Rich Couthino of ESPN 1050 Radio caught up with Omar Minaya and asked him about a number of Mets issues.
Omar’s thoughts on the Mets going into spring training…
I like this team, I think we have a good team. It’s good to see the guys playing on the field and to see Reyes fielding groundballs… It’s nice to see Santana and Perez back on the mound… I think we’re ready to have a good year.
On Oliver Perez…
He’s throwing the ball pretty good and I’m glad to see his knee was taken care of and feels good. He’s now able to land on that leg and everyone is very excited about Perez having a good year.
On the starting rotation…
All of our guys were very good in 2007 and 2008… they were injured last year but are healthy now. Yes, there were some free agents we wanted that we weren’t able to get them, but I feel pretty good about the guys that we have right now.
On the offense in general…
Don’t forget that last year we led the league in hitting… we just have to slug more and drive in more runs and I think that they will. We added Jason Bay and Gary Matthews Jr. and we’ll have Beltran back and Jose Reyes who is our catalyst and his huge. We’re gonna score a lot of runs… Reyes energizes everybody on this team…
On the catching situation…
I think we have one of the best defensive backups in the game in Henry Blanco… Right now we’re gonna look at Thole and Santos and Chris Coste. We’re always gonna look at ways to improve the catching position and we’ll still try to. Santos is coming off a very good year as a rookie.
Expectations…
The past couple of years we’ve been coming into the season as favorites to win the division, and this year we’re not being favored. If last season showed anything, it’s that championships are not won on paper they are won in the field. Our goal is to go out there and win as many games as possible, go onto the playoffs and win a World Series.
Nice interview… Listen to Rich Couthino’s full podcast here in which he shares his final thoughts and two biggest keys for the Mets this season.
Regardless of the offseason which most of us agree could have been better, it’s nice to see Omar Minaya getting out in front or reporters almost everyday and standing behind the team and the players.
I absolutely share his opinion on Jose Reyes who I believe is one of the most important pieces of this puzzle if we’re going to make a move this year and battle the Phillies for the division. Reyes just makes things happen and whenever the Mets have a big inning, Reyes is almost always a big part of it.
