Tag: Omar Minaya

Audio: Mets Minaya, Santana, K-Rod, And More

Mike Francesa, hosting the annual Bar-A end of...
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Yesterday’s visit to Port St. Lucie didn’t go as planned for Mike Francesa of WFAN. We have some clips below from his interviews. But the big news is that Francesa couldn’t get interviews with David Wrigh and Ryan Church. Both refused to do interviews with him and even meet with him to discuss their problems.

Francesa went on to say that he tried to work through Mets PR man Jay Horowitz to meet with both players to discuss the situation. Both players refused the meeting. Wright didn’t like Francesa’s comments about his problems hitting in the clutch. And Church didn’t like Francesa’s comments about Church disliking New York.

Francesa said during the show that Church didn’t matter but Wright was immature about the situation and that he has some growing up to do. He also likened Wright’s immaturity about the interview to his problems hitting in the clutch.

It sounded to me like sour grapes that he couldn’t get the player interviews that he wanted. Francesa comes across as pompous at times. I think he was planning on generating some big ratings by having both players on to discuss their problems. When it didn’t happen, he was upset and lashed out at both labelling Church as inconsequential and Wright as immature. Good stuff…

Onto the interviews that Francesa did get:

Omar Minaya

Carlos Beltran

Francisco Rodriguez

Johan Santana

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Luis Castillo Arrives At Mets 2009 Spring Training

Luis CastilloThe goat of the 2008 Mets team arrived in camp today. He’s been working out all winter at the Mets academy in the Dominican Republic. According to Newday’s David Lennon, Castillo declared himself “a new man”.

That has yet to be seen. But Castillo sure has something to prove this season. Lennon reports that Castillo lost 17 pounds over the winter, which is a good start. He looked like a little meatball last season with gimpy knees. He’s listed at 5′ 11″ but he looks more like 5′ 9″ to me. Lennon writes that Castillo played at 210 pounds last season. That’s ridiculous for a guy his size. Apparently, there isn’t a weight clause in his Mets contract.

The worst thing about seeing Castillo show up at spring training is knowing that Orlando Hudson still hasn’t signed with a team. What a shame that the Mets’ hands are tied by Castillo’s contract. It was reported months ago that Castillo contacted Omar Minaya begging not to be traded and promising to get into shape. Well, now’s the time to prove it. Because if Orlando Hudson shows up at Citi Field ten times this season in a Washington Nationals uniform, it’ll be hard for us Mets fans to watch.

After playing in only 87 games last season and hitting 47 points below his career average, Castillo needs to have a monster season or he’s gone after 2009. Minaya won’t stand for another season out of him like last year. He’s starting his second chance.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Mets Re-Sign Oliver Perez To Three Year Deal

Oliver PerezMedia outlets are reporting the Mets re-signed starting pitcher Oliver Perez to a 3-year/$36 million contract. The native of Mexico will be 28 years old in August. Perez has been with the Mets since being traded at the deadline in 2006 with Roberto Hernandez for Xavier Nady.

Perez is 26-20 since he joined the Mets and is noted for his high ceiling and inconsistency. He did seem to flourish last season after pitching coach Rick Peterson was fired and Dan Warthen took over the coaching duties. He went 6-2 after Warthen took over in June.

It’s nice to see that Mets GM Omar Minaya is keeping the length of contracts to pitchers to a minimum. By signing Perez and Francisco Rodriguez this offseason to three year contracts the Mets are able to maintain financial flexibility by not locking into long term contracts.

Flickr photo courtesy of slgckgc

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Mets Minaya Still Has Holes To Fill

We’re about three and a half weeks before pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie. And we still have one big hole in the pitching rotation. Derek Lowe is gone, and gone to a division rival in Atlanta. There have been several quotes in the media that Omar Minaya isn’t going to move forward to fill voids in the Mets roster until the pitching situation is settled.

Omar_MinayaThe bullpen needs have been addressed, and in a big way. Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz are fantastic additions to the team. That’s great… But holding up the rest of the roster for a starting pitcher doesn’t make sense anymore.

There has been speculation that the Bernard Madoff- Ponzi scheme has affected the Mets ability to sign free agents this year. By now, we’ve all heard that Mets owner Fred Wilpon was victimized by Madoff to the tune of as much as nine figures. There are other writers that claim that the Madoff scheme has nothing to do with the Mets losing Derek Lowe. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

The point here is that Oliver Perez, Randy Wolf, Ben Sheets, and Jon Garland are still out there and won’t require a significant financial commitment for the Mets. I could understand waiting to see if the Mets could sign Derek Lowe, he would require a major financial commitment and would affect the Mets’ ability to sign other free agents.

We still need to look at adding an outfielder. I like Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy. I should say that I liked seeing them last season in small doses. It’s questionable, in my mind, how things will turn out with them playing every day in left field. Minaya should really take a look at an outfielder with experience playing every day like Garret Anderson, Jay Payton, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, and Bobby Abreu.

The other problem that needs to be dealt with is the fact that the Mets have two backup catchers in Brian Schneider and Ramon Castro. I like them both as backups but neither is suited to play every day for various reasons. Schneider is an automatic out and Castro is an injury waiting to a happen. Unfortunately, there aren’t many options for an every day catcher on the free agent market now. Names like Pudge, Varitek, and other 30-something players dominate the remaining free agents. So a trade might be the only way to get a starting catcher to Queens.

These important issues with the Mets roster shouldn’t be left on hold waiting for a back of the rotation pitcher to sign a free agent contract. It doesn’t make any sense to me to leave other business left unattended while Minaya dances with Scott Boras and Oliver Perez. Minaya needs to be able to multi-task and we’re not seeing that right now.

Mets Won’t Offer Lowe Fourth Year

Once again Jack Curry of the New York Times comes up with some seemingly solid information about the negotiations between the Mets and free agent pitcher Derek Lowe. Apparently, Curry is talking to someone with inside knowledge about the Mets strategy in dealing with Lowe and his agent Scott Boras,

Curry says, definitively, that the Mets won’t offer Lowe a fourth year. Currently, the Mets offer stands at 3-years/$36 million. The money will be a topic of negotiation but not the years.

I can understand the Mets reluctance to give more years to Lowe considering that he’ll be 36 years old next season. But Lowe has been durable. He’s pitched at least 182 innings/season since 2002. That was his first season as a starter.

If I were Omar Minaya, I wouldn’t get too hung up on three years. A vesting team option for the fourth year should be acceptable. Maybe they could look to vest the fourth year if Lowe averages 190+ innings over years two and three of the contract, or something along those lines.