Are The Mets On The Verge Of Firing Omar Minaya?
by Sam Page on Jan 18, 2010 11:00 AM EST
Email
PrintAt the end of the 2009 season, most media outlets hinted that Omar Minaya's responsibilities would be scaled back in an apparent effort to further muddle the Mets chain-of-command and prepare for his probable 2010 firing. John Ricco was to assume media-handling responsibilities post-Rubingate, which seemed fine until it actually happened, four days ago. Listening to Ricco talk vaguely in the plural first-person, just left me wondering "who is 'we'?" and "who is John Ricco?" It seemed like the mis-management of one man had been replaced by the mis-management of "we," until it turned out to be the fault of that one man:
"We spoke on Tuesday and he told me about the diagnosis," Minaya said of his initial conversation with Beltran about the pending surgery. "I said, ‘O.K., as long as it follows the protocol,' and I wished him well with everything in general. I told him it has to follow the protocol."
So the whole confusion began with typically vague and confusing directions from the supposedly powerless figurehead? That made this snippet in John Perrotto's latest BPro column pretty unsurprising:
One Mets source insists that the past week's whole knee surgery saga with center fielder Carlos Beltran might be the "final straw" for GM Omar Minaya's job security.
Well, if you remove the GM from one of his primary duties, handling the media, and he still causes a PR disaster...what more is it going to take?
111 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I know I for one am hoping that this marks the end of Omar's regime.
Realistically, there’s no reason it shouldn’t. Based on press conferences when the season ended, the Wilpons already said that Omar is going to be on a tight leash for the 2010 season. To me, that already alludes to the fact that his job is somewhat in jeopardy, even before this whole mess began. This entire circus has made the organization look even more foolish than it already does- kicking the proverbial guy who is already down. How much further do things have to get?
I am thinking that Omar will survive all of this, however, deep down. Two reasons: One, the Wilpons have shown, for whatever reason, a tendency to stick with Omar though thick and thin. For whatever reason, they might want to let him finish his off-season plans, because his plan, he has a plan, and he likes his plan. If Omar is able to, however he does it, put together a team that succeeds, a lot of the negative about him will be forgotten (obviously). That can’t happen if he isn’t given a chance. Secondly, Omar himself provides a very good scapegoat. Keeping him around keeps pressure off of certain players, coaches, and front office staff, in light of other problems the organization has. So, we’ll see…
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 11:08 AM EST reply actions
The scapegoat point is a very good one.
He really will take the heat off the Wilpons if the team goes under again.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 18, 2010 5:59 PM EST up reply actions
Firing Omar only changes the cover of the book
For as long the Wilpons are the owners, the story will continue to remain the same.
"Never throw a slider to The Glider."
- Ed Charles, No. 5
Sad but true.
You’d think the Wilpons would have accidentally hired a good GM by now.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 18, 2010 9:25 PM EST up reply actions
The Wilpons will never hire a good GM
because no good GM will just do just what Jeff says.
"Never throw a slider to The Glider."
- Ed Charles, No. 5
A good, and sad, point.
A strong GM will want a fair degree of autonomy which s/he can assume s/he won’t get with the Wilpons. In other words, we just ruled out substantially improving the club until the Wilpons sale.
Thanks, TG.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 21, 2010 5:52 AM EST up reply actions
Seriously, we need Omar.
What kinds of jokes are we supposed to make?
What are we supposed to complain about?
Who are we supposed to blame when we lose?
Who is going to supply us with ridiculous quotes?
Who is going to give us a plan that we like our plan?
Gas prices today are a lot like a pitcher's ERA. Anything under 3 is amazing, under 4 is pretty good and anything 5 and up is something you want to avoid.
by Bobby Baseball on Jan 18, 2010 2:09 PM EST up reply actions
Don't worry this is the Mets we're talking about,
they will hire someone equally as stupid as Omar Minaya. Some other nimrod who thinks numbers dont play the games.
by aparkermarshall on Jan 18, 2010 2:39 PM EST up reply actions
I don't know much else about him, but Ricco was hemming and hawing a lot at that press conference, with a whole bunch of 'You Knows', and 'Ums'.
So, the future looks bright…
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 3:49 PM EST up reply actions
This is the Mets we're talking about right?
I agree with the consensus that they will hire someone just as inept, but you know what, I want someone new to screw things up. Al least hat way its new stupidity instead of the current stupidity.
I WANT A NEW DUMMY DAMMIT
Jerry and Omar assclowns for life
by Ghost of seven in a row on Jan 18, 2010 2:56 PM EST up reply actions
That's because ...
The Wilpons will never hire an established and strong-willed GM or Manager. You’d never see them hire a Pat Gillick or a Buck Showalter because Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb need to call the shots.
"Never throw a slider to The Glider."
- Ed Charles, No. 5
Doesn’t seem like anything Minaya did wrong. I’m pretty sure this is a Boras thing. Omar’s protocol statement is exactly that. It’s an argument over the interpretation of Beltran’s contract by Boras and the Mets, and they’re having a pissing contest over it, whenever everyone knows you don’t stand up the Boras. They should’ve just made like the Yankees and kept the tail between the legs and just confirmed the surgery and moved on.
I’m okay with Minaya. Firing him would just be an excuse. The real problem is the disconnect between the front office ‘group’ because nothing is done with ultimate authority. Who knows what Omar called for and was actually shot down by ownership or others?
On the other hand, if firing him now would be an excuse to have a new GM bring is own people (i.e. so we could get a major league manager in here..) then I’m all for it.
-Ceetar, the Optimistic Mets Fan
One issue with that is workers comp papers were filed
which means someone in the mets front office had to okay them, so there’s no way Boras actually did this without following some type of protocol.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
yeah this is looking like an internal communication problem within the FO
and really has nothing to do with Beltran/Boras’ side of this.
by KeithsMoustache on Jan 18, 2010 12:20 PM EST up reply actions
Also aren't there reports that Ricco is next in line?
So they’d just fire Omar, and replace him with an Omar guy who’s just as much a piece of this mess as Omar is… kind of like how they handled replacing Willie.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
That is the problem
As bad as I want Omar out, Wilpons will just bring in another shitty GM.
Ricco
If you ask me, it looks like Ricco is the one who made a mess of the Beltran situation. Omar’s not the one who was out there making public accusations that seem to have been contradicted by the facts.
I also doubt that Omar has been the one regularly interfering with the ability of players to get appropriate medical treatments over the last couple of seasons. Which has been a major problem in this organization.
Everyone dumps on Omar, but when he actually seemed to be in charge in 2005-2006, things seemed to be headed in the right direction. I’m not at all convinced Omar is the main culprit for the mess that has developed over the last couple of seasons.
I suspect the growing influence of Jeff Wilpon is a bigger problem and that will only get worse when Omar is gone.
by acerimusdux on Jan 18, 2010 12:36 PM EST up reply actions
I completely agree
unfortunately unless one of us is secretly a bazillionaire we’re stuck with the Wilpons.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
well if all of AA
donates $10,000 each, we can buy the Mets
"We're investigating the investigative procedure of the investigation of Tony Bernazard"---Omar Minaya (he really didn't say it but he would"
by firejerrynow on Jan 18, 2010 12:50 PM EST up reply actions
Unfortunately
The Wilpons have to want to sell first. I don’t think they do.
True
Thing is, while I’m not a big Omar fan, I think he’s a fairly mediocre GM, I still think he’s the best this team has had since Frank Cashen. Given what is likely to replace him, I’m not too eager to see him fired either. Though if it means we’re also rid of Manuel, that at least helps push me more in that direction.
Omar gets beat up around here for not being stat-savvy. And he has done a poor job recently in player valuation in that regard. But Omar is also a guy who will listen if you get him good advisors. Get some real good stats guys in that inner circle, who aren’t involved in some internal power struggle and deliberately under cutting him, and it might work.
And I do think Omar has been better than he gets credit for on the scouting and player development fronts. This team needs to keep more of it’s high draft picks, but what they’ve done with the ones they’ve kept under Omar has been decent. They have enough talent in the pipeline to be back into contention fairly quickly if they don’t get too stupid.
But not keeping some of them has been omars decisions
trading wagner I’m gonna assume wasn’t entirely in his hands so I won’t blame him for that, but resigning Ollie to that ridiculous contract when guys like Wolf and Garland were available cost us pics. Signing moises alou before the giants even had to decide if they were going to offer him arbitration cost us pics. signing K-rod with other non type A options available cost us pics. And really even when we’ve had decently high pics outside of the 2008 draft pretty much every draft has been awful.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Right
After 5 years we still have so many holes on the ML roster and in the minor leagues too. By year 5 I really thought Omar would have a few guys at every position on the way up but 5 years later it’s 66-80 million for LF, 2 35+ year old catchers, a possible 38 yo at 1B, 2 more years to live w/2B and 10-12 interesting prospects spread between A ball and AAA. Of the 12 probably 6 make it up here and at the most 1 or 2 make an all star team. Where is all the rest of the production neccesary to win a division going to come from? I really think the only reason Omar is around is because Jeff is the Co-GM and doesn’t want to fire himself too.
Ollie
The Ollie signing was the biggest blunder. If you are really lucky enough to really have another team even bidding on him (which we’ll never really know), I don’t understand how you don’t take the draft picks and laugh.
And I had even forgotten about Alou. Giving up a first rounder for Alou? Really?
Giving Mota a contract extension almost immediatley after finding out he did steroids and was suspended for doing so ranks up there.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 19, 2010 2:38 PM EST up reply actions
Joan Payson is rolling in her grave.
God rest her little sole.
"Never throw a slider to The Glider."
- Ed Charles, No. 5
Which ownership era do you think is worse
Now or when it was Mrs. Payson’s daughters?
"I've been trying transcendental meditation, and that helps me be passive and wait on the curve. I've got to find something else to hit the slider." - George (The Stork) Theodore
It would be strange timing-
-right in the middle of assembling next season’s team. I figured if Omar survived October, he would be safe until May 1 or so. Meaning his job depended upon how well the club began the season. If it happens now, let’s just hope Mr. Krivsky is a quick study.
by madisonmetsfan on Jan 18, 2010 11:47 AM EST reply actions
The real problem is......
……the mets lost their starting Cf, Ss, 3b, 1b, 2nd string Ss, 2nd string Cf, 3/5 of the rotation, #2 Rp, lead off hitter, #3 hitter, clean up hitter and #5 hitter to injuries at various times. They also shared the division with the best team in the NL, and everyone was adjusting to a new park, which basically made every game a road game.
Stop reading tabloid media. If healthy, this team is stacked.
by MetsFanX on Jan 18, 2010 11:50 AM EST via mobile reply actions
The various injuries to various position players and pitchers only gives a smokescreen cover to Omar Minaya's various other deficiencies.
That was one of the world parts about the 2009 season- it basically gave Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel a “free pass”, so to speak, because the results from 2009 have to have an asterisk attached to them, and as such, don’t weigh as heavily against them. The many 2009 injuries mask the many games that Jerry Manuel lost because of poor managerial decisions, such as leaving pitchers in too long, using questionable bullpen tactics, saying stupid things about Ryan Church, ignoring Nick Evans, and a whole bunch of other things. The many 2009 injuries mask the horrible drafting sessions that Omar Minaya has led, the poor contracts he’s tended to different players, the questionable trades he’s made, and a whole bunch of other things.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 12:03 PM EST up reply actions
I agree 100%
When it comes to the effect of injuries and Omar, it’s not either-or. Both are the problem.
Having the string of injuries in 2009 did nothing but help Omar keep his job longer.
Stacked and headed right for 85 wins.
Seriously, a team with major injuries to 4/5 of the rotation and question marks at half the positions on the field is “stacked”?
The very definition of optimism.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 18, 2010 9:41 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah but with the payroll what it is
the team shouldn’t be so top heavy, as it is, we lose one of Reyes/Wright/Santana/Beltran for significant time and we’re automatically out of contention. When you have a 150 million dollar payroll that shouldn’t happen, there shouldn’t be such a huge drop off in talent. There’s no complementary players to our big 4, i suppose 5 if you could Bay but even his projection for next season is iffy, and we’re surrounded an awesome, and relatively cheap core, with a bunch of guys who shouldn’t be playing everyday on crappy teams let alone one that expects to win a championship.
And I don’t see how sharing the division with the best team is an excuse, when we have just as good a core as the Phillies and more resources to build around, if anything the fact that they’re so much better just shows Omar’s incompetence and inability to build a team.
I mean think about it even after the injuries we had last year, and the year before, our roster is still so thin that if Beltran misses a few months we’re suddenly turning to someone like Chris Carter at 1b and Murphy as a reserve outfielder, or if Castillo and Reyes, too injury prone players go do down we’re going to be looking off the scrap heap for replacements. And rather than looking into options for first/of, places with real question marks, Omars chasing after another catcher who isn’t much of an improvement over the 3 catchers we already have and who’s going to cost 3x as they do.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
But thats the point
We didnt just lose one of Reyes/Wright/Santana/Beltran. We lost ALL of them for prolonged periods of time. To boot, we even lost what competent back ups that we had. No matter what your financial resources are, there is not one minor league afiiliate in the minor leagues or one bench in the major leagues that could sustain losing your best four offensive options and your best starting pitcher for a prolonged period of time.
Think if the Yankees lost Jeter/Teixeira/Rodriguez/Any other player plus lost CC for a long period of time. Where were they going to get production that was even league average for that many spots. How about if the Phillies lost Rollins/Utley/Howard/Werth and Hamels? I could go on and on. The point again is that we didnt lose only one player who is an all star player. Even league average production when compared to the players that we lost is going to make you a far inferior team…
Im no Omar apologist becuase I concur with your thoughts about signing Wolf or Garland or even some of his day to day roster transactions but thats another topic for another day. I just wanted to reiterate the point that we lost five of our best players due to injury last year and that is just something that not any GM in all of baseball could overcome.
Me, personally, it's all still a smoke screen.
You know why? Minaya shouldn’t have been around for the 2009 season to begin with. After what happened in 2008, with 2007 basically just repeating itself, Omar should have been canned. I don’t say that lightly, either.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 8:05 PM EST up reply actions
I agree 100%
Who is in charge of assembling the bullpen?
And seeing as it was 2 years in a row he should’ve been fired.
However, I still think that Omar got off the hook in 2008 because he fired Willie Randolph. And firing Willie saved his job, because someone was going to have to go, to satisfy the MSM Mets fan. And, I think that Omar will go before Jerry does, because 1. Jerry doesn’t fuck up in the media as much, and 2. Omar already fired one manager. Of course, my fear is that we go .500 and they call it an improvement, even though we probably would’ve been .500 last year w/o the injuries.
"We're investigating the investigative procedure of the investigation of Tony Bernazard"---Omar Minaya (he really didn't say it but he would"
by firejerrynow on Jan 18, 2010 8:28 PM EST up reply actions
The point is, with the Mets' resources,
the division should be their’s to lose every year. We shouldn’t even be having this discussion. They should be the Phillies plus whatever an additional $30 in payroll can buy.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 18, 2010 9:43 PM EST up reply actions
grission?
$30 million could buy that
"We're investigating the investigative procedure of the investigation of Tony Bernazard"---Omar Minaya (he really didn't say it but he would"
by firejerrynow on Jan 19, 2010 6:35 AM EST up reply actions
When did we lose Wright
And if the Phillies lost Rollins/Utley/Howard/Werth they’d at least still have Halladay, 2 league average pitchers, Victorino, Polanco all of whom are far more valuable than what the mets would have left. Same story with the Yankees, plus injuries don’t explain 2008 or 2007, when Omar had two all-world players producing for peanuts, plus Beltran and still couldn’t put teams around them. Omar isn’t the biggest problem, the wilpons are, but he’s still marginal at best.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
When did I mention
what happened in 2007 or 2008. I get all the hatred for Omar. I really do. I actually have lobbied for him to be fired since 2008.
We lost David Wright for two weeks when he was beaned in the head…. Remember him looking like the Great Gazoo with the Nerf helmet?
Secondly, if the Phillies lost they’re big four, can you honestly think that any pitcher in baseball is going to fear Victorino, Polanco or their league average players? We saw how we got pitched to all of last year. Anyone who was in the lineup had their weaknesses exposed due to not having the big boppers to protect them… Same with the Yankees or any other team for that matter.
Talking about Halladay last year is just arguing semantics to me. The Phillies didnt have him and didnt even acquire Lee until the deadline. (Ideas that I wish Omar could have thought of but I digress). Point still remains that if any team loses their best core guys they are not going to be the same team nor are they going to be able to have the resources to assume such a blow…..
I think pitchers would fear Polanco and Victorino
WAY more than they would fear any of the crap we send out there not named Reyes/Wright/Beltran/Bay. And 2008/2007 are brought up because regardless of injuries the team last year was just as poorly constructed, if not worse, as those teams.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Firing Minaya
would be the best move the Mets have made in years, if they do it.
This move should’ve been made a while ago.
by FloridaownsFSU on Jan 18, 2010 12:44 PM EST reply actions
But if they fire Omar now,
it could mess up their plans to build a winning team in 2010.
Oh, wait.
No Tears for Omar....
I don’t dislike him as much as many, but I don’t think he’s done a good job and if he won’t fire the horrible excuse we have as a manager, that alone is reason to cheer his leaving.
I lobby Same Page to be the next Mets GM
Gas prices today are a lot like a pitcher's ERA. Anything under 3 is amazing, under 4 is pretty good and anything 5 and up is something you want to avoid.
An AA-GMship by majority concensus with popular vote. We'd get things done.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 2:15 PM EST up reply actions
I think everyone wants Omar to get fired
just to show the Mets acknowledging that they know he’s a crappy GM. They would fire Omar and replace him with Ricco. Not really an improvement, and we all know that. I think Mets fans just want to see Omar fired because we want to see that everyone realizes he deserves to be fired. I hope this made as much sense as it did in my head.
by wrightttxgirlllx3 on Jan 18, 2010 2:35 PM EST reply actions
To me that wouldn't really be them acknowleding he was a poor gm if they replaced him with Ricco
and there were really no major shake ups in front office people, it would just be then scapegoating Omar without actually changing anything.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Exactly.
I don’t really know how to explain it. I’m bad at explaining things. I mean that most of us want Omar to get fired because…well…he’s Omar. But it doesn’t really make a difference if they do. Omar deserves to be fired and I want to know that the Wilpons know that. But replacing him with Ricco really defeats the purpose, like you said. So really, there is no way for us to win. Unless all those nights of wishing upon stars pays off and the Wilpons sell the team, we’re screwed.
by wrightttxgirlllx3 on Jan 18, 2010 3:00 PM EST up reply actions
Side note: just noticed you changed your profile
to that image I posted of Wright and Reyes Snoopy. Nice :)
Oh God please let it be true
Beltran He lobby the protocol for surgery protocol
Jerry and Omar assclowns for life
by Ghost of seven in a row on Jan 18, 2010 2:52 PM EST reply actions
Also wasn't the frenchy trade Ricco's idea
God help us what if they put Ricco in charge and everything gets worse?
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Good God.
Did you really have to remind me of that?
And here I had a peaceful evening of architectural design bliss planned.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 20, 2010 6:38 PM EST up reply actions
is
omar minaya taking over the tonight show?
[img]http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0eTH2sm73rf3u/610x.jpg[/img]
Could we fire the owners first?
I’d feel a lot better if that happened.
by Steve Schreiber on Jan 18, 2010 3:28 PM EST reply actions
Are we sure if Minaya
knows what “protocol” means? He might think Protocol is a type of medicine. “Be sure to take two protocols and call the dr. in the morning, Carlos.”
If you guys don't mind I'm gonna take a moment out to dream
what if the WIlpons hired someone like Depodesta, and actually allowed him to do his job with limitless resources and no meddling, what would AA do?
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
How ong until
Epstein, Friedman or Zduriencik become available?
The Mets lobby Omar for a plan, and his plan, he likes his plan. The problem is that he didn't write his plan down 'cause that makes it paperwork, and that’s false hustle... Know what I’m sayin’?
long*
The Mets lobby Omar for a plan, and his plan, he likes his plan. The problem is that he didn't write his plan down 'cause that makes it paperwork, and that’s false hustle... Know what I’m sayin’?
Why could they be gotten?
Seattle has a pretty big budget, and neither of them have to deal with the idiots in the NY media or meddling annoying idiot owners, or owners sons as it is.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
One reason and one reason alone Gina: CASH MONEY!
If you want a better GM the Mets are gonna have to pay the piper
How about Jeff Wilpon gets fired and Omar gets a year to get it together.
Doesn’t matter who the GM is because as long as Jeff is making player decisions then the team isn’t going to be much different. Omar without Wilpon interference was just fine as GM. Once Jeff became a more pronounced voice in 2007 we have seen things go downhill fast.
Exactly
"Never throw a slider to The Glider."
- Ed Charles, No. 5
Firing Omar now...
Would just exemplify the organizational ineptitude of this franchise. You don’t fire a GM this deep into an offseason. The groundwork for 2010 as already been laid and a new GM search would take time and leave the new GM without time to implement his ideas. I’m also scared of an interim GM because they may make bad long term moves in the short term to try to keep their job. (Kazmir for Zambrano anyone?)
At this point you have to ride out 2010 with Omar and if the team tanks, limit his power to do harm.
Yeah that's one thing I don't get
if Omar has such a thin rope, why are they allowing him to give out long-term contracts. Either fire him or don’t fire him, don’t tell him he’s on thin ice and then allow him to do things that will affect the team long after he’s fired.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Thing is, Wilpon's still going to be here
so presumably he’s just fine with the Bay (and if it had happened, the Molina) contract.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 20, 2010 6:40 PM EST up reply actions
I don't think Omar is the biggest problem here.
I think if Jeff just fell back and let Omar make the decisions(when reasonable), we’d be in better shape.
Batting .350 in grisson!!!
Meh I'm not sure I believe that
It may not be as much of a circus PR wise, but I don’t think Jeff falling back would prevent Omar from hiring his guys, rather than qualified scouts, considering stats false hustle and constantly bringing in former expos.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
This. To me, interference by ownership is something that cannot be quantified, and something that is, invariably, going to happen to some degree.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 8:08 PM EST up reply actions
Omar is a big problem,
regardless of the Wilpons’ role. He simply cannot assemble a solid roster in spite of having the second largest budget in the majors.
That’s a firing offense.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 18, 2010 9:44 PM EST up reply actions
Firable offense yes.
But Fred and Jeff won’t do it unless the media REALLY pushes for it.
Batting .350 in grisson!!!
How many years are left on the extension they gave him?
I doubt they’d eat Omar’s contract if there’s 2+ years left on it.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
That sounds about right.
Or horribly wrong, depending on your point of view. Sunk cost.
Sunk cost.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 18, 2010 10:24 PM EST up reply actions
I'd blame Omar for the "Los Mets" experiment
which failed.
"Never throw a slider to The Glider."
- Ed Charles, No. 5
I think failed might be a little strong.
I think it achieved its goal of returning the Mets to respectability and relevance after the seeming irrelevance the team suffered from in 2004.
Nothing will change until
we get rid of these owners. They will never put competent baseball people in control because they will never give up that control. They should change their name to the Wilnotpons.
There needs to be a concerted effort for true Mets fans to implement the “bag over you head” campaign for those who chose to spend their hard-earned monies for tickets to their home games. Only the Wilpons are thoroughly taken to task by their fan base, will things change.
"Never throw a slider to The Glider."
- Ed Charles, No. 5
with the stadium revenue
I doubt the Wilpons ever have financial incentive to sell. I just hope they hire a new GM who influences Jeff Wilpon in a positive way; I don’t think he’s totally resistant to allowing change in FO philosophies.
Sounds like it's time for a hostile take over
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
So what you are saying is we are the Cubs
Huge revenue stream, loyal fan base, and no incentive to improve.
Great
Excuse me while I go watch the ninth inning of game 6 on you tube again
Jerry and Omar assclowns for life
by Ghost of seven in a row on Jan 19, 2010 1:25 AM EST up reply actions
I'm mostly happy with ownership. They pony up a lot money- maybe they should pony up some more, especially if they have it, but that is what it is.
As long as the money is always out there for whoever the GM is to spend, I’m good in terms of ownership. Things trickle down from there, though.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 10:06 PM EST up reply actions
They spend, but...
they don’t do it wisely enough in my opinion. I think they overpay in certain areas, but in other areas they don’t do enough that a team with their resources should do.
Omar is the guy who SHOULD be handling those matters, writing up contracts, and drating young talent, and all that.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 10:10 PM EST up reply actions
He should do that.
But with the finances, that’s Fred & Jeff. A problem I think they have is the lack of money they spend in the draft. If I’m not mistaken, they rank last in MLB in draft spending which is crazy.
Either they rank last, or they're close to the bottom, yes.
A lot of that, if I am not mistaken, stems from Omar’s “international” strategies of drafting young players- guys from other countries who aren’t included in the traditional draft, like Fernando Martinez, and Jenry Meijia. But, that aside, don’t you think that’d fall under the purview of the GM, allotting his money to purchasing draftees? I’d imagine that either the GM gets the blanket however much money ownership is going to let him work with for the fiscal year, and he breaks it down accordingly.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 10:18 PM EST up reply actions
From what I understand a lot of it has to do with the Wilpons
not wanting to upset the commissioner and go over slotting, not with Omar’s international strategies, plenty of big market teams spend big on both, and really we don’t even spend as big as some times on international, so the only way I could see that being the reason for not spending on the draft is if the Wilpons say if you spend this much on IFA you can only spend this much on the draft. Which would lead back to them not investing as much resources into development as other big market teams. Plus when we’re trading Billy Wagner, a guy who was going to be a type A, to save 3 million I don’t see how you can blame that on Omar, it’s not like that 3 million was going back to him the only people who were saving that 3 million was the Wilpons.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
It seems like the FO doesn't have the smarts to come out ahead
in all the things that eventually add up: mishandling or misguessing the Wagner situation, the Cora signing, picking up two iffy relievers instead of someone like Calero, not anticipating a scenario where Beltran is out for a month or two, missing out on good deals like the LaRoche contract…
ah hell. I’m a broken record at this point.
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 19, 2010 1:53 AM EST up reply actions
I would think that management gives a set number to spend.
But not going overslot is a bit odd considering their vast array of resources. Also, they spend their money in the wrong places such as guaranteeing $2 mil to Cora when they didn’t have to.
Well the latter is probably back on Omar
but with their resources spending on major leaguers shouldn’t prevent them from going over slot in the draft. There’s no reason teams like Detroit/Boston/Yankees, and hell even Cincy/Oakland find money for IFA, can sign 7-10 IFA’s to 6 figure signing bonuses and then still spend big on the draft and we can’t.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Correct me if I'm wrong
But does the money spent in the draft affect the team’s overall salary in terms of the luxury tax in any way?
as far as i know it doesn't
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
But I mean when Omar is the best gm they hire
in a 10 year+ period, don’t you think their might be a problem with the ownerships decision making? Nevermind the reports of Jeff meddling and stripping Omar of power.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
Phillips, they inhereted from when it was a Sterling-Wilpon partnership, so we can give him a pass. Then there's Duquette, and Minaya.
Duquette, obviously, fails. Minaya had two questionable years, leading towards good, and two fairly bad years. He SHOULD have been fired after 2007, or 2008. I can understand the sentiment of loyalty to him- he brought us “this close” to the playoffs, and he can do it again- but the bad he did overall outweighs the good- in my estimation of him, anway.
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
Gil Hodges IS a Hall of Famer.
by Brooklyn Dodgers Mets Fan on Jan 18, 2010 10:15 PM EST up reply actions
The thing is I'm not even sure Duquette fails
a lot of reports after the fact about his era detail a lot of the same things we’re hearing about now. Jeff having a lot of his guys meddling in decision making with the front office and no one ever really knowing who was ultimately pulling the strings/making decisions.
"We have a plan, and our plan, I like our plan'
it's Omar's world, we're just livin in it.
It really doesn't seemed like Wilpon has learned anything at all.
When you’ve been running a near-billion dollar business for a number of years, wouldn’t you think you’d look at the organizations that have succeeded and emulate them? Say, the Red Sox? Same kind of market, similar payroll…
by SeanSchirmer on Jan 19, 2010 2:05 AM EST up reply actions
I would SOOOO love
to root for an organization that wasn’t braindead.
Oh, and I’m lobby for Kim Ng. For the record.
Oh, the butcher and the baker and the people on the street: wheredotheygo?!?!?
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
