Los Nuevos Mets?

(Note: Hey guys, double the dose today. Here you can find A.F.O.M.G.'s column "Los Nuevos Mets?" Below is Sip's piece "Say It Ain't So, Monster... But Can We Really Complain?" A couple of definite must-reads. Enjoy.)

Before I launch into this, allow me to get one thing out of the way. I normally hate Bob Raissman's "Tuning In" column in the New York Daily News.

For those unfamiliar with Raissman's work, a little background. Every Sunday Raissman is given a personal forum to gripe about any and all broadcasting gaffes that have occured in the past week. Now I understand why a column like this exists in theory -- sometimes you've gotta take those media guys to task (by gum, that's what I'm doing right now!). So it's not the concept behind "Tuning In" that irks me, it's that Raissman insists on targeting sports talk radio hosts.

Indeed, it's almost a sure thing that I wouldn't hate Raissman's columns so much if they stuck to criticizing basically everyone at ESPN or FOX Sports.

As friends like Sip and Mr. Glass know all too well, I sort of despise every piece of non-Baseball Tonight programming on ESPN. Yes, even SportsCenter. I'm hardly the first to say this, but the SportsCenter of our youth is gone, replaced by Old School-Nu Skool (note, one of those o's should have an umlaut above it for some reason) shouting matches that pit one moron against another.

Where witty hosts like Craig Kilborn and Keith Olberman once sat, today's talking heads seemingly exist to spout an endless barrage of of ridiculous catch phrases and nicknames for the sake of self-exposure and self-promotion.

As for FOX, geez, where do I begin? As if Tim McCarver weren't painful enough (note, I had been fairly indifferent to Joe Buck, but now I actually kind of like him because of those Budweiser commercials he did lampooning sports broadcasting's catch phrase fetish, ya know, "slam-a-lama-ding-dong!"), FOX insists on a series of completely inane in-game features.

Among them, a song during the 7th or 8th inning that distracts from the action on the field, which more often than not makes you want to tear your hair out. Other favorites include those catchy mechanical technology noises any time they display a scoreboard or other information-related convenience.

So that all makes me sick.

What doesn't make me sick is the banter of talk show hosts on New York's home for sports talk radio, WFAN, and yet it's the Fan that inspires 90% of Raissman's ink.

So why does this bother me so much? Like other Mets fans, I've got a soft spot for the Fan -- it's a part of my youth, it's a part of my life. But it's not kneejerk sentimentality that makes me defend it. It's that I respect the hosts immensely. They know what they're talking about and are so consistently solid that it's awe-inspiring on some level.

Think about it. These guys talk New York sports for hours-long stretches at least 5 days a week. If they slip up now and again, well, that's to be expected given the sheer volume of time they're on, and it's hardly worth harping on every little screw up.

But that's basically what Raissman's column does. He listens in on local radio, gripes about several on-air screw-ups that occur in a given week, and then basically dismisses sports talk radio, as currently constituted, as worthless.

So yeah, on the whole, I'm not a big Raissman guy, but every now and then he makes a good observation. His column in today's Daily News was one such occassion (link available here: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/story/385618p-327255c.html).

As we all know, the Mets have assumed a decidedly more Latin feel during the one-plus year(s) that Omar Minaya has been in charge. The Daily News reports that as GM of the Mets, Omar has imported a total of 15 players, 12 of whom were Hispanic. In the same period of time, Minaya has exported 15 players, all but two of whom were American or Korean (all were American, save the newly departed Jae Seo).

Before crying bloody murder, let's have a look at the players exported, with a little comment attached (note, Latin players have a * next to their name):

Mike Piazza -- diminishing skills, as much loyalty as we feel toward the Monster, it was the right move to not re-sign him.

Jason Phillips -- had killer goggles, otherwise not that good, was traded for Japanese pitcher Kaz Ishii, who sucked for us but was a worthwhile gamble.

Vance Wilson -- capable backup who would nonetheless not have done as well as Ramon Castro, as evidenced by his .197 average last year; traded for Anderson Hernandez, now one of our top prospects, which is either a credit to Omar or a sad commentary on the state of our farm system.

Mike Cameron -- fan favorite and all around great guy as far as anyone could tell, but he was unhappy playing out of position so trade was probably a matter of time; fact remains that Mets did not get optimal value for Killa Cam by anyone's measure so we'll list this as a potential sign of pro-Latin bias.

Al Leiter -- fan favorite with diminished skills, Omar decided to hand the ace's responsibilities to Pedro Martinez rather than to Big Al for another season; success of this decision is unparalleled in Mets history.

Kris Benson -- another potential sign of pro-Latin bias, Benson was traded this weekend for a reliever we didn't really need, diminishing the strength of our starting rotation and the number of slutty wives on the Mets at the same time.

John Franco -- casting away junkballer John Franco puts Mets fans out of misery until Opening Day when Braden Looper blows the first of 7 saves on the year.

Jae Seo -- although this trade looks a lot worse in retrospect given the Benson deal, at the time Omar was trading from strength to shore up the bullpen.

Joe McEwing -- the time had come, RIP.

Braden Looper -- see entry on Franco, John above and Wagner, Billy below.

Richard Hidalgo* -- a Latin player who was decent for us but did not deserve to be resigned, Hidalgo was let go.

Mike Stanton -- embedded Yankee who did everything he could to foil Mets' plans for success, and was traded for a juicer.

Mike DeJean -- sucked in year 2, everyone was glad to see him and his 6.31 ERA go.

Mike Jacobs -- budding superstar or trade bait? That's the question with Jacobs, who was shipped off for proven superstar Carlos Delgado as Omar shores up the team's biggest weakness.

Yusmeiro Petit* -- potential future Latino star traded for present Latino star, it was the right move.

Of these players, who do you really miss? Piazza, of course, but who else? Some people are going to say Jacobs, but those are the armchair scouts talking -- a trade for a premier bat like Delgado's made too much sense given the paucity of offense for the Mets, in general and at 1B in particular, last season.

Many of us miss players liks Big Al and Joey Mac, but the truth is that their time had come. They were fading players who needed to be replaced in order for the team to change its identity.

We'll examine the Benson and Cameron swaps shortly, but looking over the players let go reveals less a tendency toward Latin players and more a tendency toward replacing broken down parts.

Now let's have a look at the players Omar has brought in:

Paul Lo Duca -- Brooklyn native replaces Piazza as Omar spurns the premier free-agent catchers, Ramon Hernandez and Bengie Molina, both Latinos.

Ramon Castro* -- vast improvement over Vance and Gogs, extraordinarily clutch in 2005, popular guy in the clubhouse, nothing to dislike except, possibly, his extraordinarily ugly mug.

Carlos Delgado* -- premier available first base bat other than Paul Konerko, proven commodity in pitcher-friendly parks.

Carlos Beltran* -- premier free agent in 2005 offseason signed by Omar.

Xavier Nady* -- swapped for the popular but unhappy Cameron, this move doesn't make much sense, in fairness.

Endy Chavez* -- next.

Pedro Martinez* -- best free agent acquistion of our lifetime, Omar signs best free agent pitcher on the market.

Billy Wagner -- Omar signs best free-agent closer.

Jorge Julio* -- unnecessary move, potential sign of Latin favoritism.

Duaner Sanchez* -- move made sense at the time, makes less sense now.

Julio Franco* -- strong backup 1B to spell Delgado, RIP Doug Mientkiewicz.

Jose Valentin* -- next.

Chris Woodward -- strong utility infielder takes over for Joe Mac's place on the bench.

Anderson Hernandez* -- promising 2B prospect swapped for unnecessary Vance Wilson, Mets clearly get better end of this deal.

Juan Padilla* -- had excellent run in 2005 out of bullpen, will likely regress in '06 but could still be solid contributer.

So let's review. In his tenure as GM of the Mets, Omar has signed or traded for three premier players. Two of them are Latin, but to lob any criticism at Minaya for going after the best guys baseball has to offer is sheer insanity.

Omar has shown a willingness to sign the best players available regardless of race (Wagner), a willingness to let unproductive players leave regardless of race (Hidalgo), and an ability to avoid signing a Latino player (Molina, Hernandez) when he thought he could get equal value in a white player (Lo Duca).

So the theme of Omar's entire transaction history with the Mets is less Omar and the Nuevos Mets, and more Omar and trying to get the best of the bunch.

Yes, there are exceptions. Let's have a look at the Mike Cameron and Kris Benson deals, shall we? Regarding the former, it has been posited that the Cameron-Nady swap was primarily a salary dump orchestrated so as to give the payroll flexibility necessary to acquire Wagner and Delgado.

That's plausible enough, but ultimately we don't know what directives Omar received from the Wilpons regarding finances. Judging the move on its non-financial merits, the Mets gave up an unhappy (although not disruptive) player in exchange for a young guy with promise who figures to form a productive platoon out in right field along with Victor Diaz.

Yes, I think Omar should have held off on moving Cameron so as to squeeze the Red Sox or Yankees depending on how Johnny Damon played out, and no, I don't think Omar got optimal value, but I think if you look at the deal on its own terms and then factor in the finances possibility, it's a bit of a stretch to dimiss it as racially-motivated.

That leaves Benson. If there's any deal that could theoretically cast doubt on Omar's motives, it's this one. But hold up a second. Are we really ready to start slinging accusations of preferential racial treatment because of one dubious trade? How is that fair?
Those convinced of Omar's Latin machinations will point to the 18 Latin players now on the Mets vs. the 8 he inherited and cry A-ha! But if these moves improve the team, which all of them did rather unambiguously save the two mentioned above (granted, retroactively in conjunction with the Benson deal the Jae Seo deal also looks somewhat dubious), how can we accuse Omar of having a pro-Latin bias in good faith?

If the Mets had to go Latin to put the Art Howe dark ages behind them, who the hell cares? Let Omar give us the talent and let's us fans give Omar a break if that talent happens to be majority Latino. Nobody's giving Omar a free pass, mind you, because not all his moves were genius, and I'm not trying to earn any acclaim for being racially progressive, I'm just trying to make an appeal to everyone's good sense.

For a change, that's what Raissman did in his column, so like him I would call on Mike and the Mad Dog to cool it with the provocation on this score -- they'll listen to me, they sweat this blog.

Anyway, hat's off to Omar for drastically improving the 71-91 team he inherited. Now let's go get us another starter -- Zambrano scares the shit out of me.

- A.F.O.M.G.