Omar Minaya: Jury Still Out

Over the last 24 hours I have received about 100 Mets-related e-mails. A few that have stood out concern Omar Minaya, the architect of the Mets' offseason. One read very simply, "Omar Minaya is god."

As an aspiring GM, one who plans to take over for Minaya in roughly four years, it is important that I start now to really analyze his moves.

Right now, not one has truly stood out.

Every move Minaya made was a product of paying more than everyone else. While yes, Minaya deserves credit for being able to close deals and land the big names, he has yet to make a single great move.

Let's take a look.

1. Mike Cameron for Xavier Nady

This was apparently the payroll trimming transaction the Mets needed to get Delgado. I'm not buying this completely. The Mets have and had a ton of money to spend.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/tom_verducci/11/29/tom/index.html

This article does a great job of explaining the Mets financial situation, if you are interested.

Either way, the Mets got Nady. If this trade was a precursor to acquiring Delgado, then Nady becomes unnecessary. After all, we have Victor Diaz in RF who in many ways appears to be a Nady clone. Both young, right handed, avg D, potential pop.

Nady did not fill a single need for the Mets. Are we to assume that Cameron could not have netted a solid middle reliever? Would the Padres not have traded us Scott Linebrink or Akinori Otsuka for Cameron?

While I think moving Cameron is OK, I don't think Minaya got enough in return, especially after trading for Delgado.

Grade: B-

2. Yusmeiro Petit, Mike Jacobs, and a minor leaguer for Carlos Delgado + $7,000,000

The end result with this one is great. Delgado is a machine. He is one of the best hitters in baseball year-in and year-out and his glove has improved over the years.

Still, either the Mets gave up too much or did not get enough.

Too much:

With the Marlins desperate to cut payroll and Delgado set to make $48 mil over the next three years, getting rid of him was Florida's No. 1 offseason priority. The Mets knew that. Everyone in baseball knew that.

The Mets' main competition for Delgado was the Orioles. But the O's, refusing to part with prized pitching prospect and J Schubes prospect of the year Hayden Penn, lacked real serious interest.

Essentially, the Mets were negotiating against themselves.

People I talk to say Petit is a #3 at best and we don't need Jacobs if we have Delgado. Both of these comments are 100% true.

But to make the argument is to say you don't want a deep farm system. Maybe give one or the other but not both. By holding onto one, the Mets could acquire bullpen help or simply continue to have strong minor league players. Either way is a plus.

Didn't get enough: If the Mets were to give up Petit and Jacobs and take on a substantial amount of Delgado's salary why couldn't they do what the Red Sox did and demand more?

With the Marlins desperate to dump Lowell's salary, they threw Guillermo Mota into the Josh Beckett deal. This is hardly a throw-in. A year and a half ago, Mota was the premeire setup man in baseball.

I wonder if the Mets could have demanded Luis Castillo or Juan Pierre, two players the Marlins plan on shipping out, and in return taken on Delgado's full $48 mil. Castillo would be the perfect fit at 2b and the top of the order. Pierre, again at the top of the lineup and in RF.

It just seems to me like the Mets out-bid themselves on this one, and were so desperate to land Delgado that they did not fully analyze the situation. I think they could have gotten more or given up less.

Still, the end result is great.

Grade: B

3. Not re-signing Marlon Anderson

Not a backpage story, which Minaya craves, this is a huge offseason blunder for the Mets. In 2005, Anderson may have been more valuable to the Mets than Carlos Beltran. He was the National League's premier pinch hitter, a solid role player and clearly a better option at 2b than Kaz Matsui. Yet he was allowed to walk for 2 yrs, 1.85 mil total to the Nationals.

Anderson played 1b, 2b and LF for the Mets last year and hit .321 as a pinch hitter. Those that followed the team on a nightly basis had more confidence seeing Marlon in the 8th inning than just about any Met not named Cliff or David.

It is one thing if this is a move to allow Anderson Hernandez play on the big league roster, which still may not be sensible, but otherwise what's there to lose for 925K per year?

This is the type of move that will go unnoticed in November but will be remembered in June.

Grade: C-

Signing Billy Wagner

Not a whole lot not to like. Wagner, as I wrote yesterday was a guy the Mets craved, a guy the Mets needed, and they got him.

Minaya waited until after BJ Ryan signed to set the market.

Had he made the move earlier, to guarantee the 4th year and a no-trade clause, the Mets could have saved 3-5 million dollars over the span of the contract, just enough to sign Marlon Anderson and some other bench help.

Still, like with Delgado, the end result is great.

Grade: A-


Overall:

Minaya has made two huge moves this offseason. Acquiring Delgado and signing Wagner generates buzz and instantaneously make the Mets a much improved team heading into 2005.

For that, Minaya has done a great job.

On the other hand, given the Mets' financial flexibility and formerly solid farm system, Minaya hasn't made a single steal since he became the Mets GM.

He gave Pedro an extra year and $18 million more than any other team would.

He gave Beltran another year and $19 mil more than any other team would.

He gave Wagner an extra year and $13 mil more than any other team would.

He gave the Marlins two top prospects in a deal that he could have gotten for the rights to Will B. and the brother of AFOMG.

Yes, all these moves have made the Mets a lot better.

But all these moves are deals that I could have made from my couch.

Money talks. With a ton of money and a desperation to contend, the Mets outbid the rest of the competition. This is not the sign of a great GM. It is a sign of a wealthy organization. Credit the Wilpon's with opening their pockets as much if not more than you would credit Minaya.

Was George Steinbrenner a brilliant baseball mind when he outpaid everyone for Randy Johnson? Now the deal looks terrible, but at the time, the Yankees were getting their Ace. So, was he a genius? Not at all. He was rich.

The Mets and Yankees and Red Sox will always have the ability to outbid teams. Baseball sucks because of that, but well, that is the way the game is.

The way Billy Beane built up the A's not as much the first time but the second time around, is briliant and almost miraculous.

Some of the deals that Mark Shapiro made to build the Indians were brilliant.

Theo Epstein making the deal for Curt Schilling was brilliant.

Hey, what Doug Melvin is getting going up in Milwaukee right now, is brilliant.

But let's wait until Omar Minaya makes a steal before we start calling him one of the best GMs in franchise history. When that day comes I will admit my wrong. But until then, I'm not sold.

Grade: B

Growing up in New York City, in the elite private schools, I had a very different education. I was surrounded by tons of kids that never had to work a day in their lives.

As we got older, they could buy really nice cars and sink $1000 bar tabs to impress their peers and attract a girl.

Then, there is young Sip, son of a starving corporate lawyer living in the projects of West End Ave. I had no Benz, heck, I still don't have a license. My bar tab usually hovered around $20, $26 if you include the two forty ounces I pounded with my fellow deprived youths before we got to the bar.

But still, despite all my shortcomings, I would compete. With strategy and charm I sunk this 5'10 frame into more loving than your average joe.

This analogy, for one, is to show you how tough I had it, and how amazing it is that I know how to read and write, all things considered.

But it is also to point out this fact: With the Mets, Omar Minaya has all the tools to build a winner. He's the guy who can afford running up the $1000 tab. He's the guy who doesn't need to pound a couple forties ahead of time because he knows he's got a bottle of Cristal waiting for him.

I can't criticze Minaya for that. It's not his fault the Mets are one of baseball's wealthier franchises. But it doesn't change the fact that when Minaya was the $20-26 man with the Montreal Expos he could do no more than build a perennial 4th place finisher.

He didn't do anything special when he was there. They never contended partially because he never had the resources, but also partially because he made the wrong moves. In fact, he made one of the worst deadline deals of all time when he traded Bartolo Colon to the Tribe for Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and then top 5 prospect in baseball Brandon Phillips. So to call him god because he now has the tools to make it happen is selling yourself short.

And I'll say it again. Even with all these additions, the Mets are not a lock for the playoffs.

Sign Johnny Utah,

SM