Randolph leads way for trio of skippers on firing watch

Three managers, three hot seats. And it's getting hotter:

Willie Randolph, Mets: Within this week's events Adventures with the Mets, which featured Randolph delivering a full-blown apology before Wednesday's game for having publicly wondered whether he was being held to a different standard than white managers, was this little nugget:

Willie Randolph added some heat of his own with his comments this week. (AP)

Before delivering that apology, which he said he was not ordered to do by anyone associated with the club, Randolph noted that he attempted to reach Mets owners on Wednesday morning but couldn't.

Now, while that's an Ollie Perez fastball down the middle just waiting to be clobbered when it comes to any number of jokes about the ineffectiveness of Randolph and his team, it's also completely telling about the current state of the Mets.

A big league manager reports directly to the general manager, yes.

But it's so unusual for a manager to pick up the telephone and call the owner, you'd think the skipper would have enough clout to get through the company voice mail system when he does.

Ominous sign in an organization that still hasn't shaken the drastic fallout of last September's epic collapse.

Randolph has had the backing of GM Omar Minaya throughout, but given the malaise enveloping his team -- poor clutch at-bats, lazy baserunning, shoddy defense, the general lack of inspiration -- this cannot go on much longer before some harsh changes are implemented.

Personally, I find it interesting that Randolph's comments came not much more than a week after the West Virginia presidential primary, in which an appalling one in five voters said in exit polls race influenced their decision. Some who were interviewed were very specific in saying they would not vote for a black man.

There is no question that we're still not nearly as advanced as we should be in this country when it comes to racial relations and how we sometimes view things -- especially in certain pockets on this land. But whether or not Randolph's perception concerning his own situation has even a hint of validity -- and I haven't watched SNY enough to know, but it's difficult to believe the Mets' own cable channel would carry racist undertones -- it was poor timing to bring it up at all while his club is, by unanimous consent, stuck somewhere between badly underachieving and just not very good.

Best replacement candidate (for now) if Randolph is fired: Jerry Manuel, who managed the Chicago White Sox from 1998-2003.

Ned Yost, Brewers: The Brewers angrily spent their off day in Pittsburgh this week attempting to diffuse a blog report that Yost would be fired on the off day (Monday) and replaced by bench coach Ted Simmons. That Yost remains employed and was managing the Brewers-Pirates series live and in person not only was a good thing for him personally, it also pretty much was a sad commentary on the recklessness of what passes in some quarters as "journalism" in today's new media.

There is no question that Yost will not be long for his job if he doesn't get things turned around -- likely sooner, rather than later. Eventually, it may even turn out that Badger Blogger (Badgerblogger.com) was right on Yost but wrong on the day.