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…the popular belief among fans and reporters seems to be that, now that Willie Randolph is out of the picture, if the team doesn’t win, Omar Minaya should and will be in trouble…
However, in a Q&A with SI.com, Jon Heyman says that Minaya is not in jeopardy of losing his job, adding:
“I believe Omar has a very good rapport with the Wilpons and I think they very much want to work with Omar. The nature of baseball suggests that the GM always has a much longer leash than the manager for a variety of reasons, one of them being that it can sometimes take years to implement an overall plan.”
Nevertheless, in the Daily News, Mike Lupica writes that the next ‘nightmare’ could be Minaya’s.
Meanwhile, also in the Daily News, Bob Raissman details Minaya’s ability to ‘spin,’ adding that he is, ‘‘Spoken like a man who has earned a doctorate in jive.’
…minaya’s press conference was brutal, but honest…he dedicated himself to three talking points, a) it was his decision to fire Willie Randolph, b) the media forced him in to making a decision by putting pressure on his clubhouse, and c) he told willie at midnight to avoid any one finding out from a third party source…
…other than that, minaya was knee deep in spin tactics and honest filibustering, which is all totally expected…
By the way, the following audio was created by a friend of a reader of MetsBlog, and edits together every time Minaya said, ‘OK,’ during his press conference with reporters yesterday:
The only 3rd party source is someone higher up the ladder, he totally admitted as much by the way he said it. If he and the Wilpons were the only ones who knew where is the “source”? And must he use “ok” 200 times in 40 minutes?
I have been a Met fan since my first game against the colt 45’s.I was at shea in 64,there the first night they were ever,ever, in fist place in 1969 , saw Grote do a mickey Owen in the ‘73 series, cried when Seaver was exiled, actually went to opening day in 78,79,80,81,82,when things were bleak,remember the late 80’s when you could not get a ticket, the horrible teams of the early to mid 90’s,again went to games, watched them creep toward mediocrity once more,then with Doubleday gone,madeness begins once more.Phillps with his Mo Vaughn/Alomar/Hampton[yes, he went to Colorado, the Mets offered him more $]the Kazmire debacle,Omar building a team as if its the 1980’s, a clueless manager a nice man through and through treated like flotsam by the Gm and owners[I'm referring to art Howe} Now this nonsense. I knew some Yankee fans who have never gone back to the Bronx since George II took over[and now his idiot son] I will do the same with my Metropolitans. Its been a nice ride, grwoing up listening to Lindsey,Bob and dear Ralph was one of the true joys of my childhood. Seaver will always be a baseball god, my boys of summer, sun dappled heroes will be ,forever the 1969 Mets. Now, however, a second rate team acting like a thrid rate bush league,enough! Now more being assaulted by loud boorish music at games. No more “everybody clap your hands” as if a fan doesnt know when to clap! Now more scoreboard/loudspeaker cheers insulting my ears and intelligence. It was time well spent, now like a baseball Ronin fan, I will search for a class orgaization that treats its fans and people well. Good Bye, Wilpons, you have insulted me the last time. Farewell, Omar, nice press conference ,BTW, took pointers from GWB it seemed. No more , in the final analysis, FUN TO BE A MET FAN.
I hear you Rube. I’ve been thinking the same thing.
Losing games is one thing, but I don’t want to
associate with such a low class business either.
I’m just not sure what to do. I can’t root for the Phillies,
it has to be a NL team, do I have to subscribe to MLB
extra innings to see the Cubs play, only to hear the
other team’s announcers call the game? Jeez.
There’s a minor league team that’s pretty close. I
don’t know.
As a life long Met fan (i’m 43), who grew up in Flushing around some of the players in the 70’s, I am finally fed up with the Wilpons, Minaya, & Bernazzard.
I understand the firing of Willie, just do not agree with the timing. That said, I have to question WHEN Omar Minaya will be held accountable for the roster HE & only HE put together.
Did he not notice that almost every team is looking to get younger? What did Luis Castillo do to earn a 4 year contract? Resign Alou with the convaluted idea that he would stay HEALTHY?
I get the feeling the Wilpons would bve better off hiring a fantasy league winner, as surely they see what is happening in the REAL WORKD of MLB
hahahahahahaah that audio is great
Seriously, I am hysterical laughing at work. That is awesome. “Jerry Manuel has his magic wand…Ok, Ok, Ok, Ok!”
That sound bite is truly hilarious. Great job!
i totally disagree. I feel that Omar was GENUINE, he was HONEST, and the points he was making were valid. He blamed himself at a few spots (yes, i watched AND TIVO’d the ENTIRE press conference, so i can look it over again and again)
In my opinion, he is a GREAT GM. There is so much MORE that goes into being a GM besides trades and signings that we take for granted, ESPECIALLY in a market such as NY. He’s made mistakes, but he’s made great deals and signings as well.
I truly think that he was genuine in what he was saying, he was genuinely upset he had to fire his boy Willie, and I think he was honest and took what the reporters asked and answered it. Some reporters ask the stupidest questions, so i dont blame Minaya when he laughed off some questions.
I am probably the ONLY one who feels this way, but now, I dont think it was “shamful” and “Classless” the way it was handled. Probably couldve been done a little better, but Omar blatantly said “it was my decision to fire him after the game,” which in Pacific time happend to be “the middle of the night” here.
Bottom line is it was the right decision and im sure Omar wrestled with it and NOT just because now the “spotlight” is on him.
I have a new respect for him and I hope he is our GM for at least the next few years
<>
If he doesn’t sign Michael Inoa he can paddle back to the DR forever for all I care…
K ~
I agree with you. I never felt that anything was done wrong here and after listening to Omar (although he is not a great public speaker), I feel he was honest and handled the situation the only way he could. I don’t think anything classless was done and I am still baffled by the outcry. He fired the guy at 11:15 after the game…isn’t that normal protocol?
In any event, it’s over and it’s time to move on. I like Omar and I actually liked Willie. It’s about time we held the player’s accountable instead of guys who have little or no control over the outcome of these games.
I like Omar too, but even after hearing his press conference, I think he made a serious managing error. We no longer feel like this organization has a plan to succeed. If Omar is fighting for his job, he can no longer look to the greater future, which worries me.
the farm system is totally barren.
plus he just had to fire his hand picked manager and his assistants.
so he’s a decent gm…but he’s far from a great gm.
Yeah I don’t see how anyone could call him a great gm. He’s done a good job spending the Wilpons money, overall his trades have been more good than bad, but it’s not like he’s had genius move after genius move. And built a contender while building a strong farm system.
Well, I think he has made some really special moves. The only pick ups he made that were salary dumps were Delgado, Shawn Green, and maybe LoDuca.
He was able to sign Beltran and Pedro with the Wilpon’s money, but Steve Phillips was able to sign Mo Vaughn with their money too. He was able to trade for Roberto Alomar. Brian Cashman was able to trade for Kevin Brown, sign Jaret Wright, LaTroy Hawkins, Kyle Farnsworth, Carl Pavano, etc. Nobody gets on his case. I wonder why.
Because Brian Cashman has the rings. Omar does not. Cashman had some leeway for a while but is now under more scrutiny.
Omar has made a few good trades but a lot of bad ones. Most of his big players came here as free agents where all it cost was money. A lot of GM’s could have done that.
I put ZERO stock in the bad trades argument. You are going to be like every other person that criticizes his moves by bringing up Brian Bannister, Heath Bell (a guy who said he is “happy and sad” about Willie’s firing because he didn’t have the greatest relationship with him. dirtbag.), Matt Lindstrom, Henry Owens, Xavier Nady (whom he got Oliver Perez for), and Mike Jacobs. Puh-lease.
Because Brian Cashman isn’t our gm, if he was I’d be complaining about him too. And because the Yankees do have a farm system.
Here’s my question to you. Where is our farm system? Where are all of the Latin prospects flowing in from the Mets’ much ballyhooed Dominican academy? Where are any prospects? I’m not holding him accountable for dumping off Gomez, Mulvey and Humber — I’d have done that in a second, and so would any other GM. I’m talking about depth. We have Fernando Martinez (who is yet again hurt), and we have marginalia. That’s all. In three years you should have something more at A and AA than a few marginal pitching prospects and some Jack Cust clones in wating.
“Here’s my question to you. Where is our farm system? Where are all of the Latin prospects flowing in from the Mets’ much ballyhooed Dominican academy”
apparently they’re all ten. but don’t worry they’re coming, any decade now.
where is our farm system? do you want to give santana back to the twins?
pelfrey is in the show. we have 5 guys in AA ball that we are high on. AAA is filled with ex-major leaguers and some wannabe hanger ons. we have a catching prospect in A-ball.
maybe i’m alone, but i don’t think the future is that bleak. we have the luxury of being able to build up the farm system again and either plug holes or fill major voids through free agency. fact is, we spent a lot of chips on santana. that’s a trade i would do all over again…maybe 100 times.
Look the bottom line is what counts. If it winds up that Santana is a .500 pitcher and Gomez is a perennial All Star and Humber & Mulvey are 20 game winners in 2 years than it’s not such a great trade. Jacobs numbers since the trade [except for HR's] are the same or better than Delgados. No one is saying that he shouldn’t have made those trades, he more or less had to, but results are the only thing that counts. Anyone with money can buy blue chip stocks but if they bomb it doesn’t matter what your previous track record was. My biggest complaint about Omar was that he put all his eggs in the ‘older player’ basket. Yes, he would have looked good IF they had stayed healthy but they didn’t and he had no backup plan. Look at Jose Lima and Brian Lawrence, they only hurt this club, not helped it. I don’t see Omar being astute in flushing out hidden gems. He goes for the big names at high prices. He trades away Bannister for Gotay and now has neither. I think the Pagan pickup was a good one but I am suspect as to what he is doing on the DL so long. Omar is like a politician – the nature of the job makes you do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do. And Willie is the one who was blindsided and stabbed in the back and I’m sure he feels the way he was fired was classless. I’ve spoken to many, many, many Met fans yesterday and today and they, almost unanimously are fedup with this organization. And s**t runs down from the top.!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It takes time man…The Dominican Academy opened about 3 years ago. The players coming out of there are extremely raw- at 16/17, they should be raw. Take Jose Reyes – supremely talented, signed in ‘99, but it took 4-5 years before he was able to make an impact. Look to the lowest rungs of the minors, and you’ll see these guys. Guys like Pelfrey and Smith who speed thru the farm are the exception.
That academy only opened last year (or was it 2006?) In any case, it takes a few years to start reaping benefits from these things…Give it some time man, you don’t find major leaguers in a third world country overnight…
OK, well — that’s fine. Building the Academy was a good move.
But I stand by the remainder of the criticism. I don’t consider Niese, Evans, Carp, or Murphy spectacular propsects. Every team has guys like that and a lot more. I understand that a wave of prospects just turned into Santana, Church and Schneider, and that we’re not hearing much from the Milledge Idiots these days. (If the above poster read my post before responding to it, he’d know that I gave Omar credit for the no-brainer Santana deal.) But the system really does lack depth. There’s going to be a divide on the Bingo prospects, but having watched them first hand, meh. Jack Cust. I saw Niese pitch, too, and he’s not bad, but he’s not a “can’t miss” by any stretch.
Listen, all is relative. We’ve missed out the last few drafts where we didn’t have any first rounders. And we picked up three first rounders this year. There’s also a guy named Joe Smith who’s a pretty decent reliever I heard. I’m perfectly comfortable in giving Omar 1 more (calendar) year – I want to see what he can do in the offseason – he’ll have plenty of money coming off the books to make some special moves, and I totally expect that by mid-2009 we should have a few of our top prospects on the big league roster. You really can’t expect a GM to build an ORGANIZATION in 3 years…sure you can buy yourself a team, but the building blocks for the future take more than a couple of years to put together…let’s see if he can revamp the roster, get younger, and stay at a high level of competition. Many people like to rip Cashman, but in all fairness it really does take a lot to keep your team winning year in year out, and he does it pretty well. I wonder if Omar can match up with his skills. I’m betting that he can…
lol….usually I’m staunchly against ANYTHING anti-Met, don’t find any satirical spins funny, nothing about the Mets is ever funny to me…I only take joy in winning, but…I gotta say…that audio is hilarious…
K ~
RANDOM QUESTION: Is it public knowledge that Fred Wilpon was the at game on Sunday? He walked into the Diamond Club entrance around 12:15ish before the start of Game 1.
Why is that important? Does he not attend many weekend Mets games?
i bet the wilpons are already planning their hit on moe green.
that is funny…
I thought the press conference was very honest and emotional for Omar. I thought he did a very good job with it.
As far as a 3rd party source goes, remember there are alot people involved with an organization, not just GMs, Asst. GMs, and Owners. There are Secretaries, and other clerical type people who can get word of something going down, and putting out there to the media. To go ahead and fire Willie, the Mets needed to get the AAA coaches to where they needed to be, get new AAA coaches in place. There are a lot of people connected to these coaches as well (agents, family) who can leak something. So to say the only 3rd party source is from higher than Omar is not fair.
But if he claims to have woken up Monday morning and decided to fire willie who else besides maybe the Wilpons or Tony the Rat could have possibly known? It wasn’t like he walked into the office and told all the clerks and secretaries what his plan was.
True, but arrangements needed to be made. Travel arrangements, coaches being assigned to new positions, etc. Do you think Omar called every coach being re-assigned to tell them personally? I’m sure people besides Omar and the Wilpons within their offices knew what was happening by mid-day Monday.
You’re exactly right and this is what I said yesterday. Omar made it sound as if he got to the West Coast or on the plane and hadn’t made a decision. When were the new coaches contacted?? If you [Met fans] saw the Mets 9 -6 win the other night I really saw some energy and I believe alot of enthusiasm. I really thought they might start to turn it around. I believe that Jeff Wilpon was afraid that the Mets would go on a modest winning streak and that just wouldn’t do because they wanted him gone. HoJo should have gone too. Compare the team batting with Rick Dowd and with HoJo. Compare the team winning % with Dowd and with HoJo. Willie was sabatoged by several people including some of the players. And I believe it was Leiter and Franco who were instrumental in getting Kazmir traded.
this smells like jeff wilpon.
And he has never smelled good.
glad you guys know him on a personal level.
at least he doesn’t run his mouth about pitchers hitting.
you know him on a personal level?
would you rather have him or hankenstein running your team?
Last I checked Hanks team has a better record and back in the hunt while Paris’s team in still 2 under and just fired their manager in the dead of night.
Need I remind you of the standings last year?
And what’s next? A batting practice net in front of the pitchers in AL parks? Gimme a break.
Last year when the Yankees made the playoffs and we collapsed? Is that what you are talking about?
I agree with npanzeca. One of the many things I hated about the Yankees was their crazy ranting and raving and their attitude that they could trade for anybody at anytime. I didn’t like what they did to Joe Torre either but the Mets have a long track record of the Wilpon’s being clueless and depending on guys like Steve Phillips and more Bernazard + Omar to advise them. I say that if you really understood the game of baseball than you wouldn’t have the people working for you be idiots. And if you don’t understand the game than stay out of it completely. Do you really think Omar made the decision to fire Willie?? You can bet he go an ultimatime from the Wilpons.
That audio was great. I’d like to see him put together one using every time Omar said the word “decision.”
He sounds like Joe Pesci.
if we’re talking about whether omar is in trouble (we being the press and mainstream blogosphere, not comment section crackheads like myself), than omar is in trouble.
I don’t really care if Minaya speaks like the Hamburgler or a Teletubby as long as he makes sound baseball moves, he is not a dolt he knows what has done wrong with the players he has brought in, and is not hiding from that.
In the mean time people keep reaching to him destroying the farm system…
Their was no farm system when he came he has traded a bunch of nothings aways.
Brian Bannister’s ERA now hovers over 5.00, Mike Jacobs is a one trick pony who always decays in the heat of summer, and the book is out on Lastings Milledge.
Health Beth is the lone nut cracker and it is fair to say Petersons influence on pitching recommendations cost him his job yesterday.
The Wilpons whatever they say, insisted Willie go, so Minaya insisted the CEO of pitching go.
I like Rick Peterson a lot but one size does not fit all.
“Their was no farm system when he came he has traded a bunch of nothings aways.”
but why, three years later, is there still no farm system? Most of the players he traded were here before he took over.
it takes more than 3 years to develop a farm system. Plus, the team had no first rounders in ‘06 or ‘07. Pelfrey was drafted in ‘05, and here is up in the bigs. You’ve also got Fernando and Pena down there.
In all fairness Jacobs is a one trick pony but its one that this Mets team could sure use. If Tony B hadn’t messed up with Delgado as a free agent we would have a plan B with Jacobs.
He would have been traded out of here anyway. Can’t keep a kid like Jacobs backing up Delgado for 3 years.
a) it was his decision to fire Willie Randolph….. Which nobody bought. It is obvious it wasn’t his decision. He mostly talked in circles and nothing he said justified the way Willie was fired.
I agree, anyone who thinks that Omar made this decision on his own is seriously kidding themselves.
What, now he needed to justify it? I think the reasons were obvious, and judging by Willie’s -1 confidence rating, no one around here felt like he should stay…
The sound clip is hilarious! I laughed so loud at work I had to step out… I would love to put it in my IPOD just to play it
The clip is hilarious!
I would like to have it on my iPod…
hysterical audio!
For all those that believe Omar was “honest” in the press conference. I have a bridge to sell you! That was 1000% SPIN… to try cover the PR nightmare.
Omar’s comments just doesn’t jive. Like others pointed out, how can 3rd parties find out about this if he himself didn’t decide this until he got on the plane? The only way 3rd parties can find is if it wasn’t his decision!
Whenever you fire someone – you have to let your bosses know first. – He said that he got the ok from the wilpons and then called willie. Thats how he said it on Mike and Dog.
Jeff and Tony B are pretty tight. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure what Omar was worried about.
Yet Omar went out of his way to praise Tony the Rat on mike and dog yesterday, very curious but not so much.
see my comments above.
I am not sure what people wanted Omar to say.
would it have been better if he said “I hate Wille. I hate the Mets. I hate the Wilpons. It wasn’t my decision but it was a vast right wing conspiracy”?
I mean come on guys..
The guy was clearly broken hearted and sincere. His reasoning about the third party source is legit. He wasn’t throwing Jeff wilpon under the bus. He may as well have sent in his resignation by doing so.
I brought this up in an earlier comment section, but I firmly believe that this offseason will be a huge challenge for Omar and his future with the mets will depend on how well he restocks the team. He will have to replace 5 big pieces on the Mets roster.
1B/LF – Delgado and Alou are as good as gone, most likely to some team who wants them as DHs (actually if they could stay healthy, they might make a formidable platoon at DH for some team). 1B will be much harder to fill than LF, as beyond Teixera, there’s nothing very attractive out there. I suspect that a trade is going to be the best route for this team, but with their system somewhat depleted, I don’t know how this is going to happen.
#2 & #4 Starters. If the Mets want to compete for a championship, they’ll need another top of the roation guy. There are a few out there (like Sabathia, Sheets, Burnett) and we should be able to get a guy like Burnett who has some injury concerns, simply by over-paying, but will this city tolerate another injury prone starter?
Set-up guy. Heilman will start for someone in 2009 and Omar has some internal options, but this pen needs some serious help.
With all this said and the free agent options that are going to be out there to fill some of these spots, Omar is going to have to be a seller at the deadline and see if he can try to fill some of these spots by trading for “major league ready” talent with anything he has at his disposal. That probably means Heilman and Oliver Perez will be gone by the end of July.
I read somewhere that if the Mets were willing to take Andruw Jones and his contract back – that the dodgers would consider including Kemp and Loney for a deal regarding Beltran.
That would be something i would explore and then cut Andruw. Loney is pretty nasty as first.
If you think the Dodgers are trading Kemp AND Loney then you’re delirious. And whoever is writing whatever you’re reading needs to have his head examined for sure. Trading those two guys would be the same as the Mets trading Reyes and Wright…
I can’t see the Dodgers making that deal. They’re not exactly hard-up for money.
I could see the Dodgers giving up Loney OR Kemp. I would personally rather have Loney. I think he is the better player. But I’m no scout.
I wouldn’t do it though. Let’s not forget the defense that Beltran brings to the table. Even when his bat is struggling, he always brings the glove. One of the things I love about him.
And with that being said, Beltran also has a no trade clause (which will probably require an extension to wave), and he actually produces better than Loney or Kemp. There’s no way I’m giving him up for one of these guys straight up, let alone eating up Jones.
First off, Omar has not done a bad job, but not a great one.
I would give him a B-/C+. Of course, this grade is irrespective of the handling of this firing, and I imagine the Wilpons have watched real closely and, if they feel that ultimately this was an embarassment to the organization (in tandem with a bad second half of the season), there is no doubt Omar will be gone.
And for those of you harping on the farm system, can we all agree that it would not be so “barren” if we hadn’t just traded 4 of our best prospects to get a 29-year-old left handed ace? There’s your value, and it does take a bit to replenish.
As far as your analysis, I think in terms of 1B we might look for a Todd Zeile-type option, one who may play another position but might be a good fit for 1B until one of our kids is ready. We might have a better chance at an OFer, and who knows who could become available?
Pitching will be interesting— you can see us very easily letting Ollie go, but depending upon the (continued) development of Maine and Pelfrey, and the possible readiness of a guy like Jon Niese, we might need a #2, and Burnett is not a bad option.
I agree with your Zeile comment. I suggested a guy like Joe Crede previously, who will most likely be looking for a new home. He’s got a few warts (streaky, history of injury) but you could probably get him for a 2 year deal while some of the 1B prospects have time to develop. His upside is huge. He may not want to play 1B, but Wright has seemed willing to move over in the past, and Crede plays a gold glove caliber 3B
My whole problem with Omar and this decision is a directly related to (b) above in the post. Since when does a GM of any team succumb to pressure like that? Either he was solely in charge of making that decision or he wasn’t. And if he was, it’s not the decision so much I have a problem with (he’s entitled, I guess), it’s how/when it was done. He made it sound like he went out to the west coast with no decision made, then couldn’t take the pressure, caved, made the decision Monday morning and put the ball in motion to get the replacements out to LA. It makes absolutely no sense to me. I’m leaning towards he knew exactly what he was doing when he got on that plane. And that stinks b/c the decision should have been made back in NY BEFORE they left.
I, along with many others, cringed trying to listen to his press conference, but weeding through all the O.K.s and incomplete thoughts/sentences, me thinks he protested too much it was his decision alone and that he didn’t make it until Monday morning….
I said alot of the same things too. Look, “A house divided cannot stand” and I think the Wilpon’s, at least Jeff, were never in Willies court. Hey look at Bobby V. and Phillips. They were always at odds. I think a manager must have his own hand-picked coaching staff. The only thing I like about the timing of this move is to see if this team can turn it around + plus what they do at trading time + and what excuses they come up with. This is an organization in utter turmoil!!!!
sorry, but just can’t agree with mr. heyman. there’s no doubt in my mind that if we don’t at least make the post season and get to the NLCS, minaya is toast. anything less should be unacceptable to ownership, especially with a new stadium on tap for next season. if that isn’t their reaction then they are ones who will be derelict. not blaming omar, but this mess isn’t willie’s fault either and he’s gone. only making a logical conclusion…
To get Matt Kemp or Andre Ethier, that would be nice… however, the Dodgers will only move one of them to get something useful back unless they find someone to take Juan Pierre off their hands who like Andruw Jones, they are stuck with.
The Mets have always had an incompetent owner. Now we have an incompetent GM, who replaced an incompetent GM, and just fired an incompetent manager in the middle of the night.
The Mets are a laughing stock right now and will remain so until Wilpon fires Minaya and replaces him with a respected GM and then butts out altogether.
I believe he will have until the end of 09 to put a real winner on the field. He had one chance with a manager change (though an off-season manager change this fall is doable).