T, IT’S OBVIOUS I’M IMAGINING WHAT I SEE AS A LIKELY THOUGHT PROCESS FOR ANY GM BE IT MINAYA OR YOUR BELOVED McILVAINE AS NEITHER HAS MIRACULOUS POWERS THAT CAN ENTRALL OTHER GMs INTO GIVING AWAY THEIR SOLUTIONS DESPITE WHAT RUMORMONGERS ARE CREATIVELY SEWING OUT OF WHOLE/HOLE CLOTH. WAS MOISES ALOU A FULFILLMENT OF HIS PROMISE FOR YOUNGER/MORE ATHLETIC? ABSOLUTELY NOT. WAS MOISES ALOU PRODUCTIVE DURING HIS ACTUAL LIMITED, LESS THAN ANTICIPATED PLAYING TIME? ABSOLUTELY! IMO, ALOU WAS AN ATTEMPT @ MINAYA LEMONADE, UNFORTUNATELY THE LEMPONS WERE TOO SOUR.

T, I DO NOT BELIEVE AN EXTENSIVE MiLB INVOLVEMENT IS A PREREQUISITE FOR BEING A GOOD GM; HOWEVER I WOULD CERTAINLY VALUE A PROVEN GIFT @ TALENT EVALUATION MUCH HIGHER THAN AN EXTENSIVE MiLB ADMINISTRIVIA EXPERIENCE RECORD.
PART OF YOUR PROBLEM IS ACCEPTING THAT YOU ARERN’T THE ONLY ONE TO SEE A SOLUTION TO A PROBLEM AND ACCEPTING THE POTENTIAL THAT IF THE “RIGHT” SOLUTION AS U ENVISION IT IS NOT CHOSEN, IT ISN’T NECESSARILY BECAUSE IT WASN’T SEEN OR IF SEEN, REJECTED FOR NO PROPER REASON.(A PRIME EXAMPLE IS THIS, WE ALL KNOW OMAR WAS GIVEN THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE TEN 35 YR OLD DERECK LOWE FOR 4Y/$48M WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN A GOOD DECISION? I DIDN’T THINK SO, DID U? ATLANTA SUBSEQUENTLY AGREED TO THOSE TERMS WHICH SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN OUTBID UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
YOU’D BE MUCH BETTER OFF ASSUMING YOUR SOLUTION WASN’T JUST OUTRIGHT MISSED; BUT RATHER IT WAS PURSUED & FOUND TO BE UNWORKABLE FOR REASONS UNBEKNOWNST TO U.
T, I FIND IN LIFE IT’S USUALLY MORE ACCURATE TO ASSUME I’M NOT THE ONLY SMART ONE IN THE ROOM & IF OTHER SMART PEOPLE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY IT’S FOR A GOOD REASON THAT I’M NOT PRIVY TO & MY SOLUTION WASN’T AVAILABLE AS I THOUGHT IT WAS. LOOKING AT THINGS WITH THE ATTITUDE OF “HE’S STUPID” OR “HE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE’S DOING” IS VERY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. BETTER TO APPROACH IT AS, “I WONDER WHY HE WOULDN’T HJAVE DONE IT THIS WAY OR THAT WAY. ENVISIONING THE REASONS WHY IS PREFERENTRIAL TO LOOKING TO CAST ASPIRTIONS.
THINK OF IT THIS WAY, TO DATE, NO ONE ACTUALLY KNOWS WHY EXPERIENCED CAVALRY OFFICER & ONE TIME YOUNGEST GENERAL EVER IN THE US ARMY GEORGE ARMSTRONG CUSTER CHARGED THE SIOUX, SACRIFICING HIS COMMAND, AT THE LITTLE BIG HORN.

SOME THEORIES BLAME HIS ARROGANCE & EGO.

OTHERS, POINT TO HIS EXPERIENCED SUCCESSFUL INDIAN CAMPAIGNS & HIS KNOWING OF THE SIUOUX #s FROM HIS CREEK INDIAN SCOUTS/SPIES & THAT BY & LAERGE CAVALRY REGIMENTS WERE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO CONFRONT INDIAN ASSAULTS EFFECTIVELY THAN INFANTRY COULD, WITYH GENERAL TERRY’S INFANTRY ARMY EXPOSED FOR ANNIHILATION, A DAMAGING CAVALRY BATTLE MAY CREATE ENOUGH TIME FOR TERRY TO ESCAPE(AS HE DID).
SO, T, NO ONE KNOWS WAS CUSTER AN EGOMASNIACAL FOOL OR A SELF SACRIFICING HERO/MARTYR? CURRENT PC HISTORIANS WILL TEND TO LEAN TO THE FORMER RATIONALE.
IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT ONCE BEFORE(GETTYSBURG) CUSTER THWARTED DISASTER FROM HIS CAUSE BY ENGAGING A SUPERIOR FORCE(JEB STUART’S ENTIRE CAVALRY ARMY) @ HANOVER,PA, BY CHARGING FORTH SACRIFICING HIS LONE MICHIGAN BRIGADE. THE ENSUING FIGHT, TIED UP STEWART BEYOND HAVING ANY CAPACITY TO JOIN THE GETTYSBUTRG FIGHT THUS THWARTING; LEE’S PLANS FOR A CAVALRY EVELOPMENT FROM THE REAR WHILE PICKETT’S INFANTRY CHARGED THE UNION FRONT. A MOVE MILITARY HISTORIANS CLAIM COULD HAVE TURNED THE ENTIRE BATTLE & POTENTIALLY CHANGED THE RESULT OF THE WAR.
WE’LL NEVER, EVER KNOW!

Everything good that happens is credited to the GM ALONE, Anything bad that happens is the assistants!

So all the BAD of McIlvane is Phillips fault, All the good is McIlvane’s!

Anf ythen he takes that disparate credit system and applies it to Minaya.

All the GOOD of Wright and Reyes is Phillips ALONE and all the BAD is Minaya’s since he was just an Asst scapegoat on Tags warped crediting technique!

And to Tag, When you explain how 88 wins is better than 97 I’ll go back to responding to your other comments

We do know this. Omar never worked in the minor league system of any team he ever worked for. He was confined to scouting in Texas and became an asst GM in NY in 1998. He was the GM and probably served many other functions in Montreal, but most likely had to leave the farm to someone else.

He was particularly good at finding undervalued talent that could “hold the fort” until his “guys” could get up here. If he had let some of those “hold the fort” guys go, replenished them, and instead of spending draft choices, acquired extra ones, combined that with going over slot multiple times every year, I firmly believe we would be sitting on a jaugernaut right now.

Now the CBA will probably change the comp rules, we’ll be able to catch up with everyone much much later and we’ll suffer for it for a decade.

I really think we were so blessed to have an Owner like Joan Payson who allocated the money (pre-draft) to sign the Ryan’s, Koosman’s, Gentry’s, McGraw’s, Jones’ Seaver’s ect.

Tell me the truth ’62. Can you possibly imagine the Wilpon putting the Mets into the drawing for Tom Seaver? Not a chance in hell. Could you see the Wilpon collecting baseball talent like Casey, Weiss, Johnny Murphy, Bing Devine, Whitey Herzog, Gil Hodges, Yogi Berra? Please.

As blessed with committed and smart ownership as we were in the inception we have been cursed with it since our last Championship and so has anyone working under their self inflicted contraints.

I’m not sure about the FA compensation rules but I know Mcilvaine made the right call on Sid Fernandez and wound up with two high draft picks when he signed with Baltimore.

I didn’t dodge the generation K thing ’62. Was it the farm Director? That believe it or not was a “gentlemen” by the name of Steve Phillips. Was it Dallas Green? Bad luck? FL State abusing Wilson’s arm? Izzy’s immaturity? Pulsipher’s head? Who knows, I don’t.

The farm director in those days was Steve “prospects will get you fired” Phillips until Jack Z (Mariners GM) took over in 1996.

As for your denigrating Mcilvaines trading acumen please keep in mind that he got Bernard Gilkey for nothing when he was 29 years old and Gilkey put up the best year a Met LFer ever had. Heresy I know but it’s still the truth. Got hurt the next year but at least we had a terrific LFer for one year and it didn’t cost us a #1 or #2 pick.

He also traded for John Olerud who put up the best year a Met 1B has ever had.

He also traded for Carl Everett who went on (after Phillips traded him) to have several really good years too. Much better than any RFer we have had since Strawberry.

He also signed Lance Johnson as a plan B non comp free agent and got one of the best years a Met CFer has ever had.

All these players were not only good offensively they were also good defensively as well. In addition they all got MVP Votes in Met Uniforms (except Everett)

That’s right ’62. Gilkey 14th in MVP 1996, Lance Johnson 18th in MVP 1996, Olerud 12th in MVP 1998 and Carl Everett 17th in MVP 1999 and only one guy traded Quilvera Veras for these players ever did anything and we spent zero draft choices to get them and again they were good on the defensive end too.

Not quite sure what there isn’t to like about Mcilvaine. He was adding all around players capable of having years that were around 12-20 best in the league, giving up nothing to get them and holding onto Alfonzo, Ordonez, Hundley, Payton, Preston Wilson, Izzy, AJ Burnett and drafting guys that Phillips didn’t even sign like Garrett Atkins, Jeremy Guthrie and David Dejesus. You have to admit that’s a lot of depth at least that would have supported a full scale assault on the NL including the JUDICAL USE of free agency and who’s to say that HE couldn’t have made the same trades with the Marlins that Phillips did? After all how many teams could the Marlins even have been talking to that could have absorbed that salary?

IN MANY RESPECTS YOU’RE PREACHING TO THE CHOIR Re LUXURY TAX; BUT I BELIEVE U MISSED MY POINT IN MENTIONING IT, MY POINT WAS THAT WHEN OMAR DEPAETRED FOR EXPOS SELIG & FRED WERE ON THE OUTS PRIMARILY OVER THE TAX ISSUE. WE AGREE ON MINIAYA’S LAST DIR OF SCOUTING GIG PREDATING HIS MET CAREER WITH TX; HOWEVER, I BELIEVE HE WAS LIKELY TOO INVOLVED WITH JUGGLING HIS OWN RESPONSIBILITIES IN MONTREAL TO PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO FRED’S PRESSERS. AS FANS, WE OFTEN FORGET, WHILE OUR CONCENTRATION IS SOLELY FOCUSED ON FLUSHING, THOSE NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED OR WOTKING FOR OTHER TEAMS/MLB, NOT SO MUCH; I’D BE PRETTY CERTAIN THAT OMAR BELIEVED HE’D MISSED HIS OPORTUNITY W/METS ONCE PHILLIPS CHOSE TO REMIOVE HIM AS A THREAT FOR HIS JOB. I’M NOT HOLDING MINAYA TOTALLU HARMLESS, I’M JUST EXPLAING HOW I CAN UNDERTAND IT HAPPENING, SORTA LIKE EXPLAINING FRIENDLY FIRE INCIDENTS, IT’S SOMEWHAT UNDERSTANDABLE; BUT NEVER ENCOURAGED OR CONCURRED WITH.

ANYONE BELIEVE TERRY THOUGHT IT BETTER TO WATCH ANOTHER LOSS FROM HIS WARM OFFICE THAN FREEZE HIS ASS OFF IN THR FRIGID DUGOUT? NOW THAT WE WON, CAN WE EXPECT TC TO CHALLENGE COX’ RECORD FOR TOSSOUTS? LOL HE IS VERY STUPIDSTICOUS

WHEN WAS THE F/A COMPENSATRION FORMULA ALTEREDE TO INVOLVE DRAFT PICKS? U MAKE REFERENCE TO YEARS I DIDN’T REALIZE WERE UNDER THOSE GUIDELINES. PLEAS ADVISE SOONEST, THANKS.

The same way you can be so sure that he insisted upon Evans, Kazmir and Burnett? While he was working elsewhere?

You state emphatically the Omar was responsible for drafting these guys and the only way we know your full of baloney is because Omar was working for Texas or Montreal at the time but we’re supposed to recognize that you are “in the know” about these matters.

The fact is everyone with the exception of a complete jackass is aware that the Director of Amateur Scouting’s primary function is the draft, The Mets had Carmen Fusco in this position. Secondly I believe the GM would have a fairly large say in the matter. Thirdly Omar’s area of influence was on the international side so without any sort of inside information one would not ordinarily associate the Director of International Scouting with the US June draft and one would think that Omar would be pretty busy himself at that time preparing for the annual July signing period for 16 year old’s and up in the DR.

The fact that Phillips tried to trade a prospect is no proof at all that Omar insisted we draft one of them. Where do you get that weird idea from?

The simple fact is that no proof exists anywhere to support your claims and even if Omar was in the draft room Omar could just as likely been the reason for all the blown and wasted draft picks of the Phillips years.

Maybe Omar demanded we draft Jason Tyner, Pat Strange, Bobby Keppel, Neal Musser, Jake Josephs, Billy Traber, Matt Peterson, Alhaji Turay, Corey Rangsdale, or Lasting Milledge. These were all 1st and 2nd round draft choices of the Phillips era. How do we know that Omar didn’t insist we draft all of these guys?

The reason we know that Omar didn’t is because the person who ran the draft (Carmen Fusco) and the GM (Steve Phillips) are almost certainly the only ones who make the call. Omar would have fuctioned much like Fusco in the International area. So to make these outlandish claims that Omar was the “head of all scouting” when he wasn’t, “Omar was responsible for us drafting——–” when it was completely illogical that he was even involved (or possible if he was working for another team) Other than Wright, Heilman, and Kazmir those are the other high picks of the Phillips era and you want to assign only those to Omar? Nice try Metsie. Fact is Omar almost certainly had nothing what so ever to do with the draft.

Good thing to his Texas drafts weren’t very good and his three montral drafts were really bad. One player, Chad Cordero, in three years. That aint good.

As for your crack about Gerry Hunsicker maybe you should do a little reading. Baseball America names Gerry Hunsicker as the Director of baseball operations in 1991 and 1992 with the “function” being listed as General Manager. That’s the way I remember it and that’s the way baseball America has it listed. Check it out someday yourself, you might learn something about who does what in a baseball front office. Don’t get your knickers all in a knot over the title either. Mcilvaine was the “Executive vice President , Baseball Operations but his “function” was as GM. Omar had been Exec VP, GM.

One interesting item to be found in the Baseball America executive database is the Director of Amateur Scouting in 2005 was Russ Bove, coincidentally the man who ran the draft for Omar in 2005. Rusy Teraases assumed that title the following year and coincidentally enough happened to run the next 4 draft for Omar. That’s because that’s the job of The Director of Amateur Scouting. That’s why it would be presummed that Carmen Fusco who had that title while Omar was here would have run the draft, not Omar. Good thing for Omar because Fusco/Phillips drafts sucked big time and are a big part of the reason we had to import a player for every position other than SS and 3B during the Minaya regime.

The point is you just fabricate things in order to “prove yourself correct” but what good does that do? When you lie you just obscure the truth. Everyone makes mistakes fair enough. Me too but at least have ashred of intellectual honesty in your debate. Don’t clain things that aren’t true and then claim you didn’t say them. Don’t make up stuff to support your opinions. The fact that someone wrote an article saying that Phillips tried trading a player is no more proof that Minaya was responsible for drafting that player than it is that Minaya himself wouldn’t have made that trade. After all Minaya did pull the trigger on the infamous Bartolo Colon deal.

Get real Man. Keep it clean, keep it honest.

Omar was working for us first as scouting director and then Assitant GM from the Mid 90′s to 2002 when he left to GM the Expos. He came back in 2005!

David Wright was drafted 2001! So was Heilman
Jose Reyes was signed (not drafted) in 1999
Kazmir was also drafted largely on Minaya’s scouting despite his leaving before the draft to take the Expo gig.
Pelfrey and Davis are also both his picks. Add Niese for good measure!

Lets see thats 3/4th of an infield and our #1 Pitcher and #3 until Santana gets back!
Thole, Duda, Evans, Murphy…All Minaya!
Havens (another Minaya pick) is almost ready to become the next big ML call up if he shows enough bat in the Minors this year.

And that resurgent guy over on the other side of town Aj Burnett also was a Minaya pick!

Angel Pagan was also a Omar 4th round draft pick in 1999.

So Pretty much everyone anyone LIKES on this team is a guy Minaya found and had something to do with Aquiring!

Your facts are all wrong. Minaya was not the Scouting Director from the mid 1990′s on, in fact he was never the Scouting Director. He was the International Scouting Director. Totally different function. You also stated Minaya was responsible for drafting AJ Burnett, Nick Evans and Scott Kazmir when in fact he was working for other teams when those players were drafted by us.

The fact is you have no way of knowing if Minaya had anything at all to do with us drafting Wright. Your guessing just like you were when you claimed he was responsible for drafting people for us when he was working in Texas and Montreal.

Your just making it up as you go and then changing your story.

As you asked here are your own words saying exactly what I said you said.

Minaya as Asst GM WAS the Scouting and International guy. All Phillips did was make the contracts in FA and wheel and deal with the other GMs. He left ALL of that to Minaya because it was what he is best at!

Phillips tried to trade BOTH reyes and Wright almost the same second Minaya left for Montreal.

If that is not proof enough that Minaya was the driving force for them being here and NOT Phillips who tried to get rid of them as soon as the one guy who DID like them was gone then you are a VERY lost cause and wish to see History in your own special and distirted way!

Point is Minaya was the main PROSPECT and SCOUTING force during the Phillips era!
Thats why he was brought in because Phillips wasn’t interested in reading all the mounds of paperwork needed to evaluate talent that was not yet proven. Note that Omar told the scout to sign Reyes not Phillips.

If that fact alone doesn’t tell you that Minaya pretty much ran the scouts and evaluations all by himself then there is no point in talking to you or taking any of your points on team building seriously!

I know you have harped on that point because you got killed in the comparison of McIlvane’s wins to Minayas and wanted to change the subject.
I also know two weeks from now you will try to discount what Minaya did again hoping no one remembers this exchange and for that reason I will bookmark this and resort to cut and paste until you get tired of replying to a clipboard!

This conversation is DONE has been done and disproven for weeks now!
Sorry to punch all those holes into your first attempt at being published in a blog, perhaps if you could get off your broken record and attempt to make McIlvane not look like the guy who took 4 years and did NOTHING! And came up with something else you might get published again!

I don’t doubt for one second that Phillips tried to trade Reyes and Wright. That was the only tool in his shed. Trading the farm, forfeiting draft choices, raising the payroll. That’s it. He traded lot’s of guys, that’s why Omar had next to nothing to work with when he got here. Phillips traded everyone cause he couldn’t develop any players on his own. It was like a ponzi scheme. Isringhausen, Everett, Nelson Cruz, Bay, Escobar anyone with any value whatsoever. Anything to keep the ponzi scheme going. Remember it was Phillips who claimed “prospects will get you fired.”

One thing (in this case) that is not in dispute was that Minaya was in fact actually working for the Mets but who would make the call on who got drafted? The Asst GM in charge of INTERNATIONAL scouting or the actual Director of scouting and the General Manager? Presumably the director of international scouting would be involved in scouting players from outside the country, not Virginia.

The fact that Phillips attempted to trade Wright and Reyes only advances the theory that Phillips is a moron. Nothing new there.

The fact that Omar wisely bought out a year of free agency for Reyes and two for Wright in 2006 when they were playing at their best was simply a good move at best and more likely just a no brainer any GM would have done and in and of itself, again, is no proof that Omar convinced Phillips to draft David Wright” as you claim

As for Reyes being signed that would fall into the area of INTERNATONAL scouting. The scout who found Reyes (Eddy Toledo who was hired by Frank Cashen) did work for Omar. We get it. Put Reyes on Omar’s resume. No complaints but this article does nothing to advance your assertion that Minaya “convinced Phillips (and presumably the Director of Amateur Scouting Carmen Fusco) to select Wright at #38 in 2002.

Your “proof” is no proof at all. It’s proof of something entirely different then “Minaya convinced Phiilps to dradt Wright.”

I’m not stripping a man of his accomplishments. That’s what your doing by making claims that Minaya convinced Phillips to draft Wright. What makes you say that? As you ask people I’m asking you, PROVE IT. No hemming, hawing, beating around the bush. Just back up your claim.

You’ve made a number of assertions that take accomplishments off one mans resume and put them on another for instance when you claimed that Omar was responsible for drafting Burnett or Kazmir when he wasn’t even working for the Mets at the time.

Now your claiming that Minaya convinced Phillips to draft Wright and I’m asking you how do you know? What is the basis for your assertion? That he was there at the time? What kind of proof is that? Saul was there too. Omar was involved in the international end of things. Could he have? Not impossible but how do you know this? That’s what I’m asking.

We all know the story of Reyes. Eddy Toledo, originally hired by Frank Cashen, called Omar, his boss, and told him he had a guy he wanted to sign. That goes on Omar’s resume, fair enough. Who else did Omar sign as the Met Director of International scouting?

Wright and Reyes both SIGNED and SCOUTED when Omar was Asst GM.

As soon as he left Phillips tried to get rid of them meaning “PHILLIPS DID NOT LIKE THEM!”

If not for Ricciardi they wouldn’t be here!

and if not for Omar signing BOTH to long term contract they would not be here STILL!

Here is the link, read it and weep!
http://www.blueandorange.net/?p=779

Sorry dude your attempt to strip Minaya of all the good we have currently and your feeble attempt to make a 88 win in 4 years of work better than 97 wins in two has fallen apart!
I suggest you drop it. your starting to look foolish!

Nice try and making up history again.
Just like the time you tried to claim Hunsicker was a GM here! I suggest you READ history not try and make it up so it fits your argument!

I never said such a thing and I dare you to post a link that shows I did!

So since you appear very eager to create your own facts and present these fantasies as evidence I will take the tone of a PROSECUTOR dealing with a hostile witness prepared to lie and subefuge his way out of the truth.

Question 1: WAS Jose Reyes an INTERNATIONAL SIGNING?
YES OR NO, NO side points, change of subject just YES or NO?

Since your previous testimony admits Minaya was in charge of that Reyes must be HIS!

Question 2: Who was Asst GM when David Wright was Drafted?
Would the Asst GM not be involved in a decision about who to draft? Or would they lock him in a closet and say sorry you have no say whatsoever?

The ONLY way your dismissal of Minaya’s contribution works is if you can prove Phillips LOVED wright and took him over Minay’s objections. But the truth is Phillips tried trading Wright twice as soon as Minaya left for Montreal!

Phillips didn’t like Wright! Phillips only was interested in wheeling and dealing and it was Minaya that oversaw and managed the SCOUTS as part of his Asst GM duties!

Minaya’s strength and abilities have ALWAYS been in player evaluation that is what has kept him employed for the last decade!

And looking at the number of prospects he PRODUCED and how many more games he WON than McIlvane it is obvious to anyone who has read your tripe the last three months regarding McIlvane’s greatness, and Slotting (which McIlvane is the one who FAILED to sign the guys you keep cutting and pasting by the way as examples of your Over slotting theory) that you are either Joe McIlvane himself desperatly trying to get employed as a GM again by re-writing history or you are a relative who is too damn ashamed to show his face and tell his name until you have re written the history to make McIlvane sound like he did something good when CLEARLY he did not!

In defense of that trade it should be pointed out that Kent, 2 years after, at age 30 then embarked on 8 straight years of .500+ SLG% which he had never attained before. Quite unusual to say the least.

Baerga at 26 years old quickly fell below .400 SLG% where he remained.

Obviously the trade was a bad one but in all fairness do these numbers make sense?

As for the players you mention these were just “hold the fort” guys until we had something to work with and they didn’t cost draft picks, high salaries, long term contract or prospects developing in the farm like Ordonez, Jones, Alfonzo, Burnett, Pulsipher, Wilson, Isringhausen, Payton, or Preston Wilson.

Mcilvaine also acquired good players for next to nothing or type B free agents that didn’t take away from the future and put up great seasons here. Players like Gilkey, Lance Johnson, John Olerud, Rick Reed, Vizcaino and provided us with credible prospects like Buford, Ochoa and Everett. Arguably Everitt’s bat and D in RF would have made a huge difference in 1999 and 2000. Buford and Ochoa didn’t produce but we got them for Bonilla who proved later on he wasn’t the answer.

He didn’t strip the farm and he didn’t mortgage the future to achieve what success he had and he did get us from 59 wins to 88. He also had parts of two seasons interrupted by the strike and an entire off season as well. He also had Doc Gooden’s final drug suspension and the unfortunate disintegration of Gen K.

I don’t know how much he can be assigned the blame for that. Some?, Any? All? I cannot say.

I know he left his successor in much better shape then the farm and team was in when he arrived and come 2003 after Phillips was canned we were right back to where we had been when Mcilvaine took over. No team, No farm.

Considering the results he provided 59-88 wins in three and a half years (including the players strike) he should have been given more time and who’s to say HE couldn’t have made those trades with the Marlins? Who’s to say he would have traded Isringhausen, Bay, Nelson Cruz or Carl Everett.

Steve Phillips never even bothered to sign any of the guys Mcilvaine selected in his last draft. Guys that could have provided options for us either while in the farm or in the Majors. Guys like Garrett Atkins, Jeremy Guthrie and David DeJesus. Not superstars but credible everyday performers. Phillips basically in 6 years drafted 1 great player, 2 short term guys and that’s it.

One thing you certainly have to give Mcilvaine is that he wouldn’t have had the historically awful draft that Phillips did after all as the NY Met Scouting Director he drafted Clemmons, Dykstra, Gooden, Youmans, McDowell, Gerald Young, Greg Olson, Rafeal Palmerio, Dave Magadan, Rick Aguilera, David West, Matt Williams, John Wettland, John Olerud, Scott Erickson, and Todd Jones. In San Diego among others he drafted (as high schoolers) Derrick Lee and Todd Helton.

Mcilvaine was about adding talent, Phillips wasn’t capable of that. All he could do was trade upon what was handed to him and borrow against the future and lead us back to the land of sub .400. Right where Mcilvaine had pulled us out from.

We’re also wondering if Minaya convinced Phillips to draft Heilman 20 spots in front of Wright as well.

We’re also wondering how you can be so sure that the Director of INTERNATIONAL Scouting had such a big say in the draft.

We’re also wondering what players other than Reyes our Director of INTERNATIONAL Scouting procurred for us during his three years in that position.

Please elaborate.

Mcilvaine competed in a division in which two different teams won World Championships during his tenure. Phillips competed in a Division in which no team won a World Championship.

Mcillvaine won his 88 games in a year in which the Marlins won the whole thing. Phillips won the same 88 games the next year after the Marlins gave us two of the best players in baseball and shipped out all the rest elsewhere and went from 92 wins all the way down to 54 and still couldn’t get a post season berth.

Phillips inherited a quite a few key ingredients of his success and quite a few more he traded away for other huge pieces. Phillips also borrowed against the future by spending three first round picks, two 2nd round picks and 2 third round picks and flat out blew three extra 1st round (or supp round) picks provided to him by Mcilvaine (1 for Reynosa and 2 for Olerud) and had some of the worst drafts in the history of the Major Leagues.

Phillips added to his predocessors work and stole from his successor to achieve what modest success he did enjoy most of which came about due to the dismantling of a team in his own division.

Phillips also traded AJ Burnett, Carl Everett, Jason Isringhausen, Melvin Mora, Nelson Cruz and Jason Bay.

Mcilvaine traded Bonilla, Phillips traded for Bonilla and before you claim that was just to get rid of Rojas’ contract please note that Phillips traded for him too.

The only reason Phillips had any success at all was because he inherited the key pieces of his teams and prospects capable of taking advantage of a World series Champion dismantling their team and then trading away the future from his successor by drafting like **** and handing over 7 high draft choices in 6 years.

Because he had bankrupted the farm that had been built up by Harazin, Hunsicker and Mcilvaine he then went out and got us the “Worst team money could buy part two” with Alomar, Vaughn, Burnitz and Cedeno leading us to 82, 75, and 66 wins because he couldn’t produce any players of his own. He could only trade off others success and borrow against the future and after his reign was over we were right back in the same position we were when Mcilvaine took over.

As the Met Director of INTERNATIONAL Scouting for three years would you please share with us some other names that he signed for the NY Mets from Latin America?