All I am professing was that Omar was thinking of the future just as much as Sandy therefore he should not be perceived as bankrupting the farm system to win at all costs now (that he could have done better after 2006 on the major league level is not at issue). That is an unfair rap. And so is the rap that only Omar went after veteran players on their last legs because Sandy had done the same himself.

Sandy did not have the open checkbook so that is why he has to be given the benefit of the doubt on his off-season signings. But if his resources were not as limited as the front office is now making it appear than even though he could not go after a Cliff Lee type pitcher, couldn’t he have done better than Young, Carasco, Capuano, Boyer, Bucholz and those he got this winter?

Sorry Fonz.

If anything, Sandy started out with a better situation that Omar did by inheriting a much better team.

While Sandy did not have the financial resources that Omar did, at the same time did not have to go out and spend like his predecessor to immediately improve the team. The team Omar was handed finished at 71-91 and beyond Reyes, Wright and Glavine, there was little else of quality to build on. Zeile and Piazza were on their last legs and the farm system stopped producing (our top prospect was traded in 2004 and the other young players brought up by 2004 all proved to be busts). On the other hand, Sandy had Wright, Reyes and Dickey (in lieu of Glavine) along with Davis, Murphy, Beltran, Pagan, Niese and Krod along with emerging players like Duda, Gee, Parnell and Thole.

Sandy and Omar both went after veteran players to fill holes as both counted on the farm system for long-term success, so Sandy cannot get credit for steering the team in any new direction any more than Omar. Omar’s “fill-ins” were just much better because he had the money. Sandy did not need to spend as much but what he got has been atrocious.

But I think it is now unfair

In fact, has Sandy done any different than Omar? Look at the age, health status and quality of his roster signings over the past two years while the team “rebuilds”:

Miguel Batista – 41
Tim Byrdak – 38
C.J. Carasco – 34
John Rauch – 33
Andres Torres – 34

Reclamation projects coming off very serious injuries like Chris Young and Chris Capuano (both 32 at the time) and younger players that never worked out like Boyer, Buccholz and Emus.

It has been said that these players were obtained as fill ins as the team was going to rebuild. How is that any different than what Omar did? Other than Beltran, those on the 2006 – 8 roster were not in the team’s long term plans, either. And in 2009 the Mets were still picked by many to go all the way until injuries and the new ball park did them in. They also were in the races in both 2010 and 2011 but one year nothing was done to help fill in the holes and the next year the team was simply broken up.

Thus Sandy and Omar have essentially followed the same path but the only difference is the players Sandy obtained in 2011did little to improve the team while Omar did with the likes of Martinez, Beltran, Delgado, LoDuca, Valentine, Wagner, etc.- for the immediate short term — and under his direction, the organization signed the likes of Niese, Davis, Gee, Duda, Murphy, Captain Kirk, Tejada, Parnell, Harvey and others down on the farm – for the long term.

Bottom line: Omar was able to put together a competitive club immediately (yes, he made horrible mistakes and better movies might have enabled us to go over the top – but the team was nonetheless competitive) and build for the future at the same time while Sandy supporters contest that cannot be done.

GM makes final decisions in some cases and others he does not.
It really depends on how the baseball organization is structured!

General Manager is just a title not a job!
Some General Managers make zero baseball decisions the president makes them instead.
Some GMs run the business but not the Development…

Lots of different job descriptions can be associated with a title and no single one fit every person who has that title!

But as Mike Francesa, whom we know is not exactly a Met fan, got it right on the nose when he said Omar took undue criticism for trading away prospects and draft picks because all these young players we now see shows he did not ignore the minor league system nor that it was as bad as the “experts” had rated it. Davis, Murphy, Duda, Gee, Captain Kirk – all drafted between 2006 and 2008 when it was said that Omar was depleting the minor leagues to win it now. None of the above were included in any trade for an older veteran, as neither were Niese and Parnell,l whom we drafted in 2005. Not to mention Harvey, Familia, etc. still on the farm.

So Omar did both – tried to field a competitive team (which he did) while building for the future.

He left for 3 years in 2002 and when he came back Wright was then on the roster!
He was promoted to the MLB in July 2004 and played his first full year in the MLB for Minaya!

It’s just that there are a few here who don’t want to acknowledge Minaya’s role in both Wright and Reyes being Mets

“Omar left this team a mess with his spending and neglected the Minors!”
Well Today proves otherwise!
This team is niether a mess nor is it broke (notice you don’t hear that whopper anymore!) and the Minor leagues appears to be just fine even without Wheeler and Nimmo!

But if you read some of the posts just 9 months ago and believed it you would get the impression that there was no MiL’s worth playing BUT Wheeler and that we were destined for bankruptcy!

Because those stories fit the agenda and philosophies they wanted to promote not because there was any truth to it at all!

It really is all about none of them had played a MLB game for any other team but us.

But your right it’s hard to say we developed them all.