I can’t believe that a smart guy like Rob Neyer would write an article that bashes Mets GM Omar Minaya for trading Heath Bell at the end of the 2006 season.

It’s one of the worst cases of Monday Morning Quarterbacking I’ve ever seen from a national sports journalist. I wouldn’t have minded that much if this was some rant on any number of Mets blogs, or on Twitter, but to read this on ESPN was quite surprising and I felt it represented a new low for them.

He writes,

Last season, Bell led the National League with 42 saves. This season, he’s got 41 saves and hasn’t blown a chance since late May. Of course, not so long ago Bell was a Met and Minaya gave him away.

One of the leaders of the saber-revolution, Neyer never misses an opportunity to gloat after the fact, and when he’s wrong it’s simply passed off as an anomaly. Well heck, you’re no different that any of us old-school fans, we do the same damn thing, so why the superiority complex?

He also writes,

Granted, there was no reason to think Bell would become this good. But if Minaya had held on to Bell for just one more season — in 2007, he pitched brilliantly as Trevor Hoffman’s setup man in San Diego — he might have been dissuaded from spending $47 million on Francisco Rodriguez, who a) hasn’t been as good as Bell, and b) is now in a big bowl full of trouble.

If Minaya had trusted the numbers, today he would have Bell and $47 million of baseball players not named Francisco Rodriguez.

Wow, why don’t you tell us something else we don’t know. Was anyone really enlightened by that bit of useless verbiage?

And what does he mean by “trusted the numbers”? Which numbers, his? Here are Heath Bell’s numbers in his three seasons with the Mets:

  • 2004 – 3.33 ERA, 1.15 WHIP,  8.1 H/9, 2.2 BB/9
  • 2005 – 5.59 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 10.8 H/9, 2.5 BB/9
  • 2006 – 5.11 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, 12.4 H/9, 2.7 BB/9

Those numbers sort of give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, and a new appreciation for Sean Green. I hope the new GM will find it in his heart to keep him. Right, Rob?

I’m not finished…

Isn’t it outrageous that the majority of these saber friendly baseball fans are all drooling over the possibility that Rangers GM Jon Daniels could be available and be a great candidate to replace Minaya?

Are they kidding me?

It’s the ultimate hypocrisy seeing them champion the general manager who just traded for the most hated player in their universe, Jeff Francoeur!

I guess they’ll just slip that one under the rug…

Oh and by they way, Jon Daniels would be my choice for Mets GM anyday! 

Despite some exhaustive research, I could not access any archives on ESPN.com. I wanted to see if I could find something — anything that Neyer may have written about Heath Bell after he was traded to the Pads.

I was hoping to find something prophetic that hinted Heath Bell would one day be a great closer, based on “trusting the numbers”. But alas, there are no archives… Too bad.. If I had found something even remotely condemning the trade as soon as it went down, I would have sold everything I own and become a disciple.

It felt good to get this rant off of my chest…

Hey Neyer, why don’t you tell us your thoughts on the Mets trading Nolan Ryan, we can use some more enlightenment here in Queens.