In this way, Minaya is not much different from most general managers. Theo Epstein has won two titles with Boston and smartly built a perennial contender. But he has also signed Matt Clement, Julio Lugo and Mike Cameron while giving away Bronson Arroyo in a trade.
Similar examples abound all over: the Philadelphia Phillies’ former general manager, Pat Gillick, overvalued Adam Eaton; the Tampa Bay Rays’ Andrew Friedman blundered with Pat Burrell; the Yankees’ Brian Cashman sank $46 million into Kei Igawa….
But it would be sad, in a way, if Minaya is dismissed. He had nothing to do with so much of the mess at Citi Field, and he would probably leave the team in much better shape than most people realize — kind of like the Padres, who fired Towers at the end of last season and have discovered he was not so bad, after all.
Look: It’s not like I’d root for anybody to lose his job. Omar Minaya is by all accounts a decent guy and everything. But sad? I don’t know. If he loses his job after this season, he’s going to get seven figures for the next two years to do jack. Hardly a tearjerker. I’m sure he’ll land on his feet.
And Kepner’s premise is pretty silly. Every GM makes mistakes, for sure. Cherry-picking certain ones and using them to argue that every GM is “not much different” is ridiculous. Minaya has made more big-ticket mistakes, and more egregious ones, than the men he is compared to in the article. That’s why it seems like he’ll lose his job. That’s why the Mets have a $126 million payroll and a .500 club.
That’s the thing. You want evidence of how Minaya is different from Epstein, Friedman, Cashman and Gillick? Which of those GMs will have teams in the playoffs this year? Which of them had teams in the playoffs last year? The year before? Which of them hasn’t had a team in the playoffs since 2006, despite consistently massive payrolls?
I vaguely agree with part of Kepner’s conclusion. I think the future is a bit sunnier than Mets fans can imagine it right now, because there are decent young players on the horizon and on the current roster. But Minaya’s tenure has been nothing like Towers’ in San Diego. Let’s not sugarcoat it — he has not made the most of the team’s payroll or roster, not now, not in 2006, not ever.
Tedquarters 
“[Minaya] had nothing to do with so much of the mess at Citi Field…”
Really? It seems like he had a lot to do with it, no? He’s the one who gave out all the bad contracts that are crippling the Mets, isn’t he?
yeah, the wilpons share plenty of blame but that doesnt excuse minaya. the wilpons may have been directing overall strategy but i dont think anyone has showed any evidence that any wilpon has had jerry jones time control over personnel and contracts.
there’s probably a place for guys like omar in every organization, unfortunately for minaya, GM is not it.
I agree that some of the contracts Minaya has given out are unforgivable (although I wouldn’t wholly absolve Jeff Wilpon of responsibility for signing off on them).
If, however, the Mets had not collapsed in both 2007 and 2008 and had made the postseason each year, Minaya would be looking considerably better now than he does. If they had done that, Minaya would have had a record of three postseason appearances in four years after the horrible years of 2002-2004, which would be impressive.
Minaya’s profile looks much more negative than it might otherwise be because of (1) the two collapses; (2) his own inept way with the media, which is regrettable but maybe not the most important criterion; and (3) the quality of the Mets’ drafts on his watch, which I think is almost wholly the result of the Wilpons’ unwillingness to go over slot on high-risk, high-reward players.
Recognition of this doesn’t mean that Minaya has been a great GM, but it should really temper the now-widespread notion that he has been lousy.
I dont know how you can blame Jeff Wilpjn for signing off on them. Jeff like most owners are not baseball people, they are rich guys who made money doing something else, and bought a baseball team. Omar is his GM, his baseball guy, how can you blame him for signing off and spending money on the recomendations of his top baseball guy?
You can blame Jeff for being too loyal and keeping guys like Omar around too long, or for hiring Omar in the first place, but blamning him for allowing his GM to sign players, thats just kind or ridiculous.
Minaya’s profile largely looks negative since his major-league player evaluation– or at least that of the organization over which he presides– is sucky, and his offseason moves seem consistently targeted at resolving last year’s problem— be it bullpen or rotation back-end or left field bat– rather than building a good, resilient complementary team around his Wrights and Reyeses.
I was under the impression that when the Padres fired Towers, it wasn’t because people thought that he had done a poor job. Rather, it was because there was a change in ownership and they wanted to bring in one of their own people.
I think that’s the point at which Ted was hinting by drawing that contrast– Towers’ being let go after all the conscientious building-on-a-budget/maximizing of resources was a shame, whereas…
there is no plan, Stan.
I am sick of people pinning this collapse on the team and letting Omar get off scott free. Those teams sucked because Omar thought it was a good idea to have Moises Alou locked up for both of them as a starter, and shell of Sean Green in right. Guys like Brian Lawrence were making starts. The depth was embarrassing in ’09, but it was nearly as bad then too.
Here’s the thing, you cannot make a mistake like Luis Castillo for 4 years. It’s felt like 30 years, and there’s still one left. An everyday player that absolutely killed them in ’08 and is horrible again this year. You cannot make the Ollie mistake. There were other options, pitchers that didn’t walk 5 batters per 9. You can’t make all the bench mistakes he’s made. Other than Damion Easley and Tatis, he’s really never provided bench strength. And when he occasionally strikes gold (Marlon Anderson in ’07), he messes it up, by keeping the guy way past his expiration date (also see Franco, Julio). The Milledge trade would have been better if Schneid wasn’t included, and Flores was protected. Bullpen: O’Day released to soon, Green suckage, that other guy they signed from Milwaukee who was so so terrible (cannot remember name, oh yeah, Matt Wise, remember that no talent clown!). There were so many other mistakes. A decent GM doesn’t give Brian effing Lawrence 6 crucial starts in ’07. That NYT writer is basically an idiot, there’s no other way around it, sorry,
Just to add on the Luis mistake. He was going on 31, already declining in offensive output and range. This isn’t Monday morning QB. When that contract hit the fan, everyone who had any clue knew it was awful, and it’s been even worse than that. Second base is an hugely important position in my opinion. Look at almost every team that’s done well in the last few years and you’ll see a good 2b. Because there aren’t many that hit really well, when you get one, it’s a huge advantage (Cano, Utley).