Many, many people across this great land of ours have had a tough day at work, only to come home and take it out on members of their families.Upon further review, I believe I unfairly took my frustration over the Mets deadline day activity out on a general manager I love, the patriarch of our little family.
I'm still not a big fan of the Xavier Nady trade.
I still think no move was better than this move.
But I think I was a little hard on Omar Minaya.
Omar, I apologize.
But when you wake up from dreams of Jason Schmidt and Roy Oswalt and you wind up with Roberto Hernandez and Ollie Perez, it's kind of like Eric Cartman expecting all the Mega-Men for his birthday but Kyle gives him "Ants in the Pants" and Cartman kicks everyone out of his house.
To say that Omar panicked was harsh. What I am curious about is how much other GM's knew about Filthy's injury. If they had full knowledge, then obviously Omar was hamstrung, and did what he felt was right. And I will say under the circumstances, Minaya was as creative as he could have been. For me to come on this blog and come off like Minaya just traded Scott Kazmir or something is rather excessive, whether I like the trade or not.
And I still have a hard time embracing it.
But Omar is family. He earned that distinction for all the good that he has done here. And this trade still has a chance of working out. It takes a lot of variables to make it work, including the quick maturation of Lastings Milledge. I actually like Ollie Perez, and Omar did show a little bit of creativity in buying low on him in this trade. He is still a big variable.
I have always thought that one of Omar Minaya's large tasks here is not only build a winner now, but to always have one eye on the future as well. Ollie Perez shows that Omar is always thinking of the future. I probably would have felt better about this deal if this wasn't a trade deadline deal, but rather an off-season deal. But with circumstances being what they were, I just thought this was a strange deal brought about by strange events. And it's the strange events that I should really be screaming about, and not the efforts of Minaya. Because when it comes down to it, whether it's Sanchez or Hernandez...Lastings or X...Ollie Perez in the minors or Ollie Perez in Pittsburgh (some in Pittsburgh might consider that the same thing)...it's important for me to remember one thing: This team is still pretty damn good. And they're still a mile ahead of everyone else in the senior circuit.
Omar did the best he could with the hand he was dealt by that brain dead drunk driver in Miami. And I hope Mr. Minaya will find it in his heart to forgive me for accusing him of panicking. Hopefully, he will see it in his heart to allow me to tag along on his Thanksgiving dinner soiree with Barry Zito. This soothsayer can wrangle up some mighty fine recruiting skills, ya know.
***
Now that that's out of the way, there was a game tonight, wasn't there?
Having only saw highlights, I can only surmise that I didn't miss much.
Yikes!
11 comments:
Don't you just love having the best GM as part of your favorite team!
Reading some of the points you made in todays post makes me think you read my post from yesterday (retardadly long anonymous post)
Hi Mestradamus- I can't kill Omar on the trade he made, but I think had he been given more time he could have given up less for the two pitchers.
Nady was quiet and went unoticed, but as we saw last night in RF with Milledge- I missed X alot.
Not to mention Milledge's new or maybe not so new but real attitude when Randolph went to talk to him about what he did out in the field.
Chemistry is delicate balance, and I think trading X may have upset it if we have to put with attitude from Milledge. I feel like we are watching a young Carl Everett
I agree with Shari. I have this gnawing feeling in my gut that Milledge is going to make the back pages for the wrong reasons.
Omar is like Santa. He gives you great gifts but every once in a while you get a box full of underwear.
It happens.
Joe- Well said, and we Met fans can't complain one iota about this year. I didn't have many complaints about last season either.
My only worry is that if they think Milledge is going to be a long part of the Mets future, they have better think long and hard about it.
Wagner just keeps hitting too much of the strikezone and any MLB player can hit a fastball...It reminds me of someone?
(Franco,Benitez,Looper)
I can't find the name right now so I'll have to get back to you...
Metstra, I'll admit I was wildly negative on your nady trade post. but at the same, I understand your frustration....it's natural, look at how fucked we've been by trades in the past, most recently with scott kazmir. however, i give you the complete benefit of the doubt bc you've had a day to think about it and you're willing to think critcal about what has transpired.
bottom line, you are the man and i love this blog! keep that same from-the-gut style and you'll add more and more mets fans to this blog by the bushel! love your work man!!!
Shari,
A young Carl Everett. Very interesting analogy. Didn't he almost pull an Everett in a recent minor league game?
Metmaster,
I have a gnawing feeling about Milledge too...however mine involes a new Lastings Milledge cologne.
Mr. Burke,
Wild negativity is encouraged. I need to be yelled at often to keep me honest. Thanks as always!
I think you have to look at what the Mets didn't do versus the X Man trade (which was an emergency move to fill a gap caused by a freak accident). Mets fans had dreams of Schmidt, Oswalt, and Zito...hoping that they wouldn't have to rely on Wacksel and those beyond him in the playoffs. Ultimately the choice for Minaya was to give up some of the future to win now. Apparently the other GMs were asking too much and Minaya didn't bite.
Do the Mets have to win now? I believe yes. The urgency is not with the young position players but with the aging starting staff which has been under the microscope lately (Pedro, Glavine, Wacksel). If the Mets don't win now they'll have to rebuild around Pelfrey, Bannister, and Maine. Not a bad idea...however we all remember how the other "Young Guns" trio worked out. The Mets had a shot as Metstra said to get an inside track to the World Series...based on what happened at the trade deadline, nothing is a given for the Mets in the playoffs with this questionable starting staff. There will be a lot of questions in October about the inactivity at the trade deadline if the Mets fall short.
Nady was expendible. However, you can't dismiss how this taxicab tragedy has hurt their bullpen. Roberto Hernandez is not the answer...I believe he didn't look good tonight and Perez is a question mark. Wagner is also not as good as he should be.
I can't imagine that any realistic (I know that's hard) Mets fan feeling good about what happened at the deadline. No "put you over the top deal", another freak taxicab accident which hurts the bullpen, and other teams improving themselves. The Yankees stole the show and made the improvements that they needed to the chagrin of the Red Sox.
While Metstra was a bit harsh and shocked you a bit...his bitterness is the result of facing facts...the Nady trade just diguises it a bit ...THE METS DO NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN IT ALL WITH THIS STARTING AND RELIEF STAFF. dated aug 3rd.
One thing that consistently gets lost in the outcry about trading Xavier Nady is that everyone forgets to wonder how Xavier Nady must feel about getting traded from the best team in the NL to one of the worst, going from a city like NY to a city like Pittsburgh. He's even less lucky than Duaner Sanchez. After all, once he recovers, Sanchez will still be playing for the Mets. Poor Mr Nady will be slumming it.
Now THAT is an innocent victim.
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