Omar Minaya

If the Mets head into next season with Bobby Parnell in their plans for the starting rotation, I'm becoming either a Phillies or Yankees fan. I can't take it anymore...I just can't. Parnell is garbage!

Continue reading "Bobby Parnell is NOT a starting pitcher."

When the 2009 MLB season comes to a close, the Chicago Cubs have announced that they will shop starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano in hopes of swinging a trade and dumping much of his monstrous contract. The question is, should the Mets be interested in the massive right-hander?

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But my personal opinion doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, all that matters is what Omar Minaya and the Wilpons think. 

Omar Minaya...oof...there's a whole 'nother stor

Continue reading "What has Jerry Manuel done to keep his job?"

This isn't the way Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya drew things up in the offseason.

The Mets put yet another star on the disabled list, this time center fielder Carlos Beltran. He joins Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes on the DL, and that's just in the lineup.

Continue reading "The 2009 New York Mets are Finally the Underdogs"

many question marks to not even explore other options.

Which is why I was surprised to read that Omar Minaya, the king of landing big name players (Martinez, Santana, Beltran), has "no interest" in Manny Ramirez. Ramirez is a raker with a long list of issues, but I'll take 500 ABs from him over the 500 from a Murphy/Tatis platoon. For all the headaches Manny causes, if getting him prevents another September choke job, then do it.

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Honestly, I can't figure this front office out. I still can't decide if Omar Minaya is a crafty, savvy baseball mind, or a complete and utter idiot. I just can't tell. The decisions being made by this franchise are all over the map. This offseason is driving me insane -- not because it's neither good nor bad, but because I cannot comprehend our financial difficulties or the intended direction of the club.

Continue reading "Does anyone know what the Mets are thinking?"

Omar Minaya is the Jekyll and Hyde of Major League general managers. It's incredible how he can look like an Einstein-esque genius with some moves, and an executive that knows very little about baseball with others.

Continue reading "Major Mets Blunder: Lowe Signs with Braves"

Sure, Omar Minaya may have cleaned up the pigsty in the Mets' pen with the acquisitions of Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez and J.J. Putz, but that doesn't mean that this team is going to leapfrog the Phillies at the top of the National League East. There are still a number of rather deep holes to fill, and they need to be filled with quality players, not stopgaps.

Continue reading "The New York Mets: Plenty of Question Marks Remain"

Putz of the Mariners. And just like that Omar Minaya, who many accused of sleepwalking through the winter dramatically addressed the team's most glaring weakness. How K-Rod and Putz will co-exist in the Mets' bullpen remains to be seen, but all of a sudden sports pundits across America, including John "I still get a paycheck from the Phillies" Kruk are touting the duo as devastating and game changing. Many talking heads also called Omar one of the biggest winners at the Winter Meetings, considering that he was able to completely re-build his bullpen without giving up any blue chip prospects or key big league contributers (plus the losses of Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis have to be addition by subtraction).

Continue reading "Off Season Check In/Most Epic Post Ever"

p>Part Four:  The Maestro

           Has Omar Minaya been a good general manager of the New York Mets?  Well, for one, he didn’t trade Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano.  No, when he traded the Mets’ top prospects, he got a much better return—Johan Santana anyone?

Continue reading "In The Aftermath Of The Collapse ..."

Part Two:  The Core

     After the Mets collapsed in 2007 Omar Minaya made several changes to the roster, the most notable of which was, of course, acquiring Johan Santana.  The Mets came one win shy of a post-season berth in 2007, and the obvious presumption was that Santana would have increased the Mets’ win total by, at the very least, one win.  So after going 88-74 in ’07, the Mets went 89-73 in ’08, and once again coughed up a division lead late in the season and finished one win shy of the promised land.

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ometown in the Dominican Republic.  Tatis toiled in the minors for the Orioles from 2006 until Omar Minaya took a chance on the former slugger.  Since his call-up in mid-May, he has certainly paid dividends, hitting .397 in July with six home runs and 18 RBI.  He has been the Mets' best clutch hitter this season, with a .392 average with runners in scoring position, and seven of his 11 home runs have either tied the game or put the Mets ahead.  His presence in the lineup will be sorely missed, especially against left-handed pitching, not to mention at this time of offensive feebleness.

Continue reading "Mets In First Place...For The Wild Card?"

n frankly just aren't any good.  Regardless of whether the Mets make the playoffs this season, Omar Minaya's first off-season priority will be to upgrade the bullpen--something he failed to do after last year's September collapse.

Continue reading "Ayala Joins The Blown Save Party"

e Mets might be wiser to use Stokes in long relief should he remain with the big league club.  Omar Minaya expressed his reluctance to call up left-hander Jon Niese, because that would cause him to be arbitration-eligible one year earlier.

Continue reading "Mets' Season May Depend on Kunz"

uston, the three-game weekend series underlined the Mets’ two biggest needs, neither of which Omar Minaya addressed before last Thursday’s trade deadline:  a corner outfielder and a relief pitcher.  For weeks now I’ve been clamoring for the Mets to acquire a corner outfielder, saying that sooner or later the other shoe is going to drop and we’ll all be witnessing Fernando Tatis in the midst of an 0-25 slump.  I suppose the fact that Omar stood pat and did not splurge on an outfielder could be an indication that Mets’ brass is confident that Ryan Church will be capable of returning to action soon and playing regularly.  But although Church’s return will bolster the Mets’ suddenly stagnant offense, there are no guarantees when dealing with post-concussion syndrome, and the team would certainly be better served with a competent back-up plan.

Continue reading "Shaky Pen Gets Mets Swept By 'Stros"

s career, hitting .306 with RISP.  With all that said, if that particular deal presents itself Omar Minaya would have to pull the trigger.  Ellsbury is a very good outfielder with a pretty good offensive upside, and Ramirez's bat is uncomparable.  However, drawbacks of Manny Ramirez include the possibility that he is just a rental player for the remainder of this season, and the inevitable headaches that come with Manny "being Manny."

Continue reading "Trade Market: Will The Mets Be Involved?"

left shoulder today.  It revealed a muscle spasm, and he is considered day-to-day, although GM Omar Minaya said Wagner is available to pitch tonight.  While it is good news that this is something Wagner can pitch through, hopefully without any problems (he did strike out the side Sunday night despite experiencing discomfort), the possibility that Wagner may go down with an injury is alarming.  Although it is easy to bring up Wagner's six blown saves and poor performance at times, the Mets frankly don't have anyone else on the team who can close.  Mets relievers not named Billy Wagner have a total of 24 career saves combined, which equals Wagner's total so far this year.  And moving any of the middle relievers (most likely Sanchez) into the ninth inning role would significantly weaken the bridge in the seventh and eighth.

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nbsp; But like all good things, this nine-game winning streak will at some point come to an end, so Omar Minaya still must do something to improve this team before the July 31st trade deadline.  Although there have been some swirling reports of a possible trade for Matt Holliday, Minaya will have to get awfully creative to be able to make such a deal because the Mets' farm system lacks the talent to even come close to landing the Rockies' slugger.

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playing time they can expect from him:  none, unfortunately.  Hopefully this will trigger Omar Minaya to make a deal for an outfield bat with both Ryan Church and Alou on the disabled list again.  The Mets' reserves are tearing it up right now, but who knows how long that will last?  Tatis' resurgence has been a heartwarming story, and most importantly he has been coming through in the clutch, but sooner or later he is going to realize that it's not 1999, and Mets fans will realize that he is just a back-up at this point in his career.  Damion Easley and Endy Chavez are both on fire recently but Easley is more of a role player whose value lies in his professionalism more than in his bat, and Chavez is merely a fourth outfielder with an outstanding glove and excellent speed.  Don't get me wrong--I like both Easley and Chavez and think they are both very valuable to the team, but when they are no longer hitting a combined .412, like they are since June 28, the Mets will need a proven slugger to pick up the slack.

Continue reading "Dust Off Your Brooms, Tatis Comes Through Again"

t at the top of the Mets' minor league system and injuries to blue chip prospect Fernando Martinez, Omar Minaya will probably need to explore the trade market for an outfield bat.  Before we start formulating trades for the Matt Hollidays, Grady Sizemores and Adam Dunns of the world, we have to realize that the lack of promise in the Mets' farm system also cripples their ability to trade for such players.  Here are three options that are more logical:

Continue reading "Pelfrey and the Mets Finally Make It Easy"

o address, the Mets are OLD and banged up and they don't always seem to be giving 100% every night. Omar Minaya at least in my mind now has a HUGE target on his back both for the way he handled Willie's firing and for what many are only now realizing is a tremendously flawed roster. For the team to get back into the pennant race heading into the All-Star break they need to play HARDER, SMARTER and be more consistent. They need to get leads and keep them and they need show some fight when they get down. The win against the Angels in the rubber match of that series was vintage, the team's best players Reyes and Wright getting big, CLUTCH hits against one of the best bullpens in baseball.

Continue reading "Death and Rebirth"

My attention is divided today, between the two coasts, and between moves major and minor.

Beginning in the East and the earlier time zone is appropriate to the biggest story: the firing of Willie Randolph. Say what you will about Willie, he’s been a classy guy in both New York teams (he earlier served as a Yankees’ bench coach) and deserved better. That Minaya reportedly declined to fire him on Father’s Day, only to axe Randolph in the middle of the night on Monday, replaces a reprehensible act with a cowardly one.

Continue reading "Two Brief Bits"

er by June 15, see who's out there and do what's necessary.  Don't discount the possibility of Omar Minaya canning Willie just to protect himself; we saw Steve Phillips employ this strategy when he fired Bobby Valentine in 2002.  The word is that if the Mets falter in 2008, both Minaya and Randolph are gone, so if the Mets don't show any fire soon, some Mets may be fired.

Continue reading "Mets FAQ - April 2008"