State of the Art

The rumours that had been flying around for the past week or so were confirmed yesterday: Art Howe has been fired as manager of the Mets, effective at the end of the season.

Howe has taken a lot of flak for being too laid-back and not being able to motivate his players. If proof of that was still needed yesterday, it can be found in the fact that several players arrived late at the meeting Howe called to make the announcement:

Howe told the team about the move before they took batting practice, and said the clubhouse was "very quiet." Critics often said Howe was too laid-back and too easy on his players -- in fact, outfielder Richard Hidalgo and pitcher Victor Zambrano walked into the meeting after it already had started.

My favourite quote came from outfielder Cliff Floyd, who has been quick to criticise both the Mets' organisation and the club's fans over recent weeks:

"It's unfortunate," Floyd said. "We all know that when things don't go well on the field, the first person to take the blame is the manager." Asked what Howe said at the start of the meeting, Floyd said he missed that part of the talk.

Need we say more?

The Eddie Kranepool Society takes a look at possible replacements for Howe, ranging from Lou Piniella to Lenny Dykstra.