Conor Glassey of Baseball America reported in on a new tournament that the New York Mets are launching — called the Metropolitan Baseball Classic. It’s an eight-team tournament scheduled to take place in New York over Labor Day weekend. The eight teams will consist of the Evoshield Canes, NorCal Baseball, Marucci Elite, Orlando Scorpions, St. Louis Mets, Team Elite, a team from Texas and a team from the Northeast area.

The teams from Texas and the NorthEast will be hand-picked by the Mets themselves. The travel teams mentioned earlier each have their own merit as well, with NorCal boasting names like Troy Tulowitzki, Jimmy Rollins, Dontrelle Willis, and Xavier Nady — while the Scorpions have Zack Greinke, Chris Sale, and Jonny Venters to their name. You can read more about each specific team in the linked article.

Glassey says it best here:

Weather permitting, every team is guaranteed four games with pool play between two groups of four teams and then a championship game, a third-place game, a fifth-place game and a seventh-place game. Each team will play at least one game at Citi Field, but games will also take place at MCU Park, the home of the Mets’ short-season Brooklyn Cyclones, and at St. John’s Jack Kaiser Stadium.

For the Mets, the tournament allows their staff to become more familiar with the players, while the players and their families become more familiar with the organization. The Mets can learn more about each players’ makeup and can perform various tests, if they choose, on some of 2014’s top prospects.

I think this is an excellent idea by the New York Mets and kudos to their scouting department. Tommy Tanous, scouting director, said that he got the idea from Bob Fontaine Jr.’s Mariner Cup. I, for one, am looking forward to it!

Slowly but surely that sinking feeling is beginning to settle in the hearts of Mets fans. The dark feeling fans of the Metropolitans know all too well, the feeling of hopelessness.  The 2009 season, marked early with thoughts of glory and grandeur is effectively over for the Mets. Ineffectiveness and injuries scarred the season from the start, and as the recent series in San Diego has shown us, it is getting to a ridiculous point.

But, within this cloud of despair, there is a silver lining fans can look for: the possibility of a productive offseason.  The team now has 50 games left of a lost season to begin planning for the next one. Before I begin with what I believe would lead to a more productive and gritty team , I want to wipe the dreams of Matt Holliday, John Lackey, and Jason Bay out of anyone’s minds. With the current financial climate the team is in, ideas of big time free agents being showered in money are dreams only Yankee fans can have.  Whether the Wilpon’s want to admit it or not, it is obvious with the front office’s behavior that the Madoff scandal affected the team’s financial situation greatly.  I will attempt to devise a few productive moves the Mets could make, not fantastical ones, but ones which will hopefully lead to a better team in 2010.

To fix the Mets in a timely fashion we first have to address the glaring problems the Mets have. Firstly, there is a dramatic drop off in talent throughout the entire system. From the major league club all the way down to
their minor league teams, there is a lack of depth.

The major league club has arguably five of the top major leaguers (Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Santana, K-Rod) which provides us with a core of players that we can build a winner around.  From there, the talent drops off significantly into players with potential to be decent (Pelfrey, Maine, Francoeur) and young unproven guys who have flashes of greatness, but need time to grow (Murphy, Parnell etc.) That does not even take into account the plethora of over the hill veterans who take up a chunk of the roster such as Delgado, Castillo, L.
Hernandez, Tatis etc.

This is also evident throughout the minor leagues. Every level has a group of decent prospects at the top, while the rest of the club is made up of less than stellar players. The standings reflect this: Buffalo, headed by Nick Evans, Dillon Gee and Eddie Kunz (also Fernando Martinez who is on the DL) is dead last in the International League, and is 19 games out of first place. The Buffalo team is relying heavily on players who are past their prime, or are unable to cut it at a major league level. While some would argue this is normal for a AAA squad, a AA squad is supposed to be made up of some of a ballclub’s most promising prospects and not washed up has-been’s.  Binghamton is headed by top prospects Ike Davis, Brad Holt, Jenrry Mejia, Josh Thole and Ruben Tejada, who all have considerable promise and for the most part are producing nicely.
However, the Binghamton squad, much like its AAA sister, is in last place and is a dismal 21.5 games out of first place.

The key to the 2009-2010 offseason should be gaining depth and power. Like I said before, the likes of Matt Holliday or Jason Bay roaming the cavernous gaps of Citi Field are slim to none. But there is one option that is both practical and affordable. His name is Xavier Nady.

Nady, who is coming off surgery on his right elbow, would be a perfect fit for the Mets. He is a gamer, who has proven he can produce in New York. He would provide the team with pop, as well as a very good #5 or #6 hitter to place behind David Wright. In 2008 he had 25 home runs, and 97 RBIs – half of those coming from his time on the lowly Pirates. Most intriguing off all would be his presumed cost. Coming off an injury, Nady could come at an extremely discounted price. Although he is represented by the infamous Scott Boras, not even Boras can get Nady a big time contract in the current cost cutting climate of the MLB. Look what happened to Bobby Abreu…

Signing Nady to a one year deal at or around $6 million with a hefty option for a second year would solve at least one of the Mets biggest problems. Who wouldn’t rather see Nady in LF than Gary Sheffield?

After securing Nady, Omar Minaya would be wise to pick up players who can back up and fill in nicely.  In other words, provide the team with much needed depth. Picking up the likes of Eric Hinske, David Eckstein and trading for Eric Byrnes would give the Mets players who can play and most importantly contribute when
called upon. Hinske would be a more than adequate back up to Murphy at 1B, as well as spell the corner OFs and David Wright at 3B. Eckstein would serve as a spark plug the Mets desperately need, as well as being a superb backup for Louis Castillo and Jose Reyes when needed.  Byrnes is another player who could come cheaply from Arizona and be a “run-through-the-wall” kind of player the Mets lack. Hinske, Eckstein, and Byrnes would cost little to nothing to add, but their presence would be invaluable. Could you imagine having Eckstein fill in at SS rather than Anderson Hernandez? I would also advocate trading for a catcher.
AJ Pierzynski on the White Sox strikes me as someone the Mets could really use. Some argue AJ is a clubhouse cancer, while others say he is a teammate that you either love or hate. There is no arguing however, that he plays the game in a gritty and hard fashion, something the current Mets could learn a few things about. Also, Pierzynski’s contract expires at the end of the 2010 season, hopefully allowing Josh Thole to slide into the role in 2011. A package including Eddie Kunz, Dylan Owen and Shawn Bowman could be a place to start when talking to the White Sox.

Finally, the Mets are in desperate need of a solid #2 starter. The Free Agent market offers some interesting possibilities, while the trade market offers others. My personal choice would be for the Mets to acquire Erik Bedard. Like Nady, Bedard is coming off an injury riddled season, and should come at a discounted price.  Bedard would certainly provide the Mets with a devastating 1-2 combo at the top of the rotation, and would allow Pelfrey and Maine to slide down into more comfortable #3 and #4 slots in the rotation. Other Free Agent possibilities include Brad Penny, and Rich Harden.  I would also sign lefty Joe Beimel .

Overall, the real money would be used on Nady and Bedard, the two per year could cost roughly $13 million. Eckstein and Hinske would not cost more than $2 million.  Beimel would cost around $2-3 million. That still presumably gives the Mets $1 million out of their supposed $20 million able to spend on various other
parts via trade or something else.  A lineup of Reyes, Castillo, Beltran, Wright, Nady, Francoeur, Murphy, and Pierzynski would be a lineup built for the cavernous Citi Field, providing a great deal of doubles.  The Mets cannot build a team built on blasting the ball out of the park anymore. They cannot be the Phillies, who play in the bandbox known as Citizens Bank Park. The Mets lineup would stress extra base hits and moving the runners over. The bench would be something like: Pagan, Hinske, Eckstein, Byrnes and Santos.  All fully capable of filling in when needed.

Finally a rotation of Santana, Bedard, Pelfrey, Maine and Perez has a lot of potential to be great.  A great 1-2 punch of Santana and Bedard could go head to head with anyone in the game (most notably our friends Mr. Hamels and Mr.Lee). Pelfrey would be a fantastic #3 starter, and Maine could continue to tap into his potential in a stress free #4 slot.  And of course the bullpen would be solid: K-Rod, Putz, Feliciano, Green, Parnell, Stokes, and Beimel.

While acquiring Nady and a few bench players not be the splashy offseason many fans want, I believe it would plug a great deal of holes the Mets have at a cost that is not very extravagant.

It’s been three years since the last time the Mets made a big trade at the deadline. Turning back the clock, Omar Minaya woke up in a GM’s worst nightmare scenario.

During the early morning hours of the trade deadline Minaya learned that his coveted setup man, Duaner Sanchez, had been seriously injured in a taxicab accident in Miami, and most likely would not pitch the rest of the season.

Fearing that his bullpen did not have enough depth Minaya felt that he had to add an arm to the team to better the team’s playoff chances.

Throughout the day Minaya desperately worked the phones and tried to make a deal. That afternoon, Minaya partnered up with the Pittsburgh Pirates to reacquire a familiar face who had been with the team for the 2005 season.

That face was forty-one year old reliever, Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez had been pretty successful in his first stint with the club, going 8-6 with a 2.58 ERA.

Unfortunately, the deal came at a price and the Mets were required to ship outfielder and fan favorite, Xavier Nady, to the Pirates.

Nady, 27, had only been with the club for a few months and was in the midst of having a nice season with the Mets. He was arguably one of the most popular players with the fans. Despite hitting only .264 at the deadline, he had 14 long balls and 40 RBIs, which had just about eclipsed his career highs.

Seems like a pretty steep price to pay for a mid-season rental? The Mets felt the same way so they requested that the Pirates send another player in the deal, which they did. That ‘throw in’ player was none other than Oliver Perez. At the time, the 24 year old southpaw was in the midst of a dreadful season.

On average, Perez was allowing over six runs per nine innings, and had already lost ten games by the deadline.

The deal was completed and announced around an hour before the deadline.

There was talk that Omar was going to immediately going to package the new Met Perez and reliever Heath Bell and send them to the San Diego Padres for Scott Linebrink, however that never came to fruition.

Interestingly enough, the Padres went onto acquire Bell from the Mets for practically nothing in the off-season.

For entertainment purposes let’s look back on how the three player involved in the deal helped their respective ball clubs.

On the Pittsburgh side of the deal, Xavier Nady spent the remainder of 2006, as well as all of 2007 and part of 2008 with the club. In those two plus years Nady was very dominant and helped form a formidable offense with the likes of Nate McLouth, Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez.

Throughout his Pirates tenure Nady compiled a .301 batting average along with 36 home runs and 152 RBIs, which are clearly respectable numbers.

On the flip side of the deal, Roberto Hernandez only spent the remainder of 2006 with the Mets before departing for free agency. Throughout the final two months of the season he was solid sporting a 3.48 ERA in 20.2 innings while fanning 15. He also pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief throughout the NLCS against the Cardinals.

Oliver Perez’s results have been somewhat of a mixed bag. Perez continued to pitch poorly with the Mets throughout the 2006 regular season. However, due to injuries in the pitching staff, Perez found himself starting two crucial games in the NLCS. This included a solid outing in Game 7 where he held the Cardinals to just one run over six innings.

In 2007, Perez had his best year with the Mets. He won 15 games and had a staff-best 3.56 ERA. Unfortunately, despite glimpses of that success in 2008, Ollie was very inconsistent to the point where he was not reliable. This season, obviously has been no better as Perez has struggled with his command as well as injuries all year.

Now onto the question which side got the better deal in the deadline trade? The Mets did well in the trade in the short term, as they got the solid arm in the bullpen that they needed to replace Sanchez with, as well as two important post-season starts out of Oliver Perez. However, long term wise the Pirates did better on this one.

Not only did Nady play well for the Pirates, but he was also a key piece in the deal that netted them highly touted prospect Jose Tabata.

All in all, the Mets also could have benefited from Nady’s presence, especially last year when they had a void in the outfield following the season-ending injury to Moises Alou.

I know it sounds like bad dialogue out of a comic book or a Michael Bay movie but it is unfortunately true.  Omar over the last couple of years seemed to be the “Teflon GM.”  The last 2 seasons we have witnessed the Mets collapse and miss going into the playoffs by one game.  Omar did not put a team together the past 2 seasons that played baseball in October.  The way the season has gone so far it looks like Met fans for the 3rd year in the row will be watching other teams in play in the post season. Omar last year showed great self preservation by firing Willie Randolph and blaming Willie for the last 2 seasons.  This year Omar will have the injuries to blame as to why the Mets did not make the playoffs.  Unfortunately the Wilpons will not grow a backbone and fire Omar.

I know that Omar Minaya has done a lot for this team and I’m grateful for it.  The Mets were the joke of baseball until 2004 when Omar became the General Manager.  In Omar’s first move as General Manager he hired Yankee great and bench coach Willie Randolph.  In his first off season Omar signed one of the best pitchers in the game, Pedro Martinez.  He also signed all-star center-fielder Carlos Beltran who was coming off an amazing post season for the Houston Astros.  These signings improved the Mets greatly as they won 84 games and were in the playoff race until ironically the last week of the season.  The next off season Omar signed closer Billy Wagner and traded for Carlos Delgado and also added Paul Lo Duca to the team.  For the first time since 1988 the Mets won their division. 2007 was a slow off season as Omar didn’t sign any new superstars, believing that the 2006 squad was good enough to win in 2007.  In the off season of 2007 Omar acquired the best pitcher in baseball, Johan Santana from the Twins.  In 2008 he signed one of the best closers, K-Rod after a record breaking season.

There have been some bad moves made by Omar as well.  In 2006, Omar jumping the gun and panicking traded away outfield Xavier Nady to Pittsburgh after Duaner Sanchez was in a car accident and would require season ending surgery on his shoulder.  Nady was having a good season, he was well liked by the fans and media as well as a good clubhouse guy for Roberto Hernandez, a reliever who was on the Mets the previous year but wound up not helping the Mets at all in 2006 and a young left handed pitcher named Oliver Perez, who was forced on them.  In 2006 he also traded away Heath Bell and Royce Ring for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins.  Less than a week later he also sent Matt Lindstrom to the Marlins.  A month later Omar traded Brian Bannister for Ambiorix Burgos.  In 2007 Omar signed veteran and often injured outfielder Moises Alou to a contract.  Unsurprisingly, Alou suffered from injuries and only played in 87 games.  In 2008 Omar brought Alou back and again Alou was injured, playing in just 15 games that season.  He also signed Luis Castillo to a 4 year deal, valued at 25 million dollars even though Castillo was coming off of double knee surgery.  Castillo was out of shape last year and was injured for parts of the 2008 season.  His offensive output was non-existent last year.  He spent time on the DL and killed potential rallies.  His range in the infield was just like his offense, non-existent.  This past off season he signed Oliver Perez to a 4 year, 36 million dollar contract.  That kind of deal is a deal for number 2 in the rotation pitcher, which Ollie is not.  At best he is a number 3 guy and that’s stretching it.

This year the Mets are a train wreck, there is no other way in describing them.  Omar Minaya built this team and the blame goes to him.  This season Omar was banking on Daniel Murphy to be some sort of savant out in left field even though he looked horrible last year in the outfield.  That experiment failed right from the beginning.  Murphy caused the Mets several games because of his inexperience play in the outfield.  He also gambled that Oliver Perez was going to live up to his potential and become a better pitcher.  Ollie’s ERA this season is 9.97 and he has spent time on the DL.

Omar had a chance to add some good talent in the off-season such as Orlando Hudson and Adam Dunn come to mind.  Imagine if their bats were in the lineup right now, how much better would the Mets be?  Hudson’s defensive range is better than Castillo’s and his ability at the plate I think we can all agree is a much bigger improvement over Castillo’s.  Adam Dunn may strikeout a lot, but he can hit home-runs out of Citi Field and get on base by taking pitches and drawing walks.  His offense makes up for his bad defense unlike Daniel Murphy who is only batting .242 for the season with 5 HR’s and 26 RBI’s.

The injuries have been piling up and there are 9 guys currently on the DL.  Omar’s motto has been to tread water until Reyes, Beltran and Delgado come back.  Unfortunately for Omar there is no timetable for these guys.  Jose Reyes has not yet fully tested out his injury by running full tilt yet.  Beltran was ordered to not play until he is pain free and Delgado is recovering from a surgery that in all likelihood could have him on the DL for the rest of the year.  Omar has refused to trade.  At first he was saying that there was no deal to make even though teams were making deals. 

The Braves traded low level prospects for outfielder Nate McLouth.  The Cardinals traded away nobody good for Mark DeRosa. The Yankees traded low level prospects as well for utility player Eric Hinske who has a good bat and can play the corner infield as well as the corner outfield.

I do not understand how after two collapses Omar can just sit by and let this team and their fans down.  This organization continues to live by “we’ll fight again tomorrow.”  They have been saying that for the last three years now.  The Mets have become the laughing stock of major league baseball.  TV announcers and sports show make jokes about the team we love.  I said it at the beginning and I’ll say it again: Omar Has Failed US!