Opinion: Four More Years of Minaya
According to multiple reports, the Mets will hold a 
conference call this morning to announce a three-year contract extension for Omar Minaya.
I agree with bringing Minaya back.
I understand needing to give him an extension – so to avoid lame-duck status, which could encourage him to act irrationally.
However, a three-year extension does seem a bit excessive. I would not go so far as to say it is ‘absurd,’ but I find it difficult to justify when considering the resources he has had, and the lack of post-season success it has returned.
That said, the Mets are significantly better since Minaya took charge, they are selling more tickets, returning better ratings, and, as the Metropolitans recently wrote, “If you take a look at his worst three moves, are they really that terrible?”
Yes, one playoff appearance in four years is disappointing, but when compared to his best transactions, and considering four-straight seasons above .500, and the level of hype that surrounds this franchise compared to just five years ago, Minaya has earned the right to remain in the driver’s seat. His biggest failure was not acquiring a relief pitcher mid-season to help out a weak bullpen. However, no team acquired a significant relief pitcher at the deadline, and more or less every contending team had been looking for one. Minaya was left on the sideline, but so were most of the league’s GMs.
And so, now that Minaya will remain as GM, the Wilpons must set a different set of goals for him.
The Mets need to get younger, and resemble the tough, hard-working, exciting team that the majority of the team’s fans most enjoy watching. This is not just the business of baseball, it’s also entertainment.
Minaya has a strong, exciting, entertaining group to build upon, but that is not enough. Also, he cannot keep relying on a weak free-agent market to cover up the minor-league system’s deficiencies. Otherwise, as Adam Rubin put it in the Daily News earlier in the season, the vision Minaya articulated four years ago will continue to be built on ‘a house of cards.’
I wrote the following in a post to MetsBlog in June, and I still feel the same way:
“The thing is, and what worries me, is that the old market – in which Minaya worked so well – is now changing, and being run by a younger, different-thinking generation.
“Smaller-market teams are now locking up their best young talent, meaning these players are less likely to hit the open market. There is more parity in baseball, and so teams are less likely to make trades. Lastly, players are breaking down and performing worse in their late 30s, probably due to the league’s new performance-enhancing drug policy, and so relying on older talent may not be as effective as it was just a few years ago.
“I hope Minaya is able to adapt. I’m willing to bet that he can.
“As I said (in May), I sense that the Mets are at a crossroads. Minaya did outstanding work, and did what was necessary to get from Howe to here. However, I have a feeling that more work will need to be done to get from here to a World Series ring – let alone remain over .500.”
He is going to have the opportunity, and it appears he will have four more years to get it done.
