21
2009
More Of The Same Next Year!
An article by 
Yesterday on his twitter Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman posted the following:
“minaya, manuel have been told by mets boss jeff wilpon they wont be fired over this painful season.”
This organization continues to amaze me. The past 2 seasons have ended with the Mets missing the post season by 1 game, losing that important 1 game the last day of the season. The Wilpons decide before the Madoff scandal broke that they want a lower payroll than last year. They figured with the same team, a team that couldn’t score more than 5 runs in a 3 game series with each game a must win that this team suddenly had the ability to win in 2009. Omar Minaya got a big extension and Jerry Manuel even though he managed the Mets to yet another collapse was brought back for the 2009 season. Some are willing to let Jerry slide because of the injuries, I don’t like it, I would love to see Jerry fired but I do see their point. However Omar has been relying far too long now on what he has done for the Mets in the past and not what he has done in the present. Let’s take a short look for the last season or 2 at what the inept GM has done for this team.
Omar Minaya:
- Last season signs Luis Castillo to a $25 million dollar contract, a guy who can’t catch a routine pop up by the way. His range is gone, he calls himself a switch hitter but lets face it when he bats lefty he slaps the ball. His knees are bad, you can see him wince in pain when has to run hard. He’s with the Mets for the next 2 years. The Mets could have just cut him loose like the Tigers did with Sheffield and the Jays have done with B.J. Ryan, signed Orlando Hudson to play 2nd base but Omar refused.
- Signs Ollie Perez to a $36 million dollar contract. Perez had never shown he was worth that kind of money. He at best is a number 3 in the rotation guy. He comes to the Mets after signing this undeserved contract out of shape and lazy, not willing to work on getting back to game shape. He is downright horrible when the season starts. The Mets ask him to take a minor league assignment to work on his game, he runs to his agent and squashes it, forcing the Mets to add him to the DL.
- He turns down a trade that would have gotten the Mets Jason Marquis. Jason Marquis this past weekend became the first pitcher to win 12 games this season. Johan Santana, Oliver Perez, C.C. Sabathia and Roy Halladay among other pitchers.
- Signs Fernando Tatis to a 1.7 million dollar contract. Fernando Tatis when he comes up to bat with runners on you know it’s a double play waiting to happen. Tatis knows his swing is different from last year yet we never see or hear of him working on it before the game.
- Tim Redding who was coming off of an injury and was still injured gets a guaranteed contract worth $2 million! He comes to Spring Training and is still injured. His ERA is over 7 and is now doing bullpen duty.
- One of the biggest guys on the trade market this season is Blue Jays pitcher Roy “Doc” Halladay. This season Halladay is currently 11-3 with an ERA of 2.73. He has pitched so far 4 complete games. Among many of the teams rumored to be after Halladay are the Phillies, the Mets biggest rival in the NL East. The Blue Jays according to Jon Heyman offered the Mets the following deal:
“#mets rejected request of package of f-mart, niese, parnell and ruben tejada for halladay”
- How can you not jump on that deal? F-Mart might be a good player but I’m not holding my breath on that. Niese I still think is overrated, no matter what he’s doing right now at AAA, Parnell is at best a # 4 starter, perhaps a setup guy some day and Tejada has a lot of potential but the Mets already have a good shortstop whose young, they don’t need him in the immediate future. I wonder if it was perhaps Murphy and Evans instead of F-Mart and Tejada the deal would have been done.
Let’s not forget the guys he could have gotten for cheap in the off season but didn’t pull the trigger. Omar has done a horrible job building up the farm system which is evident this past season with all the injuries and the terrible players currently on the team. Met fans this is starting to feel like the 90′s again to me. 2006 was a fluke, time to accept and move on.
About the Author: Greg Pomes
13 Comments + Add Comment
MMO Featured Video
Recent Comments
- Bayonne Mets Fan: on A.J. Burnett Close To Being Traded To Pirates: Hey, but we gotta defend Sandy at...
- Bayonne Mets Fan: on A.J. Burnett Close To Being Traded To Pirates: I'm talking about baseball. You're talking...
- srt: on A.J. Burnett Close To Being Traded To Pirates: Cashman's honest? Must be just in...
- Metsie: on Jason Bay Sees 30-Homer Seasons Ahead, Scout Disagrees: The Walls got to them I think...
- Bob L: on A.J. Burnett Close To Being Traded To Pirates: This deal likely gets done. The Yankees...
Recommended Links
Advertisement
Write Your Own Mets Post
Advertisement
We Appreciate Your Help
Affordable Graphic Design
Keith Law reports that Heyman’s report was incorrect. http://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/2750610015
It’s Keith Law. He says Multiple sources and yet i’ve heard it nowhere else. In Addition, Omar has yet to deny it.
Very good litany regarding Omar. You left out trading for Putz with a bone spur in his elbow. Another brilliant move in Omar’s list of credentials.
Jeff’s statement to Omar and Jerry is ridiculous. The only reason they won’t be fired is that ownership doesn’t want to eat their contracts, not that they have done anything to preserve their jobs. If there is anyone worse at decisions than Omar it is the Fred and Jeff team.
That deal for Halladay needed to be made. Nobody knows whether any of those 4 guys will ever be Big Leaguers. We do know that Halladay is as good as they come. We’ll see what Niese does in the Bigs pretty soon.
Well, Omar is on shaky ground.
First off – this article coming out whether true or not is a GOOD thing for the team right now. How short our memories are and how last year the talk of Willie being let go and the team was in turmoil and played like crap with all the distractions.
With so much wrong with the team WHY bring on another distraction right now – its the LAST friggen thing we need right now.
Secondly – this damn obsession everyone has with “should have let Castillo walk” People are you not paying attention? He’s one of the most consistent players on the team right now, sure lets focus on a “routine pop fly” that got away from him, ok sure, but he what about the rest of his plays, compared to most on team is one of the better defensive players.
Right now where we stand having Orlando Hudson would NOT have made a difference for the better at all.
Seeing him wince in pain? Really, but yet the guy has the heart to work through that pain and have more infield hits then anyone in the majors right now – talk about heart – but sure lets over look that because Omar REFUSED to sign Hudson.
I’m begging you – let the obsession with Castillo – go – he is the least of our problems right now and if the faithful would look beyond their hatred for the guy you’ll see that he’s alot better then anyone is willing to give him credit for.
Changing GM’s or Managers right now will not help the team, but IMO, only make things that much worse.
Castillo is having a decent year, and again, nobody knew that Hudson would be this good. Would I have let him walk and signed Hudson? Sure. But Omar didn’t, and Castillo’s producing this season, so You’re right Kay.
I would NOT have let him walked because last winter, the last thing we needed focus on was 2nd base. It was not a priority, it was close to a non issue. Castillo had good career numbers (not worthy of the contract he got I agree 100%) but not worthy of letting him walk either.
Kay, regarding Castillo, nobody hated that signing more than me, but I will agree that he has been a pleasant surprise. In fact, maybe he has even elevated his status to a point where we can trade him if need be for prospects.
Niese is supposed to pitch Saturday, is it? That should be interesting to see if it helps or hurts his trade value. His trade value is probably the highest it’s been in a while with his recent domination of AAA.
No one knew Jason Marquis was going to be this good, so you can’t really fault him there. And Tatis was coming off a decent season.
However, the rest of your criticism is pretty good. And i’m willing to let Jerry slide, but only for a little bit. The team is still making fundamental mistakes and that’s where he is to blame.
I think you (the writter is ridiculous)
First, while I think Omaya is not the best GM out there, and Jerry Manuel is a way worst manager than Willie was and himself with his crazy bunting decisions has lost about 8 games for the mets…ur criticism is uncalled for.
First I dont know where u been cause clearly the report was bogus. Even if it wasnt bogus, Omar did the right thing by staying put. The mets AAA teamn and AA team are horrible…we have no depth which clearly shows and we are rushing our prospects. I would NOT have traded those 4 guys, and I dont even think the price was that steep but we would wipe out our minor leaguers….for a guy whos exactly not in his prime, no matter what a goodpitcher he is
Your criticism of Castillo is uncalled for. So he is a slap hitter, thats what he was brought here for. To advance Reyes. You focus on the dropped popup?? ITS BASEBALL and mistakes happen!! Why dont you take the stats that he has put up….290 avg with like .380 OBP and he has made countless of great plays in the hole to redeem himself, saving plenty of balls that wouldve been hits and turning sick double plays. Hes overpaid, but useless he is not, and time for you to give him the credit he is due.
And fernando tatis…cant blame omar for re-signing him after the stats he put last year…Im sure you were on his bandwagon until he started sucking. based on last year, ANYONE wouldve resigned him especially for 1.7
Learn about baseball man
THIS JSUT IN! Jon Heyman is reporting on his SI Blog that Omar M. was offered Halladay for Mets Blogger Joe D. However Omar turned it down?! UNBELIEVABLE! Omar needs to go! Hey, it must be true Heymsn says so.
The attack on Castillo is unfair — one dropped pop up, and he was as upset about it as any of us. However, out of the hitters from the lineup yesterday, he had the second highest OBP at .388, second to Wright. And if OBP is too advanced, then he’s also hitting .291. He’s added leadership to the infield. Would you rather have Cora playing second when we get Lugo, and bench Castillo? The money was too much, but he is still a good player.
The Mets getting Halladay is a pipe dream. He wants to go a to a WINNING team, and right now we are no better than Toronto in that respect. I do agree though that giving up those 4 prospects should not be that big of a deal, if not for this year, then next.