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!