PCP Sports

by John Ryan

In a move certain to stir the pot even more in the New York area, New York Mets GM Omar Minaya received a four year extension today to continue in his post, despite the fact that the Mets had the biggest collapse in baseball history last year (losing a 7 game lead in the last 17 days of the season) under his watchful eye, and that the Mets have still not secured a playoff berth in the 2008 tournament. In a week where the NFL’s New York Jets got walloped and Kellen Clemens filled in for an injured Brett Favre at the end of regulation and Yankee stadium shut its hallowed doors for the first time in 85 years amidst Hank Steinbrenner taking pot shots at Joe Torre and the current wild card system, this just adds to the intrigue. Oh yeah, Plaxico Burress of the New York football Giants was also suspended today for insubordination. Start spreading the news…

It hasn’t been all bad during Minaya’s tenure. The Mets have enjoyed a great deal of success during his term and secured some great players and developed others that have built the core of the current team. Minaya was hired after the 2004 season and made an immediate impact, bringing in Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez. He also hired Willie Randolph and the team improved by 12 wins in his first season (from 71 to 83). In his second off-season, Minaya continued to add pricey and effective veterans, bringing in Paul Lo Duca, Carlos Delgado, and Billy Wagner. Wagner was a major coup, as he was the Phillies closer at the time (he also snagged effective bench hand Endy Chavez from the Phils that off-season, too). That year he also added Chad Bradford, Jorge Julio and Duaner Sanchez to fortify the bullpen in front of Wagner. As if that weren’t enough he actually limited payroll by shipping off Mike Cameron and oft-distracting Kris Benson for Julio, John Maine and Xavier Nady. That season (2006) was a major success as the Mets won the National League East by 12 games, and Minaya fortified the team mid-season by trading for Roberto Hernandez, Oliver Perez, and Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez. After that season, though, all things went down hill. The successful trades Minaya made the previous off-season were offset by the following trades that killed the Mets bullpen down the stretch in 2007: Heath Bell and Royce Ring to the Padres for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins. Bell and Ring have been very effective for the Padres since and Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins never made it through the season with the Mets. A few days later, he sent hard-throwing relievers Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom to the Florida Marlins for lefties Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick. Again, Owens has had mild success along with Lindstrom. The following month, he traded starting pitcher Brian Bannister (son of former major league pitcher Floyd Bannister) to the Kansas City Royals for a live bullpen arm in Ambiorix Burgos. Besides having a great name Burgos has given the Mets only a hefty medical bill. These young pitchers, most notably Bell and Bannister, thrived with their new teams, and very definitely could have helped the 2007 Mets. Instead, the Mets netted very little on these deals, and the Philadelphia Phillies captured the division on the last day of the season when the Mets ran out of pitching. Follwing the season, Minaya landed his biggest fish to date: Johan Santana. The package he gave up was underwhelming, to say the least, which indicated Minaya does indeed make good trades a lot of the time. Like any other GM, he will make misatkes, but not trading Pelfry or any other major leaguer was a big time win for the GM. Despite the acquisition, the Phillies have led the East most of the season because of Willie Randolph keeping the team so tight it didn’t hit until July, Wagner’s injury, and Rick Petersen clashing with the teams pitchers. Jerry Manuel has since gotten the Mets back to the point that they will probably make the post-season, but that of course is not a definite. Time will tell if this was a good move. Minaya has the advantage of being close with Jeff Wilpon, but he had better win next year in a new stadium and presumably more cash to spend on top free agents.