The Omar Minaya era is over, and a post-mortem at this late date seems like piling on. No matter -- this is interesting enough to warrant a share, I hope.
Minaya was the Mets GM for six seasons, beginning after the 2004 campaign and extending through last fall. I went through the Mets rosters from 2005-2010 looking for players whose careers were, to repeat the title of this post, "Omar and Out." These players are guys who meet both the criteria below:
(1) The player was brought into the organization by the Omar Minaya regime (that is, after 2005 but before he was canned) and
(2) The player has not played a regular season game, other than for the Mets 2010 or prior, since. That is, the last GM that the player played -- at least at the MLB level -- for was Omar Minaya.
To see the list, and some discussion, hit the jump.
By my count, 63 players went Omar and Out. This does not include two players -- Johan Santana and Pedro Feliciano -- who technically are still eligible for the list. It does, however, include a few players (e.g. Oliver Perez) who are not yet retired, so that line is a bit arbitrary.
The Omar and Out List
Abraham Nunez
Ben Johnson
Brian Daubach
Chris Carter
David Williams
Gerald Williams *
Jose Santiano
Kaz Ishii
Luis Castillo
Oliver Perez
Ramon Martinez (the infielder, not Pedro's brother)
Sandy Alomar Jr
Some notes:
* Gerald "Ice" Williams was a Met in 2004, and declared free agency after the season. So he was, technically, a Jim Duquette Met. But Ice re-signed with the Mets in February of 2005, well after testing the waters. So I included him as a re-acquisition of Omar's. Note that other guys who were acquired by Duq -- Bartolome Fortunato, Eric Valent -- do not make the list, even though they played for Omar and then were out.
+ Both Jesus Feliciano and Luis Hernandez are in the Mets organization. This doesn't exclude them from the list, but FYI.
& Ricky Ledee is, perhaps, the ultimate Omar and Outer. The Dodgers waived Ledee, and his $1.5 million salary (for the full season) in August of 2006. Omar claimed the contract off the waiver wire, and Ledee took 36 plate appearances for the team that year -- 1 homer, 1 double, one single, 4 walks, and a whole lot of outs -- an OPS+ of 7. The Mets let him go after the year, and Ledee signed a contract with the A's that off-season. The A's cut him right before opening day and Ledee ended up latching on with the Mets again. Not willing to believe that he was done, Omar gave Ledee another 43 plate appearances in 2007, with an OPS+ of 81.
Omissions:
Omar's love of journeyman minor league catchers knows no bounds, as evidenced by the inclusion of Raul Casanova on the list above. In 2008, Robinson Cancel made his Mets debut, putting up a 67 OPS+ in 53 plate appearances. The next year he remained a Met -- receiving one PA and earning an out. He was a free agent as of November 2009, and remained so for the entire 2010 season. But this past off-season he signed a minor league deal with the Astros and, somehow, has played in two MLB games. He's 0-6 with a walk and four strikeouts.
Another catcher that avoided the Omar and Out list? Omir Santos. Santos found his way to the Tigers' system, failing to make the majors in 2010. But this year, he's topped Cancel: Santos has played in three games. He's 1-for-8 with a strikeout.
There are 66 Comments. Load Now.
Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.
C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read
R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next
Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read
Comment Settings
Live comment alert: Hide it!
Comments for this post are closed.