The Firing an MLB GM Debate… Time For Omar to Hit the Road!

April 19, 2010

Read the opposing arguments from Sports Geek and Babe Ruthless.

I have been waiting for a debate like this. You know how there are just some guys that just irritate the ever living crap out of you? They give you high blood pressure when you do not have blood pressure problems. They make you cringe upon hearing their name. You wonder how they keep getting a free pass in their profession! Omar Minaya is THAT GUY, for me!

Minaya earned his stripes and built his early reputation by the job he did in Montreal. The Expos were very competitive for the most part in their last few years in Montreal, and some of that credit has to go to Minaya. However, a closer look at his tenure reveals that as general manager in Montreal, he traded away the likes of Jason Bay, Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, and Chris Young. Wouldn’t the Nationals organization like to have some of those guys right now?

My problem with Minaya, though, begins with his time with the Mets. He was hired by New York before the 2005 season and began to restructure the team. It worked out in the short term as the Mets won the NL East in 2006. It has been all downhill ever since, as the aging Mets fell, reaching a new low last year when they won only 70 games. That particular team was bitten by the injury bug and a lack of depth. The lack of talent in the minor leagues led to no one being able to step up and fill in the gaps. I mean, come on, Gary Sheffield was hitting clean up for much of the season. This is not the Sheffield we all know from his prime. This is the then 41-year-old Sheffield who was released by the Detroit Tigers early last season and not meant to be the focus of a lineup.

Some of Minaya’s off the field decisions and “activities” leave me scratching my head also. Manager Willie Randolph was feeling the heat during the middle of the 2008 season. We all knew that. But to fire him in a hotel room, and then announce it to the world with a press release released at 3:12 in the morning was just downright wrong and reeks of no class. And then, let’s not forget the incident last year with New York Daily News reporter, Adam Rubin, in which Minaya attacked an embarrassed Rubin during the middle of a press conference.

The pressure is starting to build in New York again, and this season’s 4-8 start is not relieving the pressure. Fans are calling for a change, both in the front office and on the field. Keep in mind that the Mets are playing just their second year in Citi Field, and it’s unfortunate that fans in New York aren’t coming to the park to experience the sights and sounds because the team sucks. Something has to change, and if I had my way, firing Omar Minaya would be the beginning of that change!

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Posted by Loyal Homer

The New York Mets are the Worst Debate – The Verdict Is In!

August 14, 2009

Read the debate intro, Loyal Homer’s argument that the Mets are the most poorly run franchise in baseball, and Sports Geek’s argument that they are not.



Misery loves company.

Having grown up in the Cleveland area of Northeast Ohio, I can sympathize with the frustration that New York Mets fans are feeling right now. One minute, you are angry and frustrated, the next you are consumed by a hopeless thought that things will never get better. I’ve been there… I know.

It becomes an increasingly more difficult pill to swallow when a team gets so close one year (losing the 2008 NL Wild Card to Milwaukee on the final game of the season), then to seem so far away the next year.

Being from Cleveland, I have seen both sides of the coin. I have watched teams fail because of poor management and I have watched teams fail that were simply unfortunate victims of bad luck and ill-timed injury(ies). I have also seen teams fail due to a combination of those problems, and the Mets seem to be moving into that category.

Loyal Homer and Sports Geek both discuss very real problems within the Mets organization. As Loyal Homer points out, the Mets have had their fair share of drama in the front office. Former VP of Player Development Tony Bernazard was fired for making VERY poor choices, and there was an incident which occurred between manager Omar Minaya and a reporter when announcing Bernazard’s dismissal. Meanwhile, Sports Geek points out that on the field the Mets have also had a multitude of problems around injuries, most notably to Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Francisco Rodriguez.

The challenge, though, is to determine which of those problems are the CAUSE for the Mets woes, and which are an EFFECT.

Whenever a team is losing, every action is placed under a microscope. Each decision is scrutinized, and problems that may have been overlooked during a relatively successful season suddenly become overblown crises that fans and the media fixate on.

Those problems are all a part of the EFFECT that comes from losing. I am awarding this debate to Sports Geek because the CAUSE of the problem has to do more with injuries than with those front office issues.

As Sports Geek points out, the Mets have still managed to put together 53 wins, something that many other teams in the league have not been able to accomplish yet. While you cannot blame all of their 61 losses so far this season on injury, it is fair to assume that injuries have been the cause for some of them. For the sake of argument, consider the possibility that a ‘healthy’ Mets team would have won only five additional games to this point in the season. Under that scenario, the Mets would be two games ABOVE .500, and only six games behind the Phillies, instead of sitting at eight games BELOW .500.

Obviously, that is all speculation. My point is simply to illustrate the enormous impact felt by the difference of only a few games. When a team is forced to take the field with less talent than what they had originally planned, those extra losses are bound to happen and they can inflate many of the other problems within the organization.

I do not intend to diminish or excuse the problems going on within the upper levels of the Mets franchise. However, those problems (or at least the increased attention being paid to those problems) are part of the EFFECT of losing, rather than the CAUSE for it.

Regardless of cause or effect, though, Mets owner Fred Wilpon will have to address ALL of those problems if he wishes to see his team make a return to the postseason any time soon.

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Posted by Bleacher Fan

The New York Mets are the Worst Debate – A Tough Mets Season Does Not Make Them The Worst Franchise in Baseball

August 13, 2009

Read the debate intro and Loyal Homer’s argument that the New York Mets are the worst franchise in baseball.



Image your team’s staff ace is Mark Maroth, the league leader in losses (21), earned runs allowed (123), and home runs allowed (34). Image your team’s number two starter is Jeremy Bonderman, second in the major leagues in losses (19), and second in the American League in wild pitches (12). Imagine your team’s first baseman/cleanup hitter is Carlos Pena who leads the American League in errors at his position (13), hit a robust .248 with an impressive 50 RBI. Image your team’s number three hitter – the player who gets the most at bats during a season, outfielder Dmitri Young, is fifth in the American League in strikeouts (130).

If your team was the 2003 Detroit Tigers, you do not have to use your imagination. They lost an epically bad 119 games that season. They managed to break their old record of losing 104 games in a season in 1952. A tough year all around and terrible top to bottom. An ideal example of the worst franchise of a particular season.

If the Detroit Tigers are the poster team for bad franchises, the 2009 New York Mets are not the worst franchise in the 2009 season.

It is nice is that I do not have to rehash the litany of injuries the New York Mets have suffered this season. Loyal Homer did that accurately. The amount of hitting the Mets have lost is extremely high. They lost their table setting speedster in shortstop Jose Reyes, their cleanup hitting slugger in center fielder Carlos Beltran, and their RBI/home run producer in first baseman Carlos Delgado. They lost their prize offseason acquisition, closer Francisco Rodriguez, for nearly a month, too.

Sure, the Mets stink this year, but injuries have the most to do with that. Losing that kind of production will cripple any team. Injuries have nothing to do with how the organization is run either on the field or in the front office. It is a reflection of bad luck… bad luck on a grand scale for these hapless Mets.

It is impossible to argue that general manager Omar Minaya has avoided controversy this season. The tumult within the upper echelons of the organization is obvious when Tony Bernazard, Vice President of Development, was recently fired for what amounts to conduct detrimental to the organization. If the public is hearing about an issue in the front office, it is easy to say that the front office is out of control. However, Minaya apologized for his own actions, and promptly fired the individual who also made the organization look bad (in his own unique style). Is it the best front office in baseball, in performance or organization? Clearly it is not. But, it is not the worst, either.

In fact, it is possible to make an argument for the San Diego Padres, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Washington Nationals as the worst franchise in baseball. The Mets have managed 53 wins this season – 13 better than Washington, seven better than Pittsburgh (who traded away every good player they have any may not win another game this year), and four better than San Diego who constantly invent new ways to stink (and should have more losses if their division was not so bad).

It is easy to blame the manager, the players, and the front office. But a keen look reveals the real issue – injuries. The Mets do not have the worst record in baseball (there are nine worse teams than them). They did not trade away every good player to hamstring them for the coming seasons, either. Sure, the Mets stink. But the worst? No way.

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Posted by Sports Geek

The New York Mets are the Worst Debate – The Mets are in Shambles!

August 13, 2009

Read the debate intro and Sport’s Geek’s argument that the Mets are not the most poorly run franchise in baseball.



Ahhh, those New York Mets. Have things really been the same in Queens since the 2006 NLCS? The Cardinals knocked off the Mets in Game seven that year. While it is true that the Mets got off to good starts in 2007 and 2008, the feel good thoughts were quickly vanquished by the epic collapses. Mets fans will never forget the unforgettable collapse of 2007 when they blew a seven game lead with seventeen to go. I will give them credit, though: they did their best to top that in 2008, but they only blew a 3.5 game lead. With that choke, Shea Stadium was torn down. A new year, 2009, brought new feel good thoughts with a spacious new stadium and a rebuilt bullpen. The collapse did not happen in September, this time. It happened before the All-Star break. They have no one to blame but Omar “I’m no longer the chosen one” Minaya. Why he was considered such a golden boy after coming over from Montreal, I’ll never know!

Minaya has built the team to win now and he built it largely with either older stars or with guys who may have their best years behind. Look at the starting lineup on opening day this season. Shortstop Jose Reyes has been battling a calf injury for most of the season. Daniel Murphy, once viewed as a promising young outfielder with the Mets, has played four different positions and you have to wonder where his head is at this point. Third baseman David Wright, a proven All-Star, has had a statistically decent season, but his power has suffered in Citi Field (think he wishes he got to hit in Yankee Stadium 81 times a year?). First baseman Carlos Delgado and center fielder Carlos Beltran have both been down with injuries. Outfielder Ryan Church now plays for Atlanta, but on his way out of town, he decided to miss third base. Catcher Brian Schneider has underachieved since coming over from Washington. Second baseman Luis Castillo used to be an All-Star earlier this decade, but now he is dropping pop ups. On paper, that team is decent when they are all in their prime. But, you can make an argument that only two of those eight guys are in their prime. What you cannot argue is proven fact. Only one of those eight guys mentioned was in the starting lineup yesterday.

That is just what is happened on the field. The instability is also going on in the front office. Earlier this summer, Vice President of Development Tony Bernazard actually challenged several minor league players to a fight. This is after getting into a verbal altercation with closer Francisco Rodriguez on a team bus last month. Bernazard was later dismissed.

But wait, the madness does not end there, folks!!

In announcing the firing of Bernazard, Minaya gets into a dispute with New York Daily News reporter Adam Rubin during the press conference. This was not behind closed doors and was not in the dugout. This was in the middle of a press conference with media members getting a front row seat. Way to drum up that good publicity, Omar! This is how you run an organization! Ha! What a joke! Somewhere, former Mets general manager and current ESPN broadcaster Steve Phillips is laughing at this mess!

The Mets are in complete disarray right now. They have an aging team with many players locked into long term deals. Everyone is looking over their shoulder in the front office, even Minaya, who does not necessarily have the backing of Mets top officials. It is utter chaos in Queens, with no signs of stability approaching!

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Posted by Loyal Homer

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