OPINION

By Richard Justice

updated 6:10 p.m. ET June 17, 2008

Now that the New York Mets have fired manager Willie Randolph, it will be general manager Omar Minaya walking the plank the next time the team goes looking for a scapegoat. Minaya is at least as responsible for this $138-million mess as Randolph. Here's hoping his bosses treat him better than the way he treated Randolph.

This franchise's problems begin at the top, with Fred and Jeff Wilpon. There is apparently all kinds of organizational backstabbing going on, and those are the kinds of things owners are supposed to take care of.

Jerry Manuel, a low-key, decent man, will now be given the task of doing what Randolph couldn't.

He'll try to get Jose Reyes interested. He'll find out if Carlos Delgado has anything left and if Billy Wagner is still capable of being a first-rate closer. He'll find out if David Wright is capable of getting a clutch hit.

While he's at it, he'd better make sure Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou and Ryan Church stay healthy.

The Mets were put together like a fantasy team. Get stats here and stats there, and pretty soon you'll have a great team. Doesn't work that way. Never has. Never will.

It's the same way George Steinbrenner once operated the Yankees. The championship teams of the 1990s were built around Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams, but they didn't win without Scott Brosius, Paul O'Neil and Tino Martinez.

They had guys who understood the big picture, who played as one, who were willing to sacrifice for the good of the team.

Players can change and chemistry can change. So maybe Manuel can get Carlos Beltran to care a little more.

Maybe the Mets can string together a few victories and maybe something will connect them in a way they haven't been connected before.

Randolph's hiring was a mistake from the beginning. He's a man of dignity and decency and class.

Randolph will do just fine without the Mets. Here's betting the Yankees attempt to hire him as a coach almost immediately, and four weeks from now, he'll get maybe the biggest ovation of all at Yankee Stadium. By that time, the Mets probably will be looking for a new scapegoat.

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