Comments on: The Regression Of Omar Minaya

By: tlagee

tlagee — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:15:29 +0000

On one hand you have Joe Torre – an overrated manager who is a great clubhouse handler but makes repeated head scratching moves once the game starts. He is at his best when he has a team full of superstars. (Reminds me of Willie Randoph – and the way Omar had to Willie Proof the Mets bullpen – something that Tommy2cat alluded to earlier).

On the other hand you have Carlos Beltran – a talented player who is not a leader. My lasting memory of Carlos is the Mets’ world series hopes ending with the tying runs on and the bat on his shoulder.

I haven’t respected Torre since he defended Clemens’ deliberate beaning of Piazza – but I don’t think he’s wrong in saying that Beltran likes to ‘hide among the trees’.

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:43:32 +0000

I apologize – you are right, I did some reading, which I should have done ahead of time.

I do remember seeing Carlos on an interview, perhaps a Mets Weekly, not sure, but I do remember him saying “I wasn’t offering any discounts”, but that could just have been a rebuttle, and with Boras as his agent……

By: jdon

jdon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:58:16 +0000

I was on other met blogs before last year (and all the injuries) began and predicted that team would finish third. met fans tend to overrated players. Especially guys like Maine and Ollie. We did not have the pitching at the start of last year. It was perfectly clear. As for Beltran, the information came from newspaper writers. If you choose to believe Beltran– fine, but what else could he have said if the writers were correct and the yanks turned him down? He would have looked like a dirtbag. I choose to believe the writers. Specifically because it was not one writer who was writing it–it was all over the newspapers. I am not the kind of fan who takes players at their word. They are always manipulating the media. I happen to think Beltran is a pretty good guy, and in the situation he was in at the time, I probably would have denied it too. As for Omar, if you guys want to cross your fingers and hope he does a good job, fine. I think they are taking the wrong approach and wasting our time.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:58:35 +0000

Also from NY Times:

Beltrán Responds to Torre’s Comments
By BEN SHPIGEL
Carlos Beltrán is about to enter his fifth season in New York — has it been that long already? — but he just as easily could have been doing so for the Yankees and not for the Mets.

A quick rehash: Scott Boras, Beltrán’s agent, gave the Yankees one final shot at signing him and snatching him from the Mets’ grasp by proposing a six-year, $100 million contract — that’s for one year shorter and $19 million poorer than the Mets’ offer. The Yankees, having already added Carl Pavano and Randy Johnson, resisted.

With that in mind, Joe Torre touched on Beltrán’s reported desire to take that discount and play for the Yankees in the book he co-wrote with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, “The Yankee Years.” Torre said: “Beltran wanted to come to us, so he could hide among the trees. Nobody wants to be that guy to lead.”

Before being honored at the Thurman Munson Dinner on Tuesday evening, Beltrán responded to Torre’s comments.

“First of all, I don’t know Joe Torre personally, so I don’t know what kind of person he is,” Beltrán said. “The second thing I have to say is that when I met with the Yankees when I was a free agent, he wasn’t there, so you know, he didn’t know that we talked, so I didn’t meet him. So if he did say what he said, then that’s his opinion. I don’t have to comment on that. I feel very happy where I am.”

Not surprisingly, Beltrán added, he does not plan to read the book.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:53:05 +0000

Actually he did offer to take less to go to the yankees:

The New York Yankees were tipped as favorites and Beltran offered them a $20 million discount. The Yankees declined and the crosstown New York Mets signed him to a 7-year, $119-million contract, the biggest in franchise history at the time. It was the tenth contract in baseball history to surpass $100 million.

Link-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Beltran

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:57:15 +0000

Beltran was not willing to take less from the Yanks, and didn’t. Not sure where you got that information, because he clearly said in an interview quite the contrary..

Hate the guy go ahead, a change for the team is probably a great thing, and I’d love to see a change too (go ahead read that again before you move on), but to say he did nothing is wrong too, no one will admit it, but he still got some pretty big names here.

The team assembled last year was a pretty damn good one, not infalliable, but pretty good. No sports team in HISTORY of any sports would have sustained through those injuries, no matter how much you all hate Omar.

By: jdon

jdon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:17:02 +0000

I want the mets to get on the right track. If a year of failure does that, then fine. Call it rebuilding. Patching will not solve their problems. Omar got Santana because the yanks and red sox dropped out. Omar wrote a check for beltran, who still tried to bolt to the yankees for less. Omar is a fraud. He was a fraud with the expos and he was a fraud here. Even the worst GMS do a few good things. The product on the field tells the story. Athletes are not wooed by GMs. They are wooed by bucks. I think it is significant that Beltran was willing to take less from the yanks when the mets’ organization offered much much more. It tells me more about the mets org than it does the yanks.

By: Bayonne Mets Fan

Bayonne Mets Fan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:50:42 +0000

I agree with everything you said Tommycat. I just want to correct one thing – i said he’s good enough to be a 4th or 5th best player on a TEAM, not the league…God knows not the league lol.

By: Tommy2cat

Tommy2cat — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:32:06 +0000

Bayonne – Kelly’s freaking me out. Her eyes keep rolling.

BTW, I wouldn’t drink Hawaiian Punch with Victorino or Sunny D with Rollins. But they are ballplayers, for sure.

Wright is a very curious case. On one hand, its easy to take him for granted – he’s generated some very clutch hits in the early course of his career and his numbers are clearly Allstar caliber. On the other hand, he has more recently demonstrated an inability to step up in key situations on a consistent basis, especially when he was among the last men standing.

He’s capable of being the 4th or 5th best player in the league, but would you really want him up when the chips are down? Frankly, I think he needs to eliminate his endorsement contracts, forget about being politically correct and go out and let his raw talent take over. He should make it his business to smack a line drive off the skull of any pitcher that throws him high and tight.

I recall in a highschool game I was thrown out at second base sliding head first, and the shortstop intentially kneed me in the head. A few innings later, he was assisted off the field after I stole second base and tore the glove off his hand with my spikes. I will NEVER regret that move.

If I’m putting a team together, give me Carl Crawford, Chone Figgins or Brandon Phillips and Matt “Face-plant” Holliday – I’d find a way to get them in my organization.

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:20:24 +0000

You are right, I will not argue baseball with you anymore, you are incapable of having an intelligent discussion without trying to insult someone on the other end of the opinion.

I will save my efforts on someone that actual shows some signs of having some baseball knowledge.