In a post to his blog for Daily News, 
Adam Rubin explains why Omar Minaya deserves a lot of blame, adding that it’s too easy to just scapegoat Willie Randolph.
In a second post to his blog for the Daily News, Rubin turns his attention to Pedro Martinez, writing…
“Let’s face it: He isn’t a savior. In fact, players such Martinez actually are harmful to the Mets in a way, and ultimately speak poorly of GM Omar Minaya’s soon-to-be-fleeting tenure…Martinez is a poster child for the Mets’ frailty.”
…go rubin…go rubin…go, go, go rubin…
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The Minaya chapter of the Mets will be defined as cronyism run amok. I hope Willie exposes it once he’s canned.
Cronyism run amok is a very good analysis.
I know they say that “you covet what you know” but this is ridiculous. Omar falls in love with every player that ever once wore a Montréal Expos jersey. And then he lusts after veterans that are past their prime with spotty health résumés.
Look, it’s not a cardinal sin to build a team around veterans, but you have to have a good mix so that you’re not relying on guys in the sunsets of their careers to carry the team. You also can’t bet the farm on guys that spend 90% of their time on the DL.
AAA NOLA is crap right now. It’s loaded with a bunch of journeymen that couldn’t do the job in AAA or in MLB who are not going to help this team at all. There’s a bunch of guys in A and AA that may help in 2009 and on, but this team can’t win the way it’s built right now. David Wright is the youngest guy on the team, and he’s the one that’s trying to set an example for the rest of the team. It’s not just sad, it’s pitiful. Why don’t we have even just one younger guy than Wright bringing energy to this team? That’s right, we traded them away! Sure we got Church, Schneider, and Santana for Gómez and Milledge, but was it really worth it to trade away some young guys with spark to get a couple of middle-of-the-road guys and a pitcher that may end up being at the start of the winddown of his career (remember Frank Viola?)? Especially when there’s no one of that sort to replace them? How can you rely on Moises Alou in LF without a backup plan? Endy Chávez is one of the most exciting outfielders in baseball, but he can’t hit worth a lick. He’s better than he was when the Expos tried to make him into a slugger, but he’s still barely adequate offensively for a position that is historically an offensive position.
How can anyone in their right mind give Luis Castillo a four-year contract, DFA a young guy with a healthy body and a good bat like Gotay, and rely on Damion Easley, who’s about 40, and Marlon Anderson (who plays 2B about as well as Víctor Díaz did) as a backup at 2B? What’s next, are we going to call up Anderson Hernández to show us yet again that he’s all glove and no bat?
Why was El Duque re-signed? He is done. He has been done since he was in the White Sox bullpen. His only value at this point is as a long-man in the bullpen because he can’t take pitching more than once in a while.
Omar has utterly destroyed this team’s chances of winning a playoff spot until 2010 when some of these old guys will be gone and some of the AA talent makes its way up.
Couldn’t agree more.
you know we do play florida 3 games after the rockies series… How Good a SWEEP would be!!
im i wrong for having some faith!!
You are wrong only because while they might sweep the Marlins, they could (and will) just as easily be swept the series after. They’ve been doing that for the past year and its gotten them a .500 record.
That’s ridiculous, I think the Mets need Pedro back more than ever, I feel like even if he doesn’t come back and pitch great he can provide great advice to this team and try to help steer them back to good baseball… at least that’s what i hope happens
i’ve come to the realization of late that, for the money and expectations, the Pedro Martinez signing was one fo the top 10 worst in Mets history. It has amounted to a 2 year/53M deal.
The only saving grace is that, from what I recall, the FA market on pitchers was very low at that time. So few options were available.
Pedro is nearly worth 2/53 in todays market when he’s healthy. So I’m not sure where you’re going there, Danny. When he was healthy, this team was exciting, cocky, and really pretty good. He broke down and all he did since was have one of the quickest ever recoveries from surgery of that kind and posted a 2.57 ERA in september fresh off the dl. The hamstring is unfortunate but it happens to every1.
I’m as angry as any1 about how awful this team is but taking shots at every player and saying they need to go is just dumb. I can’t believe how many posts I’ve seen lately calling for trades of Beltran(who has a full no trade clause) and even Wright. Now every1s gonna beat up Pedro, too? Johan, Pedro(as 4th or 5th starter), Maine, Wagner, Schoenweis, Feliciano, Smith, and Sanchez are fine players and deserve to stay and be supported. Ditto Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Church, and Schneider. That’s a fine core to build around, and luckily we do have prospects to fill most of the holes, though this year might be rushing most of them. Omar has hade some mistakes but if he could somehow Parlay Ollie, Alou, Chavez, Heilman, Wise, and Anderson into a good young pitcher or two and try to get anything for Castillo and Delgado(You never know, teams trade for bad players all the time) we can still be a threat for years to come maybe not a favorite, but I’ll settle for a threat at this point.
Disagree. Pedro re-energized Met fans. That was passed on to Willie. Willie dropped the ball.
Its his job to keep everyone focused, not a 34 year old pitcher.
Co-sign.
So willie got Pedro injured? Is that how it works.
Willie is to blame for many things, but for Pedro’s fragility he is not.
I don’t know if Pedro and fragile should go together seeing as the guy pitched better than at least 90% of the league with a bum shoulder for 5 or so years before having it fixed. Pedro is not a savior but he makes trhe staff better and brings a looseness to the team they desperately could use right now.
Disagree. Pedro brings fire to the team, something the rest of the team lacks. Players of Pedro’s age face injuries and it’s just bad lack that he’s had so many. How do you explain his quicker then expected rehab? Pedro is da man.
When he came back last year he pitched well and the team didn’t get fired up enough to beat the Marlins or the Nationals.
The main problem here (as summed up in the Million GMs line on top) is that we as fans think we know WAY more than we actually do about the goings on in the Mets clubhouse.
Our opinions are solely based on what’s been going on lately. If the Mets go out and win 9 in a row, then everything’s right back on track. I know all of us went into this season thinking this was the team to beat, they got Santana and we all expected a scorching hot start. But now they are playing .500 ball everyone just assumed they “know” what kind of team this is and they just “know” this team isn’t that strong. We all think we’re fortune tellers here, but if they go off on a nice winning streak, we’re all idiots. Just look at the Rockies last year, I mean seriously. That was insanity. Anything can happen, and for all you pompous wannabe GMs and coaches to pretend that you can tell the future is just plain idiotic.
Amen
Exactly.
totally agree. it’s a long season . . . as evidenced by last year. the phillies were buried last season over and over again. so were the rockies. you go up and you go down. this team is good enough to give us an exciting season.
they certainly aren’t any worse than their fans, who seem to take great pleasure in piling on. the same folks what actually booed mike piazza for much of 1998 for leaving some runners on base, who had no appreciation of jeff kent’s abilities and who couldn’t stand john franco. i could go on.
sorry folks, but i find it a whole lot more fun to root for the team than to root against them, and to support them even when they aren’t dominating. but then, i’ve been a mets fan for a long time.
I have never gone to a game and booed.
That said, I have never liked Willie and never thought he brought anything to the table. That was fine while the team was winning, but I really think that he is distracting the team (whether that is his fault or not) and needs to go.
When he comes back, Pedro will have something to prove, and will work to do so, unlike the rest of these schlubbs (with few exceptions, such as Church, Schneider, Pagan).
Lay of Petey. It’s poor form at best to bash him.
Pedro is about the last person I would put blame on. Personally, I think he does nothing but win. He seems to be a font of positive energy wherever he goes. I think he’d make a great manager some day.
I think they mean that he should be a symbol of the older, frailer player the Mets have taken on during the Minaya years. He shouldn’t be. He’s done nothing but give his best and come through for us over and over. Is he hurt a lot? Not for his age, plus we fully understood this risk when the Mets offered him a contract. Wow, is it poor form to make him a scapegoat now, if that’s what they’re trying to do.
Whatever’s wrong with this team it isn’t easily seen from the outside. We can just see that they seem to be dysfunctional. Is it Delagado’s dead bat? Castillo’s arthritic game? Alou’s age? (Is Delgado secretly maipulating things for the worse among the players and manager as someone suggested?, who knows?)
Is there a soap opera going on behind the scenes that we’re not aware of? (probably but we’ll be in the dark until well after it’s too late)
Cronyism is probably a good word for it. That’s part of the problem. If the owners, GM, Manager and players can figure it out and fix it, then fine, make it so. If not, then we may need big changes. We don’t have to win this year, we have to build a strong team going forward.
FINALLY! Someone has FINALLY stated the obvious, that Pedro has done jack sht to help the Mets achieve anything since he’s been signed here. I know he’s had some great starts, and everyone loves his goofy hijinks, but the guy has never showed up when it’s mattered, I don’t want to hear “well he helped bring in other free agents,” BS, offering the most money brought in big name free agents. This guy has gotten the golden child treatment for far too long, and I’m happy that someone had the balls to put some blame on He Who Should Not Be Blamed. Ever since he made his return to Boston in ‘06 and acted like he should’ve never left Boston (before he got his ass kicked) I’ve been completely turned off by the guy. Couple that with last season when he needed his precious 5th day of rest so Humber could go out and get slaughtered by the Nats in a must win game. Thanks for doing us all a favor Pedro and settling with the Mets so you could get your precious 4th year.
He shut down the Phillies at Shea last year, and the Heilman and company burned it down.
You are only as good as your team mates.
Kudos to Adam Rubin. He’s virtually the only reporter in NY who’s not pulling punches. He’s being fair to both Omar and Willie — while sparing no one.
So … what does soon-to-be-fleeting tenure mean?
If it means what I think it does, Omar is on the very hot seat right now.
As for Pedro, I love what he brings to the club, but I totally agree with Rubin’s continuity point, and I’ve been saying the same things for the last few years regarding Alou and El Duque (and getting attacked for it here).
I remember the “feel-good” articles when both Omar and Willie were hired – the theme that collectively these two had been turned down for something like 23 positions and now they have finely been given a chance. Perhaps those other organizations knew or sensed something . . .
well that is just silly. the were an inning away from the world series.
can Rubin manage?
How about General manage?
or how about this….could he field a routine ground ball to the right side?
couldn’t agree more. if they are blaming willie than equal if not more blame should be on minaya…minaya is responsible for the team he put together…there was too much maybe and hoping going into this season with guys like alou, pedro, el duque, delgado and castillo…both of them should go…if not minaya before willie
The thing is, who do you replace Minaya with mid-season? Berenzard, who seems to be an even bigger liability?
It’s unfair but it’s easier to dump a manager mid-season than a GM. If the Wilpons want to wait and make it a package deal in Sept., they risk alienating the fanbase who are begging for some accountability here.
The fact remains that if this team is truly a turd, everyone is going to get their comeuppance eventually in the next 6-12 months, so the Wilpons might as well make some changes that could potentially salvage this season, even if they ultimately don’t make a difference.
Steve Phillips?
No, I’m sorry, that was a bad joke…
No, now I’ve got it – Jim Duquette!
Still not funny…?
I guess it’s not my day :-(
Fred Wilpon dumped a GM in mid-season 11 years ago, and that was with a surprisingly overachieving Mets team battling for a playoff spot. He fired Joe McIlvaine and promoted Steve Phillips. The reason given? McIlvaine was on the road too much, attending college, minor and major league games. He was doing too much scouting, too much work trying to find talent and he wasn’t picking up the phone every hour when Wilpon was trying to reach him to bother him with things like teaching son Jeff about the game.
Obviously there’s precedent, but I think it’s unwise. The most critical months for a GM are Nov-March, with a special emphasis on the months leading up to the draft. If this team finds itself in rebuilding mode in a few months, what difference does it make canning Omar in August except I guess, give youself a head start on finding a replacement.
But I get the point that with the Wilpons, it never seems to matter.
That’s the bottom line, I think. They are owned by the vain and the talentless. They choose sycophants and weasels because they have no eye for talent in the front office or dugout.
It’s become painfully obvious that at the end of the year when the dust settles on this mess, the work and “culture” built up since 2005 is going to be completely torn asunder unless some kind of light bulb clicks and this team regains its 2006 form.
I just hope whatever new people get brought in represent a real change, and not just a new face on the same-old same-old, because quite frankly, outside of the week that Santana was signed, the past 8 months should go down as some of the most miserable in this team’s history given the expecations and the potential. There needs to be an exorcism of the highest order I think before this franchise ever gets the support and patience of its fanbase back.
Both links access the same column, it seems…
Omar has a lot to answer for and particularly: the personality issues with this unemotional group that seems divided, the reliance on the geriatric brigade, and the problems with the farm system.
BUT, let’s face it: if not for Minaya bringing us some great talent, none of us would be as mad as we are now as our expectations would still be low. He raised the bar around here.
I still say can Willie first, give Omar (ideally without Bernazard) a shot to retool the roster with a new manager. If things continue badly, then obviously he is next on the firing line.
How quickly people forget. Were we not all heralding Omar for playing an awesome hand in landing Santana? Omar’s done a great job getting talent on this team. It’s Willie’s job to get them to play together well and the players job to be consistent and play to their potential.
It’s easy to forget but Steve Phillips was also universally hailed as a genius the winter he acquired Alomar, Cedeno, Vaughn and Burnitz. Maybe people have fooled themselves with personal revisionist history and claim they had their doubts about that team working out, but they’re lying to themselves. Everyone in NY and the baseball planet loved those moves and thought the Mets were reloaded as a juggernaut. It’s very easy for a GM to go from genius to clueless knucklehead, and it happens fast, especially with the Mets.
I’m sorry, but I don’t think anyone loved the Mo Vaughn deal.
We dumped an overvalued Kevin Appier for Vaughn. I think the only thing that was inheritently “bad’ about that deal was that the Mets had to keep paying him after he broke down for good. It’s not like they traded propects for the guy.
What’s being said about Phillips is spot-on. The guy did a lot of good building a very well-rounded team in 99-2000, but it only takes a few bad moves and then panic moves made to cover them up to tarnish a guy’s legeacy.
“How quickly people forget. Were we not all heralding Omar for playing an awesome hand in landing Santana?”
Some of us realized the Wilpons, the Yankees, and the Red Sox had a lot to do with it too. They all did more than their share to get him here. If any of them decided to go in another direction he would be somewhere else right now.
Willie must go. I’m ok with Omar either way. He’s done some dumb things (Castillo 4 years — Beuller, Beuller??). Trade Heath Bell. But he’s done some great things — Duaner Sanchez, getting Nady in the first place, Santana trade. And he inherited one of the worst minor league systems in baseball, which seems to have improved somewhat. But if Wilpon fires him, so be it. Wilpon needs a strong baseball man at the helm, so let’s just hope he gets one because on his own, he’s as bad as Steinbrenner in his heyday.
I blame Minaya for the following (in no specific order): signing Luis Castillo to a 4 year deal, hiring Willie in the first place, overpaying for Schoeneweis (even though he’s been great this year), letting Bradford walk, signing Julio Franco, letting Marlon walk the first time, trading Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom, getting rid of Gotay (although I blame Willie for that too).
Moves that backfired that I don’t blame Minaya for: trading Bannister for Burgos (on its face that was a GREAT deal: a No. 5 starter with fringy stuff for a guy that hits 98 on the gun and teaming him up with a good pitching coach? I make that trade 10 out of 10 times); trading Heath Bell (GARBAGE while a Met); Delgado (I kill the guy as much as anyone, but no one could foresee this bad of a drop off, esp. when he hit 41 HR in 2006).
And the good: Beltran, Pedro, Wagner, Maine, Perez, Duaner, getting rid of Franco, Endy, extending Reyes and Wright, turning Jorge Julio into El Duque.
A lot more good than bad. Fire Willie.
Aaaaaand I forgot to mention stealing Santana from Minnesota. I’m an idiot. A LOT more good than bad.
Wait, you mean the trade where Minnesota fleeced us for Carlos Gomez? Sorry, had to say it. People will we saying that next year and for years to come, I just got in early.
Let’s just hope F-Mart doesn’t become Victor Diaz.
Will Carlos Gomez be good? I think so. As a centerfielder, will he be what Johan Santana is to pitchers? Not in a million years bro.
couldn’t agree with longjohnnmaine, my one major quip with minaya is not going out and getting branden inge…i like inge a lot.
Get prepared for the following logic you will hear. The Twins wanted Reyes straight up for Johan.
If you look at the stats right now Reyes and Gomez are having the same year but Gomez is striking out double. There is a good chance that later this year or in coming years Gomez will be as good or better than Reyes. Thus if any of the other players turn into anything people will kill the trade.
That said, it was a trade that had to be made. I would have liked to not have had Gomez in it and we may have been bidding against ourselves in the trade. But whatever. I was half joking, though I do think people will be attacking this trade in the future.
Hey Matt,
How much are those “In Omar We Trust” T-shirts selling for these days?
Yes he did bring in a lot more good than bad, but the fact of the matter is if he cannot field a playoff team this year, then he will be fired.
If he is in fact fired, who would replace him? I would like to see someone in the new GM time mold, maybe like Paul DePodesta, but I’m not sure if he would move to the east coast.
I thought Omar was a new GM-mold guy who would build us up the way Boston was. That is to say you follow the Moneyball approach with your farm system and try to build a young, good hitting team internally and then use your big market money to pull in free agents for what you couldn’t build internally.
Instead Omar went out and made the same mistakes as the post 2000 Yankees, overloading with old fragile guys with horrible contracts. If we ever built up a farm system like the Sox, A’s, Angels, Twins and I hate to type this Braves we’d be devastating.
Name an OLD fragile guy with a horrid contract on this team besides Pedro?
Moises Alou…although his contract is not “horrid” but two years is one year too many, as we are alerady seeing.
It was an option year at what 7 million.
Alou. El Duque. Castillo. Delgado. Any contract is horrid if you get nothing in return for it.
And Beltran is young and fragile. So he’s got that going for him.
Carlos Delgado, El Duque, Castillo. None of those guys are tradeable and they are put out there everyday because it costs too much to sit them.
None of those met your requirements however. Elduque gave us his money’s worth last year at the begining of the season. He cost 6 million.
Delgado for sure does not count. The guy had just came off of his second best season of his career and followed it up in 2006 with a great season. Besides he did not even sign him.
Beltran may tell you every nagging injury but he plays as many games in CF as anyone else in MLB and much better than any of them.
Omar’s problem is that he had to bandaid the roster holes while waiting on talent to develop. The talent never developed.
Elduque’s money did not hurt the Mets, neither does Castillo’s this season as he would have been signed this season either way.
Delgado WE DID NOT SIGN HIM. His contract is large but much of the money was given to us by the Fish. He had a monster 2005 and 2006 season. I guess Omar should have known that we would not win the WS in 2006 and that he would fall of the face of the earth in 2007/2008.
The guy had just came off of his second best season of his career
real, how can you say that? That was neither his second best in terms of OPS or run production. And the point is, he was at an age where sluggers start to decline quickly. So it doesn’t matter what he did. He was risky because of his age.
As for Pedro, Alou, and El Duque, they take up roster space and payroll dollars and prevent the team from getting adequate replacements when they go on the DL.
I still think our problem is a factor of trying to win too quickly. Going from basement to contender in 2 years requires bandaids on your weaknesses. That’s all Alou, Elduque and even Castillo are. An organization with a good farm will develop those replacements. Alou=FMart, Gomez, Milledge. Elduque=Pelfrey, Humber, Mulvey, Neise. Delgado=Carp, Murphy, Evans.
Problem is out of those prospects who really stepped up? At least some of them got a couple of holes filled via trade. Problem remains if Pelfrey pitched like a 1-3 starter would we care about Elduque or as much about Pedro?
Something to think about regarding the farm system, is I still feel this organization suffers from putting all its eggs in one basket and neglecting or underrating secondary players who could either develop into solid major leaguers but never get the attention they need, or who develop into decent major leaguers elsewhere. We sit and we pine for guys like Pelfrey, Fernando Martinez, Francisco Pena and others to be superstars in NY, but they notoriously seem to struggle, while we underrate guys like Bannister, Bell, Lindstrom, Keppinger and so forth.
I feel like for the past decade, whoever the administration is wants to see their handpicked guys succeed, even at the expense at the rest of the system. We hype up Alex Escobar, and trade Jason Bay for a middle reliever. We promote Mike Pelfrey after 2 months in the minors, but Heath Ball rides the AAA shuttle for two years.
It’s not even that I’m second guessing these moves, but it’s amazing the number of guys who were “questionable” in the Mets minor league system at one point or the other because of “stuff” or age, or make-up or whatever, go on and put forward solid careers elsewhere.
All I know is scouts be damned, if Carp/Evans/Murphy keep putting up these numbers, they have to move to AAA and have to be considered for the roster next year, though my guess is they won’t be.
good points. nice post.
Thats very true.
And the Carp/Evans/Murphy are exactly that secondary player that is crucial for a winning team. Back in 06 we had Nady, Valentin and LoDuca to play those roles and now we don’t have that.
I’d love to see Evans get called up for a short time while Alou is on the DL. I know he’s probably not ready but a little tastte can’t hurt. And besides would you rather see Anderson/Endy everyday?
I a year, maybe a year and a half, the same column wil be written about Santana. Not that he was always hurt, just that he wasn’t worth the $. They say he’s a second half pitcher? Jeez, I hope so. So far he’s just been good. Nothing Twin-like.
I’m as upset as the next person, but this whole thread reads like and epitath. It is only May 23.
The issue with the Pedros is it provides a constant false sense of hope that help is on the way, and it’s not. I like the sum total of Omar’s offseason work, but has he proven he can make in-season deals on the fly to help out? Duque was a good deal, the Nady-Perez deal was odd for a deadline trade…Castillo was a fair deal last year… but they were all hole-fillers. What he does to fix a flawed roster in May will determine his future here.
I am not sure any deal helps this team out. If you look at our divisional opponents, our ship could get sunk very quickly.
While it is early, this team instills little confidence that they will fight to get back into contention.
These Mets are in deep trouble:
- Atlanta and Philly seem like they are only going to get better as the season goes on. Especially Atlanta.
- The Marlins and Nats are going to be playing spoiler all season long…assuming the Marlins get worse and Nats stay bad.
- The Mets have 1 and 1/2 reliable starters in Johan and Maine. Johan’s stuff is diminishing and he might be better classified as a solid #2 than a true ace. If not now, then definitely in the coming years of his contract. Maine, in my mind, is still not consistent enough to be better than a solid #3.
- The rest of the rotation is pretty average.
- The bullpen, besides Wags, Smith, and Scho, is looking as creaky as Castillo’s knees.
- Our overpaid lineup cannot seem to get its act together. Between old man Alou, a declining Delgado, a clueless Beltran, a stubborn Reyes, and a light hitting Schnieder, this lineup is in trouble.
We have not yet hit rock bottom. It can get a lot worse than this, especially when considering the other teams in our division.
Did you just say that Santana is a solid #2, but not an ace?
Are you joking?
The guy had one bad outing and all of a sudden he isn’t an ace anymore?
I agree with all your other points though.
Actually, Santana has not had one bad outing yet (in my opinion, even after last night).
The point I am trying to make is he doesn’t have the stuff that was advertised to us when we traded for and signed him.
Honestly, I thought he would be a little more dominating than this thus far. He has been good, not great though. He was 15-13 last year (not an ace’s numbers).
Hell, Barry Zito was considered an ace, now look at him.
I am not comparing Santana to Zito, but what I am saying is Santana’s ace days may be behind him.
By the way, who else here thinks that Atlanta drops 5 of their next 6? Such a dog team. Against the Mets they play like champions, against the rest of the NL they dog it.
They’re 20-5 at home. It’s not even human what they’re doing there.
Thought they went out West to play the D-Backs. The Braves are shaping up to baseball’s answer to the Seattle Seahawks. And of course they skip Webb and Haren. God I hate them.
They’re home for the four games with the D-Backs, then they go out to get slaughtered. We just have to wait a few days. I think they’re 6-16 on the road. :)
It’s called “playing way over your head,” and the law of averages says it will not continue.
I can see it happening. Just last week, let’s not forget, they were still a game or two below .500.
The Braves’ weak link is their starting pitching, other than Hudson. We all know what Glavine will look like at the end of the year. Jurjenns has looked great, but he has yet to pitch a full season in the majors, so I can see him tiring the way Maine did last year.
The Phillies have similar concerns–other than Cole Hamels, they have nothing–although they’re in a better position to mash their way out of trouble than the Braves are.
Just saying, neither of those teams are world beaters by any stretch of the imagination. Even if the Mets made one of them look that way the last three days.
All good points. And yes, the Braves definitely aren’t world-beaters, which made these last few games even tougher to swallow.
As bad as the Mets have played, I take our SP over either of theirs any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
But don’t forget that the Braves are getting Smoltz, Gonzolaz and Soriano back. Smoltz, no matter what he says, will start and Gonzolaz will be set up man for Soriano.
Hudson
Smoltz
Glavine
Jerrjens
Gonzolaz
Soriano
That’s not bad at all. And, most importantly, their bats are actually HITTING THE F’ING BALL!!!!
I thought it was pretty well established that Smoltz would be in the bullpen. I haven’t heard any rumors to the contrary, and at this point in his career, that’s probably his best option anyway. He can’t start over the course of an entire season.
Smoltz, “no matter what he says”? Can I borrow that crystal ball?
Look, the fact that the closer’s role is better suited for Smoltz and the fact that he himself thinks he belongs there when he comes back – well, none of that matters. What matters is that NickA33 of Metsblog.com fame says Smoltz is going to be starting. And I think we can all pretty much believe anything that NickA33 says, because….well, he’s NickA33.
jspicyn – Smart arse. I’m basing my statement off of what popular opinion seems to be here in Atlanta (where I now live) from both fans and sports commentators, we all as newspaper jourlanists…
Pedro upsets the rotation too much also with his once a week pitching on Sundays only. That’s an exaggeration, but they are forever making adjustments to give him an extra day off. His comeback last year timed out closely to the start of the collapse.
why don’t the mets take a few millions dollars and steal a few scouts from the following teams: dodgers, twins, red sox, a’s?
it pays off in the long run.
the mets have a lot of top picks this year. i really hope omar has the right decision-makers in place.
Agree 100 percent. GM be damned…dynasties are built from within.
YES. Thank you. This is what I was saying before more exigent matters (getting rid of Willie . . and now Bernazard) took center stage. (I still think the season may be salvaged and that the team in underachieving — but they need a new manager if there’s any hope.) Figure out how successful teams have been developing players by raiding their organizations. Spend the money there. Invest.
Can anyone say HanRam for Beckett and Lowell?
Alright here’s a scenario:
The mets are a few games below .500 with the trade deadline nearing..teams like boston or the Angels are having injury problems (Guerrero or Ortiz?) do you really think they wouldn’t want someone like Delgado to solidify their lineup? The A’s took Frank Thomas, who i think has been overrated for the past 2 years. If the mets can get a few prospects from either of these teams for an aging hitter, it would be ideal.
Of course im not saying that this will happen, but the Marlins nabbed argueably the best up-and-comer (if hes even that anymore) for 2 solid players that led them to a WS. The mets could do the same thing.
That said, its still May…i know im going to sound like a broken record but they are still only a few games out of first. any I think matt has said it a few times but, who is the clearcut favorite in the NL? There isnt one. Even the Dbacks have fallen back to earth. I really feel that the Mets still have it in them to make a run. With the decline in wins, there have been some positives, i mean, Beltrans average is up and Delgado is swingin the bat a little better..Reyes doesnt look quite as lost at the plate as he had been. As always, lets go mets…
What’s worriesme is that as the team is struggling, Willie is falling apart. Last year he seemed overly confident during the collapse. This year, he seems scared and paranoid.
I’ve been a Willie defender, but I have no faith that he can rally the troops to make a run.
We have a guy in AAA that can play the outfield and first base, bats righty, led AAA in homers last year, and has 5 homers in AAA after starting the season late!
There is a guy, who is still a free agent and might be 40, but his .296 with a .367 OBP last year in 490 ABS, has always been a winner, and wouldnt mind being a bench player/team leader when/if Alou gets back.
Sign Kenny Lofton and bring up Val Pascucci to platoon with Delgado! Delgado can still hit a little against righties, but certainly not lefties.
Why not give it a shot? Its a shakeup that brings a veteran leader type to the clubhouse and attempt to get Delgado on track with some extra rest.
I say its a much better option than throwing in the towel and firing willie and/or omar and replacing them with God knows who. The only negative is giving up a draft pick for Lofton who I believe is still considered a “Type B” free agent.
I have no problem with any of that.
I would love to have Lofton. Very gritty player.
Hes also been in the playoffs 11 of his 17 big league seasons, no ring, but thats beside the point
Okay..so lets add another aging player who would want a pretty big contract..great idea. Oh wait…thats pretty much whats plagueing the mets right now. Baseball is a team sport..adding lofton is not going to all of a sudden make the mets a playoff team. Honestly, im sick of making offesason moves to pick up aging stars. We’ve become the yankees post 2000 season where we sign a bunch of old guys to huge contracts and get little return. The yankees are figuring out that younger players brought up via the farm system are the keys to winning
As much as I’d love to see a Delgado/Pascussi platoon, it’s not going to happen. Delgado just makes too much money to have him platooning with anyone.
PS
Pascucci and Lofton would be replacing Fernando Tatis and Raul Casanova on the roster.
See if Millar is available. Good righty bat so we can sit Delbummo and would be good in a dead clubhouse. Atleast he would talk to the press.
I’ve mentioned this, but as long as the O’s are overachieving, they’ll keep him around, and they may regardless, for the precise reason we’d want him — good influence on the rest of the team.
NO Lofton, PLEASE!!!
Get younger people. He’s 73 frickin years old. I don’t care if he can swing a bat or run to first. He was a veteran when Cecil Fielder was still playing!
Knock it off with the Lofton stuff. I’d rather take my chances with a AAA player that has some potential. Hell, even AA.
The problem is we dont have any way to get younger. You have an outfielder in mind besides Fernando that can play every day in our farm system. Ok then, what do we do with left field then when Alou is missing in action for the majority of the season, Endy cant cut it, Pagan was showing signs of slowing down and he got hurt, Marlon looks lost out there and is exposed at the plate. The mets cant win this year without steady production from left field and Lofton is a solid role player even if Alou comes back. Also keep in mind at 40 he had 490 ABS last year.
Director of Player Development — Tony Bernazard
In the (divided) clubhouse all too often — Tony Bernazard
I’ve been saying all along that Omar needs to go FIRST. He’s the one that brought most of the players AND Willie Randolph in.
He has made some poor decisions on signings and on trades and on getting rid of players.
He has consistently let his comfort level with Latin/Hispanic ballplayers cloud his baseball decisions.
And Pedro might help in the clubhouse, but he could hurt the team on the field. He is likely to be a 5 inning pitcher, thereby straining an overworked and undertalented bullpen. If he comes back, they should have a guy like Figueroa or Vagas, or better yet, a guy like Jonathan Niese in the bullpen to back him up every time he pitches. Have Pedro pitch the first 5 innings and then bring in another starter (long man) to pitch the next 4 innings and save the bullpen. God forbid if El Duque ever comes back and if him and Pedro pitch back to back, the bullpen will have to eat 8 – 10 innings or more over a two day period.
Lord knows comfort with white players has never clouded anyone’s decisions.
haha i love how people dont want to FIX the team, they just want a sacrifice or an effigy of some sort. you guys sound like someone took your favorite toy away, or made you skin your knee.
SHOULDNT WE BE THINKING ABOUT WAYS TO MAKE THIS TEAM WORK????
Of course Omar is just as much to blame(these are his players).
He relied on age (with no back up plan) and lost.
Delgado was a shell of himself last year and nothing was done about it(no back up plan at first base-how about Millar or Sean Casey). Castillo came to the Mets with a bum leg/knee and was GLADLY GIVEN A 4 YEAR DEAL(WITH NO COMPETITION).
Alou, Pedro and Duque were counted on to play a large portion of the season although they haven’t over the past 2 years.
and the back of the bullpen was left to Sanchez (who hasn’t pitched in 1 1/2 years) and Heilman with no improvement.
Also the bench has no power lefty or righty.
After the Santana deal Omar rested on his laurels.
So yeah Omar is to blame big time.
I’ve said all along if Willie goes Omar should go right with him.
How about Maz as the manager and the ( wrongly fired) Reds GM to come in for Omar.
so doesnt that make everyone wrong who thought the mets were going to great? everyone who thought this could be a competitive team (Even though i think they will be)?
Why would delgado be signed with another first basemen? That makes no sense. Thank god you’re not a GM..”lets burn more money on two guys that are pretty old and see which one performs better”. That doesnt work with human beings guy…they will both suck because it would piss both of them off, not to mention waste a bat
The way to make it work is to release Delgado and Castillo, trade Beltran and Heilman and hopefully get back some combination of decent everyday players and near-ready prospects.
It won’t be long before this year is shot for the Mets at this rate. It isn’t going to get better. Do you, as a Mets fan, want to attempt to win with some different, hopefully younger players, or continue to wait for the worn-out hacks we have to come to life. They’re dead! They ain’t comin’ back.
how are you going to trade away a guy that is entering his prime, and two years ago hit 39 homers and plays gold glove defense? come on now. . .
yeah..thats smart. Get rid of beltran. He sucks at hitting and fielding right? Oh wait…silver slugger and gold glover..hm..
I really don’t understand why people are putting this on Minaya. All I hear every Mets fan say is that the team is underachieving with a wealth of talent. If you have that wealth of talent, what are we asking for? More?
to some fans, someones gotta get it for making them cry every night….
Because you can have a collection of talented players, and then you can have a team. Not necessarily the same thing.
Also, I think people are acknowledging that the talent may be more on paper than on the field.
There is no wealth of talent. Just as the Mets overrate their prospects, so too have they overrated their veteran talent on the field.
They just aren’t any good. No manager in the world is going to make Delgado or Castillo play better. Period. They’re done. And anyway, we think Castillo is still young, but how do we know? He could be 36 for all we know.
Guys, I always stay in scope but I have a quick idea for instant replay:
The umpire crew chief should carry a small wireless video player (iphone-like).
It can only be actuated for close homerun calls by a third party.
Once remotely activated they will have 1m 25s Max. of unlimited replays, of which, are controllable by the head umpire.
He and his crew should use the 1m 25s to review the play using the device at their discretion (slow mo, see it again etc).
There should be an amendment to the rules barring any other or future use of this device for other plays.
My outcome is to keep the games from getting too long and to make sure managers can’t request a replay for any other reason ever. It limits the amt of time the umpires can watch the play in review.
Thanks for your attention. I apologize for the scope change.
EBF
MLV is my mvp.
Pretty soon Omar and Willie will be a $20 question on Beer Money
Carlin: Name the combo who ruined half of New Yorks Summer by being out of it by Memorial Day.
Guy in line for waffle frys: Girardi and Cashman?
Carlin: No but you’re close
That “beer money “show is pretty cool. My summer won’t be ruined. I’ll just drink more beer and try to see the glass half full!
Yeah, so Minaya hasn’t made all the right moves, so what? No GM is going to be perfect.
Sure, he got us an injured Pedro Martinez, got rid of Brian Bannister, got Guillermo Mota, etc…
but he also has gotten us Santana, Maine, Perez, Church, Schneider, Beltran, etc
So i’d say hes done a pretty good job
The problem with Omar is that he tried to make too big of a splash when he first joined the Mets organization. He was so quick to show how well he could do in a big market, how well a Latin GM could do that he did not look into the future of the organization, he only saw tomorrow. So, he traded Jacobs, Bannister, etc for “ready now” players, instead of waiting for these players to mature.
I’m not saying either one of the above are the answer but I’m saying it’s that sort of “win now” attitude, compounded with the signings of an aging Delgado, Castillo and Alou that has us to where we are now.
I think the Pedro signing was fine, albeit one year too long. But Omar tried too hard and now we’re paying for it….
He had to make a big splash in order to not hear it from us. If he sat on his butt and did nothing we would have been pissed that he didnt get anyone for us. I really think that the reason these guys are under the gun is because we demand perfection. Why is it that randolph and minaya are both taking heat, when girardi and cashman are taking none?
I really am having a hard time understanding why people think if Randolph argued more calls he would be better. In all honesty, the only time a manager should do that is to defend a player. Making an ass of himself in order to argue balls and strikes are home runs is rediculous. I have a hard time believing that when a game is over after a manager gets ejected the players are all praising him for argueing balls and strikes
“Why is it that randolph and minaya are both taking heat, when girardi and cashman are taking none? ”
I think that both Girardi and Cashman are taking heat, just not as much as our two. Many analysts have openly said that Cashman is on the “hotseat” and Girardi has taken heat for how they’ve (Yankees) have done so far.
I think the difference is two fold. 1. The Yankees were 19 back at one point last year and managed to battle back. 2. Many in the Yankees organization realized that this year would be trouble given their rotation and, while expecations were high, they still expected they would not do as well as they’ve done last year.
Just my two cents…
I think the ownership needs to take a deep breath, and make a bold change. I’ve never been a Willie. Omar has made some good deals and some bad deals like most GMs. Hindsight is 20/20 vision, so I don’t think you can hang him for signing Pedro. Every Met fan out there wanted Pedro and the press would have killed the Mets if they didn’t get him when they had a chance. The same can be said about Beltran and Santana. Pedro brought respectability to the team. I would have no problem with replacing Omar, but the MAJOR problem is the manager. Go back to when Willie first got the job. He insisted that Wright was not ready to be the #3 hitter and stuck with an aging Piazza in the middle of the order. He’s done the same with Delgado until recently. When Beltran had that great run with the Astros, he hit in the 2 hole, so why doesn’t he put him there now. Why doesn’t he have these guys stealing more instead of leaving it up to the player. With this group of players, I really think the manager has to give them the green or red light depending on the circumstances. He has to do the thinking…not the players. He needs to bench players who don’t hustle on EVERY play. In addition, Willie’s in-game decisions are terrible (Bobby V has forgotten more than Willie knows). The one positive that everyone said about Willie was that the players respected him and he was a good motivator. After last year’s collapse and this year’s uninspired play, it’s obvious that he can’t motivate. The ownership should swallow hard and get Wally Backman to manage this team. If the prima donnas on the team don’t like his style, TOUGH! The 1962 team was more exciting than this team!
I think the Mets need to react to declining veterans and disappointing seasons by rebuilding as best they can. The Pedro signing was as much about SNY as it was about baseball.
For those who say it re-energized Mets fans, that may be true. But winning always energizes the NY fan base. And to win consistently, you need a long-term plan and a strong farm to use for call-ups, future regulars, and trade-bait.
Fatty contracts to aging veterans may re-energize the fan base, but that energy is short-lived. To truly electrify a fan base you must sustain winning. To sustain winning you must be smart about your money, your contracts and your system.
pinnacle of irony coming from the guy who wrote “pedro carlos and omar”.
i don’t know how anyone lays this at the feet of pedro. if we had 25 guys with his heart we would be having this silly conversation.
omar deserves some blame.
25 guys with his heart and his health record and we sure as hell would.
that’s on omar, honestly. pedro can’t help that he has a brittle body. he’s not happy to be on the DL.
I do think Omar should have stuck to the farm system more, but look at the Mets right now
Forget their record and the collapse and just look at the roster
Lineup- Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Church, Alou, Delgado, Castillo etc
Rotation- Santana, Maine, Perez, (supposed to be Pedro and El Duque) etc
Bullpen- Heilman, Sanchez, Smith, Feliciano, Wagner etc
Just looking on paper, this team should be a contender. But for whatever this reason, they are not
I understand the whole underperforming, injured older players thing but really, this team should be winning right now
It was stupid maybe to go after all big free agent signings and mortgage the farm system, but this should be winning now, and last year too, and their not.
I do believe in the developing younger players and being patient…and i know when the future comes and the Mets might suck, you can blame Omar for that…but right now, i cant put all that much blame on Omar for the team hes put out their right now…some, but not a whole lot
True but for a couple of points. Delgado is no longer the Delgado “on paper.” Castillo isn’t either. So even when they are healthy, they aren’t going to be what they once were. Some guys age quickly.
Wright, Reyes, and Beltran should be better than they have been — though Beltran is now on the wrong side of 30. And certainly Heilman should be better than this. But decline is decline, and with this much age on the roster, you cannot be surprised by decline.
I don’t see how every one so quickly is going to blame Omar, all he’s done is bring in talent and it wasn’t that long ago that everyone was singing his praises for bringing in Johan. Omar has done his job he has brought in the players, he has the talent in place the blame lies on Willie. He cannot motivate his players to go out and bust their humps for him every game thats a skippers job. None of this nonsense I’m going to let the players play, yeah it may work for a little bit but your players would like a little support when the get screwed over. Take Sunday for instance a call that was clearly blown Willie comes out has a talking with the ump, he tells him take a seat and Willie puts his tail inbetween his legs and goes back to the dugout. Thank God for Jerry Manuel who say that this was some serious bullshark and decided to argue against it and get ejected. Someone showed a little life in that dugout. A leader is supposed to lead by example Willie asks his guys to play with fire and passion yet has none? Another Art Howe maybe? Get Keith out of the SNY booth and put him in the dugout can’t do any worse
“Bringing in talent” is only part of the job, and with a big wallet behind you, some might call it the easy part. Developing talent, and making sure the talent meshes with an overall plan for the organization is the harder part.
And I would agree with you at that, however Omar has gotten some good young talent that the Mets have developed most notably John Maine aquired in the trade with Baltimore, and Mike Pelfry. I would say a change needs to be made at manager first because with this team they should not be a game below 500 and I’m pretty sure you’d agree with that? However if the team in the long run continues to struggle than Minaya’s seat should start boiling but Willie has proven he is not capable of doing the job here, and with his recent comments about blaming the SNY broadcasters and race for why he is on the hot seat I think he is showing that he is starting to crack under the pressure.
But I do agree with you in that getting the talent is the easy part and more focus does need to be on developing young talent. However I would disagree and say that making the talent mesh is the job of the skipper. He’s the one in the clubhouse with them everyday.
Oh no — I agree with you. We have a bad combination. A do-nothing manager who can’t get his team on the same page who was handed a poorly conceived, yet talented team of veterans with two glaring weaknesses: age and depth. The bench is full of luxury commodities incapable of stepping in every day. . . (and, lets keep in mind that Willie had some say in the final makeup of his team coming out of ST.)
There is no minor league depth to speak of, and not only because of the Santana deal. Where are the other position prospects? Anybody but F-Mart and the Bingo Three, none of whom is anything close to a sure thing? The A-ball team is a disaster.
Incidentally, the St. Lucie Mets are 9-38. I realize that the record of a minor league affiliate isn’t necessarily a reflection of the strength of a minor league system, but that’s extreme.
Yes. the Mets are playing poorly but I for one am not giving up on them yet. I hope Willie can turn this around and keep his job. I like him as manager.
Omar has done good and bad in the past year, the main good being Ryan Church. So I don’t want to dump him either. I say Omar and Willie should stay the course, take the pressure off of these guys and have fun. It’s still only a game. Its not life and death.
It has become obvious that it is everyone’s fault but willies. Omar, Bernazard, Peterson, HoJo, Delgado, Castillo, the Cow-Bell Man!! All must step-up and own up to their responsiblity to the teams failures. All that is except willie. He has done a wonderful job. His players play hard for him and the fans respect him.
I am a little tired of listening to the willie apologists, like Matt and Rubin, amongst others, blame everyone else but absolve willie. A change is needed, willie must go!!
You know, like most of you I’ve been calling for Willie’s head over the past week. And I still think it’s best for for the Mets if he goes. The problem is that other than a short term wake up call I just cant see anybody getting anything out of some of these players.
These guys choked last season away, they have been ridiculed, they have been booed. They have been called soft, lazy, overrated bums, and many other names I won’t repeat. Think about it, what kind a player/man are you that you are regarded in this way and still can’t muster enough pride to do your job right and care about your craft.
So fire Willie, fire Omar, but that won’t change the fact that some of these guys on this team are just some weak ass excuses for men.
Haha..calling out matt? Really?
Can he play left field?
Change might be made sooner rather than later…
Omar added Johan santana. Most experts agreed that the mets were the best overall team on paper at the begining of the season
I’m not sure what i would do if i was the Mets owner right now. As a fan i want everyone fired, but with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, it’s harder.
i’d probably let Omar finish this year, no sense in firing him mid-season, you can’t get anyone else. I’d tell him not to make any more short-sighted deals. Any move he makes from now on has to help the Mets long term, screw short term deals designed to save his 2008 job. Then I’d fire him at the end of the year, almost regardless of how the team finishes.
I’d leave Willie for awhile longer, just because it’s early, and his roster does suck thanks to Minaya. I’d tell Willie the next embarrassment, no matter how small, to come out of his mouth, and he’s fired 5 seconds later. He could still save his job if the team improves or makes the plaoffs.
Delgado is the biggest cancer, I’d DFA him first. That alone should shake up the team, and crappy 1B are a dime a dozen. Chris Shelton passed through waivers, he sucks the same as Delgado, no better, no worse.
I’d make Heilman a starter, as a last gasp at saving his career. He has no trade value anyway, so who cares if he flops. If he flops, give him away for anything. He’s nothing but a blowout mop-up man now anyway, totally worthless.
I think that’s all you can do for now. So I guess I’d do nothing except ditch Delgado and see if things get a little better.
But if Randolph or Minaya get canned ASAP, I’ll be happy with that too.
I would just like to put this out there. Omar, even with all the ups and downs he has had, he still does not deserve our blame. And don’t just look at Pedro and say that he is the biggest reason why Omar is bad. In fact, it was one of Minaya’s high points. With the addition of Pedro, an international latino figure, other latino players began to flock to the Mets (which in turn creates a contreversy all of its own). So you see, because of Pedro, you can say he is the reason we were able to get F-Mart.
Willie, on the other hand, has been dealt great ball players but can’t get them to meld. 2006, to me, was a fluke. If you look at it from a phsycological standpoint, the team was littered with players that hardly knew each other. This in turn led to wanting to be nice and they got along. Fast forward two years, and almost everyone knows each other, which could lead to larger contreversies (look at the stabs Billy took at Ollie). This could also be, though, from all of the stress from a tough opening of the season. But putting it into perspective, Willie is not igniting the fire in the eyes of his players. We need someone like that.
So before you blame Omar, look at all of the gifts he has given Willie and the Mets and you can see how Willie messes them up, enough.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Willie stinks as much as you do, but the “gifts” you mention are either in the hospital (Alou, Pedro, El Duque) or they belong in a rest home (Delgado, Castillo).
Ironically, when you have a bad GM and a bad manager, each one deflects criticism from the other.
It’s like, yeah but Willie sucks, yeah but Omar sucks, yeah but Willie sucks, etc. They both suck.
what a strange word. blame. blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame blame.
you know what rhymes with blame? LAME. meaning its lame to play the blame game.
Turn off, Tune out, Sales drop… I can’t take much more of this, For my own health and sanity I am going to have to walk away from this nightmare. I never thought this Organization would fall to this level. I’ve heard people refer to them as top 5 mlb franchise..yea,,,,,
If last night series ending sweep wasn’t enough for changes to occur then nothing will be. Its the blind leading the blind. We hired a guy with zero managerial experience to manage a 150 mil payroll. He has the worst week off the field that any manager in our history has ever had and couple with that getting swept by our arch rivals and falling under .500. If the collapse and this aren’t enough then nothing will be enough. Its really sad… We are being mocked by radio/television stations around the world and a couple of swampy rednecks with Guitars. We are a joke and the players have lost everything that once made them great. This ship has sailed and only new Managerial blood can get them going again. If that doesn’t work,, well so be it.. later OMar
I recently found a small amount of research I did after the Mets collapse last year. Mainly I was interested in whether teams kept the manager after the collapse and the team’s subsequent success. The 1969 Cubs went 6 and 14 down the stretch and blow a 9.5 game lead they had on 8/14. The Cubs followed that season up in which they won 92 games by winning 84 in 1970. They retained manager Leo Durocher after ’69.
The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies followed up their 92 win meltdown with an 85 game win season the following year. They also kept their manager Gene Mauch.
The 1978 Boston Red Sox lost 14 out of 17 blowing a 7.5 game lead with 32 to play. They won 99 games that year and followed it up with 91 wins. Don Zimmer remained the Manager for both years (as he should have after winning 99 games).
The important thing to notice here is that each team had a worse year the following year after keeping their manager. Now it may have been just as bad if they replaced their manager but we will never know that. I looked at a few others and the pattern for the most part remained the same so history is not in the Mets favor.
its an interesting theory. good research on your part, but it is a sample size of 3. and going from 99 to 91 wins is far from failure.
I don’t know why my first post didn’t make it but I just tried to ask everyone to PLEASE try to calm down and catch your breath. It is MAY 23RD not SEPTEMBER 23RD. We will be back in first place by next week. Willie Randolph has done a great job, maybe you forgot how things were before? Stop being spoiled and stop complaining. Support your team now or you should not celebrate with the rest of us in October. Try to relax a little and have some fun.
If it was September 23rd, we’d be just wrapping up a 22 game losing streak.
Adam Rubin should stop talking out of his enormous rear-end.
“In fact, players such Martinez actually are harmful to the Mets in a way, and ultimately speak poorly of GM Omar Minaya’s soon-to-be-fleeting tenure”
$100 says if Pedro was healthy and pitching, Rubin wouldn’t be saying this. ANY unhealthy player hurts a team. The real problem is guys like Delgado who really don’t give a damn about losing and are too arrogant to talk to the media or be a clubhouse leader (don’t have to be ra-ra to be one. Jeter isn’t).
Let’s not write Omar’s obituary before he’s dead (I’m sure Rubin already has it written up). Let’s not forget where this team was before him. The Mets now have more talent in their starting lineup than the 2003 and 2004 Mets combined had. It would be great it Omar could add a reliever or trade Delgado for a real 1B, but this is real life; not MVP baseball. He has to acquire guys from free agency (which has been thin as of late) or trade (which he did. The farm system is relatively weak with most of the talent in AA and below) or the draft (they’ve mostly had low picks and their compliance with not overpaying the slot is what has hurt them. The cheap Wilpons deserve blame for that).
What Rubin is doing here is attempting to save Willie by making a scapegoat out of Omar. Want to blame everyone (as the title of your article suggests)? Then do it. Don’t throw Omar under the bus and no one else. Blaming everyone means blaming everyone, not blaming Omar instead of Willie.
it’s not willie’s fault Delgado and Castillo are on this team. The 2 of them need to be replaced ASAP.
That and consistant pitching puts this team back in the playoffs.
so if Willie gets fired does he still get to coach under Clint Hurdle at the All-Star game?? hahahah what a joke that is
the manager who took his team on a tear and won the pennant last year wants willie to coach his team and a bunch of arm chair managers want willie fired. i will side with the man who won the pennant. he knows his bisness.
I believe he did that out of good will for Willie because he pretty much asked for it as he came out and said, I would love for another chance to coach at Yankee Stadium. So Hurdle being a nice guy put him on his staff it is in now way an indication of how well he coached last season or how well he is coaching this year……
Omar needs to be fired-NOW.
He throws darts at a board and sometimes they hit (Schneider and Church, Maine) but many times they dont.
He doesnt have a clue about building a team with chemistry and overloads the club with fossils and ne’er do wells.
Omar needs to say adios.
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