Tag: Omar Minaya

Minaya Confirms Mets Tepid Interest In Sabathia

SAN FRANCISCO - JULY 10: American League All-...Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The NY Post Mets Blog confirms that Mets GM Omar Minaya spoke to Cleveland Indians GM Mark Shapiro about trading for C.C. Sabathia. Minaya says that the Mets had the prospects that the Indians were looking for. But the Mets remain undecided how aggressive they’ll be prior to the non-waiver trading deadline.

Bringing Sabathia in for a load of prospects would have been absolutely ridiculous for the Mets. They just traded four top prospects for Johan Santana this off-season. Doing it again for a team with a record hovering around .500 wouldn’t make sense at all. It’s good to see that Minaya kept his head on that one.

Sometimes the best trades are the ones that aren’t made.

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Mets Injury News: June 28- Alou and Church

NEW YORK - MAY 11: Ryan Church #19 of the New York Mets is congratulated by teammate Moises Alou #18 after hitting a home run in the 5th inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Shea Stadium on May 11, 2008 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Prior to the game today Jerry Manuel told reporters that Ryan Church should be ready to be activated from the disabled list prior to the game against the Yankees tomorrow. He also said that Moises Alou is targeting a return to the active roster next weekend in Philadelphia.

Manuel also talked about how the double header yesterday forces the Mets to seek outside help for a starting pitcher on Tuesday. Most likely Tony Armas, Jr. will be called up from Triple-A New Orleans. But Manuel left the door open for Omar Minaya to acquire a starter from outside of the Mets organization. Armas has pitched very well for the New Orleans Zephyrs this season going 5-6 with a 2.50 ERA in 16 starts.

There aren’t that many starters on the street that I can think of. There’s David Wells and Jeff Weaver out there, but I think Armas would be a better option. Wells hasn’t pitched all season and Weaver was released byt the Brewers after getting bombed in Triple-A Nashville. He made nine starts and went 2-4 with a 6.22 ERA.

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Fred Wilpon Finally Speaks About Randolph Firing

New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon spoke about the firing of manager Willie Randolph and MLB headquarters in Manhattan while attending the Welcome Back Veterans press conference.

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He spoke briefly to ESPN Radio after Randolph was fired only to say that it was Omar Minaya’s decision. It’s left a lot of people, including me, wondering why he wouldn’t talk about the situation publicly.

Ken Davidoff of Newsday reports the following from Wilpon:

Wilpon said that Minaya alerted him on Sunday, June 15 that he intended to fire Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first-base coach Tom Nieto, but Minaya wanted to sleep on it. That night, Randolph and his two coaches took the team’s flight to Anaheim.

Asked whether he regretted sending Randolph out West for just one game, Wilpon said, "You can always look over your shoulder and think things like that, but the intent here clearly was to respect Willie. To do it in person. It’s never easy to fire anybody. Omar took a lot of time. We took a lot of time listening to him and thinking about it. He wanted to respect Willie, and that’s what he did."

It looks like he and Minaya are on the same page here, which is good to read. But Wilpon really should have come out earlier to talk about this issue. This turned into such a media circus and the Mets organization was getting killed by every media outlet in the country over their handling of Willie’s firing.

For an owner that has a reputation for being very image conscious about the franchise, it’s suspicious that Wilpon didn’t speak earlier. It almost makes me think that he had to get his story straight before talking publicly about this.

Mets Hire Wayne Krivsky

The Mets announced the hiring of ex-Cincinnati Reds GM Wayne Krivsky. He’ll be a major league scout for the Mets. Obviously, having an ex-GM on the staff when the current GM is rumored to be on the hot seat will lead to speculation. We’ll see if that has a foundation or not in the coming months. Krivsky and Omar Minaya have known each other since their days working together for the Texas Rangers in the 1980’s. Krivsky has local roots as well, he’s a 1972 graduate of New Canaan (CT) High School.

Report: Bernazard May Be Next Mets GM

New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya before a Mets/Devil Rays spring training game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Image via Wikipedia

New York Mets VP Tony Bernazard may end up being the next Mets GM if Omar Minaya is fired after this season according to a report by Adam Rubin of the Daily News. It’s an open secret that Bernazard allegedly attempted to engineer the firings of Willie Randolph, Rick Peterson, and Tom Nieto.  He was seen having deep conversations with Jerry Manuel in the dugout while the Mets were preparing to play the Los Angeles Angels, in what turned out to be Randolph’s final game as manager.

Bernazard was a special assistant to the MLBPA prior to joining the Mets. He’s made no secret of his desire to be a Major League GM having interviewed for the Pittsburgh Pirates position when Dave Littlefield was fired.

Bernazard has been the brunt of many scathing indictments of his back-stabbing, politicking in the Mets organization. There are stories of his being the sounding board for the Latin players to complain about Randolph, his locker room interference, and his close relationship with Jeff Wilpon.

The report goes on to say that Bernazard positions himself as a proponent of building the Mets from the farm system, not free agency.  If that’s the case, Minaya better watch his back or he may end up on the unemployment line with Randolph.  It sounds like Bernazard is already beginning to draw distinctions between himself and Minaya.

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Mets Focus Squarely On Minaya Now

Now that Willie Randolph is gone and Jerry Manuel is all but guaranteed to be the Mets manager for the rest of the 2008 season, the Mets success or failure will fall squarely on Omar Minaya.  The Mets GM has had his share of up’s and down’s since he got here in 2005.  There are some differing schools of thought on this topic.  Some think that the Wilpons won’t get rid of him no matter how the 2008 version of the Mets performs. And others differ.

Jim Molony of MLB.com wrote a column today and completely agrees with me that 2008 may be Minaya’s final stand with the Mets.  The Wilpons have allowed Minaya to assemble a team prepared to win now with a nine-figure payroll.  The onus is on them to do what their charge is: to win now.

Molony runs through the litany of bad trades and free agent signings that Minaya has made and there have been quite a few. But what’s more telling is the industry opinion of Minaya’s team:

"They’ve relied too much on old players and it’s cost them," a veteran NL scout said. "They’ve had a lot of injuries, sure, but that’s what happens when you have a lot of older players."

As we’re writing Willie Randolph’s Mets eulogy this week, maybe we should start working on Minaya’s as well.