No Trade For You!
Posted by trs86 on 11:56am, Saturday June 27th 2009
According to Brian Costa at The Star-Leger
New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya hoping team can remain competitive as injuries mount
Omar supplied us with lots of quotes, lets see if we can make sense of any of them.
“I don’t know,” Minaya said. “All I can do is hope that the guys continue to play the way they have. The truth is, we’ve played okay. But we haven’t been playing that good. … I think there’s another gear to this group that’s out there playing.”
No Omar they have not played good or even ok, there may not be another gear to this group and if there is it could very well be reverse.
“I think there are 22 to 24 teams right now that are within playoff striking distance,” Minaya said. “So there’s not a lot of guys. For teams to trade a guy right now, you have to say to yourself, ‘We’re in it. Why would we trade a guy?’ So the pool is not that big.”
This I agree with, not only that but the teams that do have players to trade know they are in high demand. The reason that so many trades are made in late July is because there are usually only 10-12 teams in the race.
So for now, just picture Omar waiting in line for a bowl of trade soup and all the other GM’s behind the counter.
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Ha! The Soup Nazi.
Great way to make a point. Sad, but true…..
Right now, we’re doing exactly what Jerry crossed his fingers for - .500 ball. Actually, I was hoping for a bit more…
Only thing keeping us in this is the fact that so are the Phils, Marlins and Braves. How long we can count on this is anybody’s guess. Long enough to get some of the regulars back and start playing better, consistent ball? Stay tuned….
haahahaha great job real! These responses are not a surprise, it just puts a confirmation on what we have been speculating… The NL east is such a weak division, we are still in it because of that. Omar is going to take advantage of that and not make a move until the last minute….if he makes a move at all.
A caller is on the radio now saying “this is Omar’s fault, he’s the GM, he’s supposed to have the foresight.” Really. He’s supposed to have the foresight to know that 9 players, including 3/4 of ‘the core’ is going to be on the DL simultaneously, and plan accordingly. And this guy stated that his credibility for saying these things was that he “was at the first Met game at the Polo Grounds and the last Met game at Shea Stadium so I know what I’m talking about.” No, you don’t. Because if you really had paid attention to all this baseball you’ve been watching you’d know that no team in baseball can adequately plan to deal with this many simultaneous injuries. Steve Winwood put it best: Roll With It Baby.
Well said. I’ve been watching baseball for over 40 years. Never in my memory, do I remember this many core players out for this amount of time all at the same time. You can’t compensate for that. Can’t have major league ready players at damn near every position in the minors — simply b/c of the fact that that those players would be playing ML ball already….
Idea is to have depth with pitching, good bench players, some depth in the minors with prospects and some guys you sign ‘just in case’ and to play in the minors. Even with all this, most are not expected to fill out a ML roster at almost every position for months….
If you want look at the other side of the coin and still be reasonable you have to admit that no one can adequately prepare for the quantity and seriousness of the Mets injuries. You can’t have a hof backup for every position but lets look at what Eric Simon of Amazin’ Avenue and MetsGeek wrote:
“We can accept that injuries happen; they happen in life and they happen in baseball and all you can do is prepare yourself for their inevitability by having reasonable contingency plans in place. Well, the injuries happened and the contingency plans, as it turns out, were not terribly reasonable at all. The backup plan for Carlos Delgado was: Fernando Tatis? The backup plan for Jose Reyes was: Alex Cora? And for Cora: Ramon Martinez? Or Will “The Spill” Valdez?”
I’ve read Eric’s blogs and he is extremely intelligent, articulate and has an outstanding grasp of the advanced concepts of baseball. I’ve also read beat writers that have echoed these same sentiments.
The interesting thing about Omar is that the people that love him can point to the many excellent moves he has made while the people that hate him can point to the many terrible moves he has made. As with the rest of us lucky stiffs that have to work for a living he will be judged by the results of his moves and all the research and decision making that went into the moves will be a moot point. I’m not going to make a judgment since I don’t have the time or inclination to waste my time doing the necessary research. I leave that for others with no life or government jobs.
There is also one other point that the haters have to think about, given the Wilpons track record in hiring GMs what are the chances of them replacing Omar with someone as good? There is their dilemma.
I certainly agree with you in your praise of Eric, in general. But specifically on the topic of “back up plan for Cora” is where he loses me.
What/who can we as reasonable people expect as a back up plan for Cora, who himself is a back up? Did Eric or these beat writers state who their back up plan for this situation was (back before it happened since that’s when they expected Omar to do it)? I consider it a shame that both Omar and lucky stiffs who have to work are largely only judged in hindsight after the fact. To both him and those working stiffs that is terribly unfair, but so is life.
Since I don’t like to judge in hindsight, and since I am unlucky enough to be unemployed, I have the time to share my opinion: Cora is a fine back up for Reyes, and Martinez is an adequate back up for Cora, because Reyes has played 161, 153, 160 and 159 games over the last 4 seasons. So Omar in my opinion could reasonably expect to need Cora for about 8 games, and Martinez for none (except those 8 as back up to Cora).
Please understand I am not in love with Omar, nor do I hate him. I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle, which is where I slot Omar on my “GM list ordered from good to bad.” There are many things that I wish he would do differently, but I do try to at least consider what his perspective might have been at the time he was making the decision, as opposed to passing judgment in a cursory manner after the fact. I conclude by saying I do appreciate the fact that in your comment you did not pass judgment. My statements about judging in hindsight are not directed at you, but rather are inspired by your comment.
agreed. Cora as a back up for Reyes was fine, with organizatinal (AKA fodder) guys behind that.
The place he boned it though was 1B (and LF). Tatis/Murphy always wa a crap shoot, and Delgado wa ticking time bomb.
All I can figure is that Evans was the back up plan at 1B in case Delgado went down. Just that his dismal start in AAA, combined with Murphys adventures in LF, screwed that pooch.
But, I was on board this off season (and last) that Omar needed to get a solid Rh bat that could cover 1B and LF. A variety of names were mentioned (most of which I forget now!) Wiggington though was one from this year.
More of a concern though was a replacement for the future. Delgado was gone anyway after this year, so what, if anything, was the plan for then?
Unlike with Reyes, you needed a 2 tier back up for Carlos.
I was going to go into the Delgado back up, but I was getting a little long already. I believe like you mentioned that Evans was the back up plan at 1B, but in my opinion/guess the true back up plan for 1B was a combination of Evans and Murphy.
My guess continues that Omar saw a combination of those 2 as the back up for Delgado, but Manuel threw a wrench in it by naming Murphy his starting LF at the outset of spring training (which just seemed so unnecessary), thus eliminating half the plan. Then when Murphy proved “unsteady” Omar felt the need to add Sheffield as a RH OF option, and that forced Evans who had earned a spot on the roster, to be demoted. It spiraled out of control from there. Had Jerry never anointed Murphy so soon, things may have turned out differently.
Finding work in these frightening economic times requires considerable effort, time and luck. I wish you luck in finding work in the field of your choice.
I Think it’s the right move. 3 out of 4 of our best position players may not have any real impact for the rest of the year. Reyes can barely trot. Arod has been slow to get going so how is an older Delgado going to respond to the same procedure? Now there are nasty rumors floating around that Beltran might be shelved for at least a month. Without at least one of those guys back and productive I dont know how this team has a real shot even with an impact trade. Just hold the line Omar and think long term.
And think Bobby V. 2010, I’m tired of this bullpen management.
I don’t think it is Omar on one side and the GMs behind the counter.
There are going to be (and already are some) other GMs bowl in hand hping to get served. Omar might just be the first one on line, but to go with the analogy, the soup isn’t finished cooking yet.
The market will shake out a bunch in the next month, approaching the deadline. And as noted, the Mets will have a much better idea of who might be (and when) be back, and of course, how far out they are.
If they fall say 6-8 back at the deadline, and are still waiting on guys to come back sometime in August, I would just punt. Way too risky to expect enough guys to come back strong enough to make that big a run. Heck, I would even trade a few parts if possible (like Sheffield if he can still walk) to pick up some more bodies.
ANyway, I still say pick your best line up, and start it every day, to let them get settled in. Murphy 1B, Evans/Church in the OF.
its a pretty sad when argenis reyes is your best option off the bench in a pinch hit situation. i would have taken my chances with Livan instead
Jeter’s out of the game tonight.
Jose Reyes ran in the outfield, but not at full speed - he doesn’t think he’ll be back until after the ASB.