SNY Mets analyst Ron Darling today told WFAN that former manager Willie Randolph and first baseman Carlos Delgado were not communicating before Randolph was fired.
“They won’t publicly say it; the Mets don’t do that, they don’t publicly do anything,” Darling told hosts Evan Roberts and Joe Beningo. “So they won’t publicly say anything. But I will say this: There was no communication between Willie and Delgado.
“And at times, I think that by Willie’s, let’s say, silence over the inability for Delgado to get hot, kind of rang true, spoke very loudly, right?”
Darling compared Randolph’s silence to replacement Jerry Manuel, who was outspoken saying Delgado needed to play better and that the new manager would replace Delgado late in games due to his poor fielding.
“You know what happened: It hurt [Delgado’s] feelings and he came out firing,” Darling said.
Randolph was fired June 16, and Delgado, batting .246 then, has raised his average to .260. Delgado hit .357 with nine home runs in July.
Darling did praise Randolph and Rick Peterson for setting the foundation for this year’s Mets, but that their time had passed.
“Whatever happened, somehow he lost the clubhouse and that message from Rick and from Willie became old,” Darling said.
Manuel calling out his players and creating competition among players (and with themselves) has motivated the Mets to their 24-15 record under him heading into tonight’s game in Houston, Darling said.
“Competition amongst this team has made them better, and I think that a lot of that has to be on Manuel,” Darling said.