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In case you missed it, 
I will begin posting my interview with Mets GM Omar Minaya on MetsBlog.com tomorrow morning – and it will continue throughout the day.
I will not be making one, long post, including every question and answer. Instead, I will post each question and answer on its own – this way, you can discuss that specific topic.
Otherwise, if I do it as one, long post, the comments section will become too cluttered and confusing.
In other words, Question 1 will post at 9 am, Question 2 will post at 10 am, Question 3 will post at 11 am, and so on…
Is it also possible to maybe set up a link to the entire Q&A, or post it as one with comments turned off so that people can read the whole thing in one shot?
oh man does anyone know what happened to http://www.domewright.com and/or http://www.coppolasisters.com ?
they were freakin hot but now their site is redirected to some kind of dating thing
damn, I wanted a new t-shirt
I certainly hope question #1 was “what have you done to deserve to keep your job, let alone get an extension?”
Other questions:
- You plan on signing any more broken down old players?
-When do you offer Castillo that 3 year contract extension
-Boy, you really blew it when you picked Randolph, didn’t ya?
-Gonna sign any more affirned steriod cheats?
-You ever plan to fixing the farm system?
Omar, if a team has a glaring weakness, why is it best to wait at least full season to address that situation?
If you are speaking about the bullpen, check back to the polls taken at the trade deadline, which read something like,
What do the Mets need most?
Leftfielder
Starting pitching
relief pitching
You’ll see that only about 10% of the fan base thought relief pitching was our most pressing need at the deadline. The man doesn’t have a crystal ball
C’mon, jscand, why let facts get in the way of a perfectly irrational argument? Just let the idiots on this site battle it out, I’ve barely come on here since the season ended because it’s just so annoying. Everyone thinks they know what this team needs but they don’t know anything.
why would i care what a fan poll thought of the team’s needs back in July?… plus, omar has given us a horrid bullpen for 2 years and counting…
Hey matt..how many questions did you ask omar?
I’d much prefer you posting the whole transcript or a link to it, while at the same time posting one question at a time to let the morons on this website battle it out.
agreed….depending on how many questions i would most likely perfer to read the questions first before making a response.
Good call, Matt. Lets all have a chance to talk about someting other than the collapse part 2.
I hope this isn’t another puff piece. I’m expecting some tough questions.
ha then you will most likely be very disapointed….
they let him go to spring training and invited him inside shea stadium, on the field twice in the past 2.5 weeks. how does one get that kind of access?
Omar, would you please do the respectable thing and leave this franchise alone?
What’s the point of that post? The guy was just signed to a contract extension. Like it or not he’s going to be around for awhile.
I think the point was that he doesn’t like it….
Aah I see.
Actually Flight From Houston is on a roll with his posts. I think he might actually say the dumbest things of anyone on this website.
Can’t you tell that he is really Mike Scott and is still on a plane from Houston after 22 years?
hey real…geez took you a while today lol where ya been
If I had to guess I’d say you two were Hank and Hal….
I have posted a few. Kind of slow on here today.
Hank and Hal? I am the old man himself. Anyone seen my meds? Hey Hal think we can buy the Cubs?
lol yea sure what the hell
Just read that the Yankees let go there 3B coach.
Hmmm, shouldn’t the Mets do the same?
Would he understand the sign?
Or maybe he would lose his job and get thrown out at home. Man I am full of them today.
Paging Mr. Randolph.
Aguayo to be directing traffic outside Citi Field next year.
Or following Omar’s normal pattern, given a 4 year contract.
Aguayo directing traffic? Evidently, you would like to see car accidents and run over pedestrians in the parking lot? Sick! Just sick!
Haha
Really? You are posting 1 question an HOUR?
Can we drag this out anymore. I guess you need the web traffic for your Geico ads?
Or, like I said, maybe I want to give you the opportunity to discuss each topic in its own thread…instead of one gigantic free-for-all.
Thanks for reading.
I’d actually space them out longer than an hour. This way you can actually have some discussion in a thread rather than have a bunch of threads jumping around.
The Geico money goes directly to SNY, not the Metsblog staff. I doubt he’s trying to pad traffic stats, his stats were already through the roof during the peak points of the season.
And what are they now :-)
Wow, there is a surprising amount of venom among the posters here today. Sounds like you can’t win no matter what you do, Matt.
If you crush Minaya with tough questions, chances are slim you’ll easily get exclusive interviews in the future, especially since half of the so called “tough” questions come from fairly uninformed people who are just bitter about the way the season ended.
I’m more interested in what we can glean about how Omar plans on approaching 2009.
I think splitting the questions out is fine, in fact, if there were one question each day it might even work better since we’ve got nothing to talk about until the playoffs are over anyway, and they aren’t ending tomorrow.
Agree with your last point, Backstop. Since days go by with no new news, at least there would be something going on here.
Here are some questions that need answering:
1) Ambiorix Burgos for Brian Bannister….good trade or the greatest trade?
2) Please answer with either “Heath Bell” “Matt Lindstrom” or both—Duaner Sanchez, Scott Schoenweiss, Pedro Feliciano, Aaron Heilman are all much worse then having_________
3) If you had to do it all over again, would you have fired Willie Randolph at a reasonable hour?
4) Is it true that Tony Bernazard is the devil?
5) Please choose your ideal woman: hockey mom or pig in lipstick? Note to self be prepared for Anna Benson joke…
6) Jeff Wilpon–sissy man or whiny bitch?
7) Can we look forward to hearing Manny Ramirez’s name all offseason long for like the 5th consecutive year?
Now here are some questions rumored to be asked and answered:
1) I propose paying all of our players in Mets Money…discuss.
1) Where is the homerun apple right now?
2) Is the homerun apple going to Citifield?
3) Giant apples….discuss
Giant Apples? You seem to be stuck on Anna Benson.
As for the homerun apple, it’s currently touring Newfoundland with the Stanley Cup.
what a clown
i thought the homerun apple was in the witness relocation program with henry hill and jimmy hoffa :P
Come on and think about it. You know what type of answers Omar gave. Answers that won’t inform any of us anything that we don’t already know.
We will here about how we were just a few wins away.
We will here that the bullpen needs to be “addressed”. No details will be given on who they are going to look to trade or release or acquire.
We won’t be told are you going to go get a big LF bat like Manny.
We won’t be told are you really going to make a run at CC or even try to resign Ollie.
And of course the big question. Is Luis Castillo going to be a Met next year? His answer will be “We think Luis can get 100% healthy and come and contribute to this team next season”. Meanwhile we all know that they are going to look to move him out of here any way possible.
Bottom line is we won’t be told anything that we don’t know already. We know the Mets are going to address the bullpen, starting pitching, and Left field. We won’t be given any hints on how they plan on doing it.
That is the way it is. Omar is not going to give any leverage to any team or free agent by saying we are going to go after this guy or try to trade this and this guy. So tomorrow don’t get all upset when all you are getting is the Omar typical answers. He is not going to give anything away.
Agreed. Omar doesn’t owe us any answers, he owes us results next season on the field. I couldn’t care less what he has to say, cause he never says anything of use.
Can’t wait to see how many Castillo for Byrnes, Murphy for Peavy, and Murphy+Heilman for Holliday trades I get to read about in the upcoming threads. Yay. Everything talked about on here since the season ended will be rehashed at least a hojillion times until Omar actually announces a move.
i second that
ANNOUNCING THE “MATTS INTERVIEW W/ OMAR OVER/UNDER CONTEST ON OMARS USE OF “YOU KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING”!!!
Lets set the bar at……….35x throughout the entire thing.
damn it would be like shooting fish from a barrel – but i don’t think matt would transcribe that verbatim – cuz he knows there is a lot of immature posters here that will latch onto that
Furioso I read a lot of your posts and I agree with pretty much everything you have to say…especially the one about the mets pen being brutal but the fact that we were always in a position to make the playoffs until the last day…and our offense still couldnt come through…Some people need to realize this team has more problems than the bullpen
by the way guys after seeing lowe’s performance last nite = i am sold on signing him too bad the dodgers bullpen imploded on him willie style
Either Lowe or Garland, both are ground ball pitchers, Lowe had a rough year but he has Lowe in age, Garland is just 29 and 6′6. seems like a smarter choice and more durable. last thing you want is a bad contract on an old pitcher who is not what you expected…
* sorry meant to say Garland had a rough year, Lowe had a very good year.
Is there a possibility Omar might tell us who he may be thinking of trying to get this offseason…cuz i dont think anyone has ANY clue at this point
doubt it – i think that would amount to free agent tampering omar has to give vauge and general anwers to those questions – i just hope matt asked him about the slotting system and why we always cowtow to the commish
Hey does any one else have metsblog on their igoogle page? If so it shows the next post as Q and A: MetsBlog and Minaya on gritty players.
lets go sox or rays – either way its a win /win situation cuz the yankee fans will be pissed :P
go whichever team can beat the phils…..
well there is still hope for the dodgers
not really, let’s be honest. that game last night was a must win for the dodgers and they blew it.
they said the same thing last year sox indians remember???
Carlos Beltran and spouse renew their vows with J-Lo and Marc Antony?? Big Mutts news, that is…
Like I told you Mutts fans back in the summer when you guys were preaching “we’re the best”……you would be playing golf in October…or talking about your CF’s wedding vows….LMAO
waaa waaa the dodgers threw us inside pitches waaa weaa only were alowed to do that waaa waaa i think shane prictorino crapped himself waaaa
hey philthy whats the over/under that myers gets smacked around worse than what he did to his wife???
Hey, I was told by you Mutts fans last month to come back when the Phillies won some playoff games……here we are…
How’s your job going these days? Had to come to NYC to actually b successful huh?
It’s too bad he showed up at the wrong time… Ironic how he thinks he showed up at the right time when the Phillies win. I’m sorry the last week for the Phillies wasn’t as glorious as his paycheck lol He’ll know what true pain is when the Phillies don’t win it all. That William Penn curse… Very painful days coming.
And here you are but in the event you lose the World Series will you be back… Are you actually a Phillies fan living in NY or do you do a horrible commute? lol
so if the rays win the world series this year, might it have something to do with the change of name at the start of this season, if so can the Mets also change their name ? ( this is not a serious question, just something to think about )
change it to the ets?
I think it would have more to do with building a really good team.
Omar has a better shot at changing the name than building a championship-level team.
Seriously, I sincerely hope that he makes a point of giving the team adequate pitching and bench depth.
I’m sick and tired of this team being forced to start scrubs in the field and retreads/green rookies in big starts down the stretch.
Even if it means spending a few mil more bucks, even if it looks like overkill, as semble a proper deep roster for once in his life please
et tu gina?
I will love to see kasmir dominate the phillies, I dont know why, but I will like to see that.
I’m going to draw the line for myself. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d recommend you guy’s draw one for yourself too.
My line says that if the Mets retain more than 4 of the 7 relievers (Stokes/Smith/Schoenweis/Feliciano/Heilman/Sanchez/Ayala) – I will not watch Opening Day. I will not watch next season. I will not care next season. I can’t and won’t believe in that bullpen roster that lacks the skill, mental strength or toughness to win.
So Mr. Minaya, X out of at least 3 of those 7. Let Ayala go since he’s a FA. Find someone to take Schoenweis’ not so bad looking 3.34 ERA just like you did for Mota’s repulsive one last season. And need I ask to dispose of Aaron Heilman? You can keep the rest. I promise, I won’t complain.
Give me a closer, give me a right-handed set up man and give me a left-handed set-up man and you’ll dignify yourself as a competent general manager who’s directly address the main need of his club. This is a business and Minaya will be judged based upon his actions. This teams play is your report card. So do the right thing and just put together a winning team.
I dont want to see any of those guys, except smith.
I don’t either, but I’ll at least settle for half. The way I see it there’s Joe Smith and six relievers. Expecting all six to be gone isn’t likely. So I’d hold onto the best and most affordable three. Brian Stokes did good enough to at least earn a chance in Spring Training to compete for the long reliever’s role or perhaps even the 5 slot in the rotation. If it’s not him though, Parnell’s not a bad consolation in the pen.
The Mets already will need one quality left-hander. I’m hoping one out or Rhodes, Biemel, Ohman, Affeldt and Reyes. Signing two would likely be too expensive. So moving Schoenweis to free up some room is okay. Feliciano’s not the greatest, but he has had better years in the past with us. If he’s not our main left-handed go to guy, I see more improvement coming.
I’d actually like to see Eddie Kunz break in some sort of short or middle relief role with the Mets if he’s ready, but he may not. Holding onto Duaner Sanchez may not be the best idea, but I think he’s still more worth holding onto than Heilman. If it were up to me though, I’d trade him elsewhere and sign a guy like Seanez who’ll just get the same ‘09 salary anyway.
It’d make me incredibly happy to see 5 or 6 new relievers next season, but if it’s 3 or 4 I’ll be alright. 2 would be really pushing it. I still probably wouldn’t take them seriously if 5 of 7 returned. If six or all seven return, I don’t watch the Mets until 2010.
Honestly, I’ll watch the team no matter who they throw out there. I became a fan of this team in the early 90’s when they had some pretty bleak years, and watched the 01-04 seasons which were pretty depressing. Being a Mets fan, in my experience, is all about suffering through a decade of mediocrity to be able to enjoy a year or two of postseason excitement before more mediocrity. This team never ever allows itself to go through a proper rebuilding, so they only get good when the ‘win now’ strategy nets them some stars that haven’t completely fizzled out. I still sometimes have Bonilla-related nightmares….
Whatever they do in the offseason, I will watch and root for them. I may not have confidence in them (and I won’t until they show me reason to on the field), but I’ll watch. Depending on who they throw out there I may have different reactions during my few trips to Citi Field next year (if I can afford to go at all), like yelling obcenities if Heilman is closing for us.
Be a true fan, root for your team. Suffering now will make our next postseason experience, somewhere around 2016, that much sweeter.
yeah darknova to paraphrase c3po “Were Mets fans! Its like we were made to suffer!”
retool certain areas of our line up pen and rotation – yes imploding the team – no!
At least no one can call me a bandwagoner.
I like to think that if there’s any bandwagon left over from ‘06, they’re learning now what it really means to be a Mets fan. Welcome aboard, folks, this rollercoaster has more down than up….
face it dominican we will be stuck with more than smith
You’re right. We’re lucky if they get rid of at least 3. It’s not as easy as everyone seems to think.
But Omar has got to do something. Two years, virtually the same pen, yielded the same results…..
And I’ll be back, rooting no matter who takes the field.
Memo to Omar: please don’t make me suffer…..
Well, Ayala is FA, so there’s one gone right off the bat. I’d like to think that Sanchez or Feliciano could have trade value given some decent seasons they’ve had in the past, which is usually good enough to give relief pitchers some trade value. Also, it should be obvious to everyone out there that Heilman needs a change of scenery and that no one wants to see him in a Mets uniform next year with the exceptions of the Braves/Phillies/Marlins. It’s not unrealistic that at least three go, but Omar has to make sure he gets something back for them. I do like the way Omar does business, but I seriously disagree with some of the *ahem* “talent” he chases sometimes. I’m somewhat mildly optimistic about there being a slim chance that Omar gives us a competitive team next year. We’ll see… until he announces anything, this is all speculation.
Only reason I’m thinking they’re more likely to try and deal Schoe instead of Feliciano – although similar pitchers and results last year – is I believe Shoe’s salary next year is twice what Feliciano’s is. But maybe that makes it harder to trade him. I’m no GM….
Couldn’t agree with you more about Heilman. It’s best all way around if he moves on.
That’s fair. I was just thinking along the lines that Schoe is a scrub and Feliciano has some decent history, giving him more trade value than Schoe. Honestly, I’d love to see Feliciano be the one to stay, but I think the salary gap will make it less likely.
In the end, the fewer familiar faces I see next season coming out of the pen, the happier I will be.
Let them both go.
Feliciano was terrible. Much worse than his numbers show. He was like Fanny constantly having to be bailed out by his teammates. How many times did he come into the game to face a lefthander and then walk him and come out after one batter. The only reason his ERA was not higher was Smith kept bailing him out.
I think Duaner Sanchez should really consider changing his pitching motion too. I used to think it gave him more power to his pitch but all it does it hurt his location.
Rays-Phils WS; now there’s a barn burner. After Marc Anthony sings, I’ll be switching to Two and a Half Men (the story of Jeff, Omar and Willie).
i thought that was the 3 stooges – i;d say the Marx brothers but the Marxs’ were a bit smarter than our f.o
What the Dodgers need to do is concentrate on winning two in a row. As we know, Game 7 is a toss up and can be won by an unlikely hero hitting a 2-run homer. Phillies need to be careful here. Especially with the implodable one, Brett Myers, on the mound in Game 6 and Moyer or Blanton on the mound in Game 7. That, vs. what the Dodgers can send out there in Kuroda and Lowe (for more than 74 pitches this time) in Game 7.
Go Dodgers!
btw guys drex went 4 for 4 in the afl yesterday
I know. I was pitching.
We know he can hit. I am more concerned with what position did he play and how did he do on the field.
Doesn’t matter if he can hit or not. We won’t need him to with Manny patroling LF.
Really have a feeling Manny is going to be a Met to the tune of 4yrs/$84MM.
Sign Manny, K-Rod, and Ollie. Then trade for other bullpen help or use our young arms (Kunz, Parnell).
We will NOT be spending 55 million on 3 FA this offseason. I can bet you that.
I checked and he was 1/3 and he played 2B.
He was 4/4 on Monday but comitted his 1st error at 2B.
Too bad Val Pascucci’s not there to have a “little talk” with the official scorer.