thread that can linger long after a trade is made. [Read more 🡒]
Carson Benge Has Put The Mets In A Surprising Award Race
Carson Benge has gone from a quiet part of the Mets future to one of the more intriguing names in the National League rookie conversation, and the timing has only sharpened the focus. Since May 1, he has taken a clear step forward at the plate and in the field, giving the Mets a boost that has shown up in their recent winning streak and making him look less like a long-term project than a player already influencing games.
The Rookie of the Year picture is starting to get crowded, with Benge now in the mix alongside teammate Nolan McLean and other rising names such as Cincinnatis Sal Stewart and St. Louiss JJ Weatherholt. Interim manager Andy Green said both Benge and McLean have legitimate cases, and there is even a little extra incentive attached for the Mets if one of them finishes the job, since an award win would bring the club an additional draft pick. [Read more 🡒]