It was only a matter of time until the Gary Sheffield story, as it pertains to the Mets, would take a turn for the ugly. However, I’m hanging this on Omar Mianay and not Gary Sheffield.

Here is the latest…

SI.com’s Jon Heyman tweeted that the Giants were the team that claimed Gary Sheffield and prompted the Mets to pull him back. Many others had speculated that the mystery team was the Marlins.

In a post to NY Baseball Digest, Frank Rizzo writes,

Last night, I contacted one of my sources, a Giants front office official, who confirmed for me that Omar Minaya was asking for “high level talent” for his aging slugger, something that Giants GM Brian Sabean was not willing to part with.

What I find curious is this… Why put Sheffield on waivers and then not trade him when you had the opportunity?

It’s funny because not only do we overrate our prospects to the point that they are untouchable, but now we even overrate our 40 year old outfielders with bad knees that are in their last month of their contract and we have no interest in bringing back. Great… Wake up Omar, wake up…

Brian Costa of the Ledger, tweeted the following after the game.

As he walked out a back door to the Mets’ clubhouse, Gary Sheffield said, “I’m done.” Perhaps in more ways than one. 

Claimed on waivers earlier this month and pulled back by the Mets, Gary Sheffield is unhappy that he “essentially is being held hostage” from moving on to a contender for the remainder of this season, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke Thursday night on the condition of anonymity. That’s according to our friend, Adam Rubin.

I know there are many who are really taking shots at Sheffield with their “I told you so” posts, but I’m with Sheffield on this.

First of all, Omar Minaya continues to show how out of touch he is with the reality of baseball economics, player evaluation and recognizing opportunities to help this team. How can he possibly believe he can get a top level prospect for Sheffield who can only play 3-4 games per week and could blow out his knee or hamstring at any given moment?

Second, If you had no intention of trading Sheffield in the first place, why did you place him on waivers only to awake the sleeping bear? I would think you’d have some appreciation for a player who gave this team his all and did it for the rock bottom price of $400,000 (cost to the Mets). 

Third, If Sheffield wants to play the last days of this season for a contender, why not grant him that small favor considering the small throng of fans he gave you in the days leading up to his 500th homerun; the only highlight in this miserable season?

Finally, you have now put us in a situation where Sheffield simply walks and we have nothing to show for him. If you had no intentions of bringing him back, why not get something for him?

Your plan is to have this black cloud that you created, hang over the team for the rest of this depressing season?

Wow, are you really gonna do this to the few fans like me who still tune in to watch the games?

Swallow your pride and place Sheffield back on waivers and give the guy his freedom and get us a prospect, any prospect.