SAN FRANCISCO – Willie Randolph received the call yesterday morning – again. Steve Phillips was on the other end this time, telling Randolph that once more thanks, but no thanks, when it came to a managing job.
With Art Howe signed to replace Bobby Valentine, Phillips needed to call all the other candidates to inform them the Mets had their new manager.
“Sure I’m disappointed not to get the job,” Randolph said by phone yesterday. “My thought was that my meeting with Steve was good. Then we had a follow-up phone call that lasted about an hour. I felt good about it. But then everything came to a screeching halt. No one kept in contact with me until [yesterday morning].
“Phillips called to say what I have heard 20 other times, ‘You’re going to manage one day, thanks for coming in,’ but, really, by then I was tuning out.”
Randolph, the Yankees third-base coach, is still considered a candidate for the Milwaukee opening, but Bob Melvin and Ned Yost are the front-runners. Meanwhile, the Mariners have asked for and received permission to talk to Willie.
But Randolph has been interviewing without success for so long, he actually has been a candidate for the Brewers’ job twice, previously before Davey Lopes was named.
Besides the Mets and Brewers, Randolph also interviewed with Tampa Bay and Detroit this offseason. In previous years, he interviewed with Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia and Toronto, plus received a call to talk with Colorado before the Rockies hired Buddy Bell.
Asked if he would ever get to manage, Randolph said, “That’s a good question. I don’t know how to answer that. I have a flicker of hope in Milwaukee. You have to stay positive, so I am staying positive.”
At present, Dusty Baker, moving from one locale to another, appears the only minority likely to get a job this offseason. Randolph said he didn’t want to think prejudice was working against him. In fact, he magnanimously said, “I hope it works out great for Art with the Mets because I think Art is a solid man.”