Newsday: Matthews - Fred, you must go to bat for Willie

The one man in New York who can save the Mets manager from the indignity and injustice of taking the fall for a room full of underachievers is the biggest achiever in the entire organization. That man is Fred Wilpon, who over the past 28 years as president and CEO of the Mets has cultivated a reputation as a decent man, a man of superior judgment and intelligence. Now would be a good time for him to prove it.
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The sides have already been chosen up, their loyalties clear. On one side is Jeff Wilpon, still blaming Randolph for the failure of 2006 and the collapse of 2007.

On the other is Minaya, partially out of affection and loyalty to Willie and partially out of the knowledge that once the clock stops on the manager, it begins to tick on the general manager.
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[Firing Randolph] is not going to turn this aging, complacent roster into fire-breathing dragons. Even if they respond to a managerial change with a few wins, the smart money says these Mets will soon return to what they have been for the past year and a half—a spectacularly mediocre baseball team.

Worst of all, it will consolidate power in Jeff Wilpon’s hands, where it clearly can do no good. This team needs to be remade and Jeff, the impulsive, hardheaded, vindictive Wilpon, has already proved he is not the man to do it.