5
2011
I Want Omar Minaya Back Redux
An article by XtreemIcon
Back in March, I wrote this piece stating that with Minaya’s ability to scout and Sandy Alderson’s ability to run a franchise, the Mets would be in great shape moving forward if the two could work in tandem in some regard. We’re starting to see a little bit of that tandem come to fruition this season. Guys like Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy, Dillon Gee, Jon Niese, have contributed at a very high level so far this season and we’ve seen flashes from Lucas Duda. Minaya was also able to recognize what Baltimore and Minnesota didn’t when he acquired Justin Turner and Jason Pridie, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t note RA Dickey’s strong contributions, even though I’m looking towards the future and he’s probably not a long-term answer. But who knows with knuckleballers?
Where Minaya fell short was the day-to-day roster management. Niese spent four years in the minor leagues, despite pitching very well in the high minors, but Minaya left him down there for the most part. In 2010, when the Mets were shuffling Hisanori Takahashi back and forth from the bullpen (and his 5.01 starter ERA and .821 OPS against), giving 16 starts to John Maine and Oliver Perez and even letting Raul Valdez and Pat Misch have a turn, Gee was sitting in the minors, waiting for his September call-up after the Mets annual July free-fall.
Turner spent all but five games after his late-May acquisition in Buffalo despite absolutely raking down on the farm. He was sent down for good on July 20, when the Mets were in second place in the division and only 3.5 games out of the Wild Card, to make room for the returning……….wait for it……..
Ike Davis didn’t make the team out of Spring Training. Mike Jacobs did, and that’s all I’ll say on that subject. Even Terry Collins finds himself on the list of people Omar left in the minors.
But that was the past and this is the future. To be sure, the Mets as currently constructed are not a playoff team, even without the injuries. If David Wright, Davis, Johan Santana and Chris Young were healthy, we would not have seen Murphy, Turner, Tejada, and Gee contribute a level that’s very obviously a bit over their heads. Chris Capuano would also not have been a Met and he’s been pretty good and a very reliable back-end starter.
Alderson did a pretty nice job this past off season with role players, but the bench was a failure. Ronny Paulino’s been fantastic, yes, but Willie Harris and Chin-lung Hu were awful acquisitions. Scott Hairston, while improved as of late, is still nothing more than a 5th outfielder on a mediocre team. Oh, wait….
There were a few minor league deals that didn’t work out, but those are inconsequential. Where Sandy excelled is finding fringe players to make an impact, like Capuano and Paulino and also Taylor Buchholz, who’s quietly been one of the best middle relievers in the league (7th in strand rate with a K/BB rate higher than everyone in front of him except All-Star Tyler Clippard).
So, Omar is great at finding young talent to be part of the future. Sandy is really good at finding fringe players to surround the team’s core. Omar was terrible with money. Sandy’s known for exploiting market weaknesses when they present themselves (keep in mind, they don’t always present themselves).
Sadly, egos are a big part of professional sports, and it’s very unlikely Omar Minaya would accept a position in the scouting department of the organization that replaced him as GM. Equally unlikely would be the Mets offering him a position in the scouting department after replacing him as GM. So what I would see as a dream team for sure doesn’t really stand much of a chance of materializing.
Too bad, because they have the chance to be as good a 1-2 punch as there is in baseball.
About the Author: Jesse Elgarten
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What would the Anti- Omar and Anti- Anderson camps do. Can we all get along?
Considering that I’m still scratching my head at the past draft picks…
I would love him as a scout.
I also wouldn’t mind him looking for those one-year, diamond in the rough players (Tatis-esque) the only problem is what we do after that year. We pay for a great year and get screwed.
SATISH, UNFORTUNATELY AND I HADN’T CONSIDERED IT UNTIL THIS PIECE; I THINK PERHAPS OMAR NEVER QUITE GOT OVER HIS FEELINGS OF INFERIORITRY AS THE GM OF A DISREPECTED ORGANIZATION IN THE BASEBALL ARMPIT MARKET(MONTRAL) WHICH PRODDED HIM INTO BELIEVING HE NEDED TO ALWAYS PAY MORE.
I BELIEVE OMAR REALIZED QUICKER THANN MOST HOW DESPERATELY IMPOSSIBLE IT WOULD BE TO REBUILD THIS FRANCHISE AT BOTH THE MAJOR & MINOR LEAGUE LEVELS SIMULTANEOUSLY THE PRODUCT LEVELS HE ASSUMED CONTROL OF AFTER ’04 WAS SPARSE & BARELY COMPETITIVE AFTER PHILLIPS & DUQUETTE/JEFF PLOWED UP THE FARM PRODUCE. OMAR MISTAKENLY ENTERED HIS NEW OFFICE BELIEVING THE WIPON SALES PITCH AS DEDICATED TO SUPPORTING HIS ASSESSMENT OF NEEDS, MONEY WOULD BE MADE ACCESSIBLE FOR HIM TO TARGET THE BIGGEST GAME(PEDRO,BELTRAN,DELGADO) HIS BIGGEST SUPRISE WAS TO BE DELIVERED BY NY HOF SPORTS COLUMNIST, MADDEN WHO PAINFULLY EXPLAINED TO OMAR HOW HIS PLANS FOR REPLACING LOST FIRST ROUND PICKS BY OVERWJEMING “SLIPPED TO SECOND ROUND” FIRAST ROUNDERS MUCH AS BIG MARKETEERS, COMPETITIORS BOSOX,NYY EMPLOYED SUCCESSFUKLLY FOR YEARS. OMAR WAS NAIVELY UNAWARE OF FRED’S PROMISE TO BUD TO STRICTLY ADHERE TO SLOT CONCEPTS DERAILING THE HEART OF OMAR’S PLAN TO ACHIEVE STARPOWER & TALENT DEPTH SIMULTANEOSLY.
WHAT FEW CREDIT OMAR MINAYA FOR IS HIS EFFECTIVE ADPTNESS IN REALIZING CONCENTRATING HIS SCOUTING RESOURCES UPON “THE USUAL FIRST ROUND TALENTS” HE WOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO COMPETE FOR WAS A WASTE OF EXCELLENT RESOUTRCES WHEREBY HE ALTERED ASSIGNMENTS FOR HIS BEST SCOUTS FROM THE CRENE de la CREME OF THAT YR’S DRAFT. TO THE HINTERLAND BUSHES TO OVERTURN ROCKS WHGILE DELIBERATELY IGNORING THE STRAUSSBERGS & HARPERS. FINDING THE HIDDEN TREASURES BECAME A MINAYA TRADEMARK, THE RESULTS WE’RE ALL ENJOYING TODAY(BETTER THAN ANTICIPATED PRODUCTION FROM FORMER LATE ROUND NON-PROSPECTS aka SUSPECTS) AS THE PRODUCT OF OMAR’S DESPERATION BORN INGENUITY. UNFORTUNATELY, JEFF DID TOO EFFECTIVE A HATCHET JOB ON HIS FORMER GM & IMO LOCKED THE DOOR TO A POTENTIAL UNITING OF TALENTS.
OMAR HAD LITTLE BASEBALL BUSINESS SKILL/EXPERIENCE(WHAT WAS THERE FOR HIM TO BE CREATIVE WITH IN MONTREAL OWNED BY HIS 29 COMPETITORS?) OMAR’S SKILLS WERE “ON-FIELD” RELATED MAKING HIM THE NEAR PERFECT COMPLIMENT TO PHILLIPS, HIS FORMER BOSS, AS PHILLIPS HAD LITT;E RESPECT FOR SKILS; FAVORING AFFORDABILITY AROUND HIS PAYING FOR BACKS OF CARDS OVER ACTUAL PRODUCTION.(APPIER,COLEMAN,BONILLA,ZEILLE,VENTURA) PHILLIPS BY MOST ACCOUNTS WAS A SUPREME CHAMELEONLIKE POLITICIAN SUPPORTING WHATEVER HIS PENORIOUS OWNERSHIP BELIEVED RATHER THAN ENLIGHTENING THEM TO REALITY. REPORTEDLY, IT WAS PHILLIPS WHO RECOMMENDED FRED DECLARE HIS SLOT FIELTY.
Satish, You forget the fact that for the first three years of Omar’s tenure we didn’t have a great draft position due to comepetitive seasons in 2006-2008.
2005 we got Pelfrey, Love him or Hate him he isn’t a bad pick. We picked 9th
2006 we gave away our 1st rounder.
2007 we got Kunz and Vineyard, Nothing there but then again we picked 42nd and 47th that year.
2008 we got Ike Davis picking 18th and Havens 22nd and Holt 33rd
2009 No Pick
2010 We got Harvey Picked 7th.
The only year you can poiont to as wiffing in the draft is 2007 which is the year we picked so far down due to our near WS appearance if not for that called third strike to Beltran!
That year we picked way way out of the talent pool.
So when you look at the picks Omar made not one of them has truly been a horrible pick!
And the ones that haven’t panned out were due to the fact we picked way late due to competitive placement in the draft.
Oh and it should be noted…
In 2006 we would have picked 18th
In 2009 we would have picked 24th
so, one is bad as a GM but is ok good at scouting, the other is ok/soso at gm and bad a scouting but combine make a good 1-2 punch?? what??
sandy alderson hasn’t done squat!!!! all the players from his repertoire are either gone, or garbage, except for maybe capuano and izzy… i like paulino but he’s not an everyday player, this is minaya’s roster from top to bottom, he was a horrendous gm ,but he got us some good players we can build with or use as trade chip to get bigger fish.. alderson hasn’t done SQUAT other than talk savvy baseball with the media, having a quicker hook for underperforming player (mostly HIS) and hiring collins, who imo has been the best baseball descicion he’s made as a mets gm. let’s see how he handles the july trading deadline
You do remember that a huge constraint on Alderson was the fact that Omar ran the payroll right up to the ceiling, giving him very little money to work with?
Still, he brought in guys that have and are contributing significantly. Bucholz, Izzy, Young, Paulino, Beato and capuano off the top of my head (probably some others too).
just the active guys are 17% of the current roster. Young gave good value for his time here, and Buch hopfully will be back.
his biggest moves though were probably finally getting rid of the dead wood (Castillo and ollie).
So no, it is not an entirely Omar roster, especially when you consider they are using guys like Turner that Omar never gave a chance to.
honestly you can’t judge any Gm on 1/2 a season, especially when he came in relatively late the prior year and had no money to work with. The real test will be what he does this year, when there are real options and decisions to be made.
Right.
What about Hudgens? Was he an Omar or Alderson guy? Don’t we consider a lot of the hitting success to the philosophy of the new hitting coach?
Collins was the anti-Omar hire for Manager.
Why was Collins the anti-Omar hire for manager?
Because in my view, there was nothing popular about hiring Collins to be Manager. When Alderson did that, it was his way of showing that he’s running things… not the Wilpon’s and not the critical fans.
The fan pressure to hire Backman would have overtaken Omar in my view. Hiring Wally was the easy move to make, and I believe Omar would have done so in a heartbeat
But you really have no idea if he would have hired him or not. Your just ASSUMING he wouldn’t have.
I can’t have an opinion? Heck, he could have fired Jerry and hired Terry … but he didn’t did he?
It’s just like Turner. He gets credit for claiming him off waivers, great but he didn’t give Turner a September call up. He didn’t believe Turner was there to fill a big league roster spot. Giving him credit for it is laughable.
He didn’t because he never had a chance to. My point is that you can’t say “oh Omar never would have hired Collins” when Omar never had the opprtunity to make that decsision.
You have NO IDEA who he would have hired. I guess everyone ran out of real things to criticize Omar for, so now we have to criticize him for a move HE DIDN’T EVEN MAKE!!!! and move he never had a chance to make.
If Omar never claims Turner on waivers, Turner wouldn’t be on the team, so yes he gets credit for Turner because if it wasn’t for Omar, Turner wouldn’t be here right now.
Omar Minaya is also a big Bobby Valentine supporter and a friend of his too so we don’t know if Omar would have hired Valentine. He may have.
I would bet that Omar would have been more likely to hire Bobby Valentine than Terry Collins but we’ll never know the answer.
Also when Omar was on Francesa he said Turner was hurt. Now I know Turner played minor league ball as late as September 6 so why he did not call him up? I don’t know. I also understand that Turner was hurt earlier in the year too so we don’t know what was going on after September 6th. You also don’t know that if Alderson was here last year that he WOULD HAVE brought up Turner, or that if he would have even acquired Turner. You don’t know that either.
Nevertheless, Omar acquired Turner and he’s playing well THIS YEAR.
No GM, not even Omar, is scouting and making the draft picks for middle-late round guys. The GM sets a philosophy, including budget constraints, and hires a scouting director that goes out and does all the drafting.
Terry Collins is an Omar acquistion, isn’t he?
Yes, Omar Minaya hired Terry Collins.
not open to interpretation.
not to manage he didnt.
I guess that depends on your definition. You could also argue he’s a Wilpon acquisition.
Lets be honest here though… Collins was not an Omar type manager, if Omar were here he would have hired Backman or Melvin.
Depends on how you interpret the situation.
Collins was hired as the minor league field coordinator, not the big team manager. There’s nothing to say Minaya had any intention of making TC the manager.
There is no interpretation
Peter M asked the question:
“Terry Collins is an Omar acquistion, isn’t he?”
The answer is yes.
Except this isn’t the job Collins was hired for.
Peter M asked the question:
“Terry Collins is an Omar acquistion, isn’t he?”
The answer is yes.
the actual question is whether collins as a manager is an omar acquisition. you are being intentionally obtuse.
Since when do you answer with a straight forward yes or no?
Collins was hired as the minor league field coordinator.
X – While I tend to agree Omar would be a good addition I don’t think the issue is working for Sandy but more about being under his two hand picked guys which would be a rather demeaning experience for any guy who used to run the whole shebang.
Especially considering those two are very statistic oriented.
Omar will be back here in the future I have no doubt.
He has earned a vacation from the NYC Spotlight and I am willing to bet that has more to do with his not taking the job than any personality conflict or sense of pride.
And the truth is it may have more to do with Ricco playing company man than anything to do with Alderson and his group as well.
Since we don’t know the politics of what went on last year it is really impossible to tell why Omar did not get SOMETHING to do under the new regieme.
I just wish the fans would stop trying to make him out as some incompetent when it is largely the guy he put together that is winning games for us.
No he didn’t hit on every player but he has a higher success rate than the current guys do in so far as this season is concerned.
I don’t expect that to hold once Sandy has some money to play with but it still shows that Omar was not as bad as many here would like to make him out to be.