What Have You Learned? Darren O'Day

What Have You Learned is our very special off-season series that will outline what you've learned, what I've learned, and hopefully what the 2009 Mets have learned about themselves, others, and 2010. Today, because our blogger is still very bitter about what seems to be an extremely minor, we look at the departed Darren O'Day.

Today, we woke up to more sobering news about the state of the New York Mets. Today's news: The Mets have released Ken Takahashi.

The news here is not that Takahashi was released, but the 40-year-old who is most famous for giving up a three mile long home run to Raul Ibanez was the end result of putting Darren O'Day on waivers. The departure of O'Day, so that an injured Mike Pelfrey could remain on the active roster, turned into Nelson Figueroa for a start ... which turned into a pissed off Nelson Figueroa when he was designated for Casey Fossum ... which turned into one, awful, unmemorable appearance in a Mets uniform ... which turned into Ibanez's three run HR off Takahashi.

And now, he's gone. This means that the Mets have nothing to show for O'Day, who threw for a 1.94 ERA and an 0.95 WHIP in 55.2 relief innings for the Rangers.

It also means that I never got a chance to use the fact that O'Day studied animal biology in college ... which probably cost me a great blog involving Oliver Perez and farm animals.

What does this teach us? It teaches us that asset management is non-existent in Queens. And that sheep in Texas are lucky to have a guy like O'Day on call. Think of how helpful he could have been to those cats that live underneath Citi Field. They'll never know what they're missing. Unfortunately, we do.

What have you learned?

What Have You Learned? Omar Minaya

What Have You Learned is our very special off-season series that will outline what you've learned, what I've learned, and hopefully what the 2009 Mets have learned about themselves, others, and 2010. Today, we look at everyone's least favorite person with everyone's favorite job: Omar Minaya.

Remember how easy it used to be to get a t-shirt that said "In Omar We Trust"? Now they're about as readily available as those Patriots 19-0 gold coins ... and worth about as much.

It's gotta be tough to be Minaya these days. He's the very definition of lame duck ... between his people getting fired around him, hiring new people who could possibly replace him (and I wonder whether Minaya was "encouraged" to do this), and having reports pop up that the only reason you have your job is because of the extension you signed, I'd say that would make a man feel quite inadequate. Good thing he's in the sports business, where there's no shortage of advice for that kind of thing.

What has Omar Minaya learned? Hopefully, how to choose his battles more wisely.

What must he learn for 2010? Unfortunately, he's going to have to learn how to be somebody he's not. Look, I think Minaya is a good GM ... but not for what this franchise needs. His strengths, being able to sign the big fish being paramount among them, was something the Mets desperately needed after the 2004 season when they badly needed an infusion of star power. The Mets don't need that now. They have enough stars. They need a GM who knows how to construct a roster 1-25. Minaya has proven that's not a strength for him. most egregiously with the Darren O'Day debacle (yeah, that still bothers me). But if he's going to keep his job past this season, he's going to have to make it a strength.

Is that fair? Absolutely not. I'm not a fan of putting people in a position to fail. When you start firing people to "send messages", you get away from the mission statement. Now who the %#$* knows what the Mets mission statement is, but what they seem to be doing is trying to "light a fire" under Minaya. The problem is that you can light a fire to make somebody hustle, or give more effort. But pressure doesn't make you smarter. School makes you smarter. And Minaya graduated Newtown High School way back in 1978. If there's something he didn't pick up before then, it's not coming.

But he's got one chance to fix this. I don't know if that's possible in one season. Problems like the Mets have get fixed from the ground up, and that takes years. Maybe Minaya can do what he does best and go after the best free agents out there, whom to me are Matt Holliday (NLDS Game 2 error not withstanding) and John Lackey. But that's going to be rough. Holliday would have to do what few do, and that's play in St. Louis for a half a season then actually leave ... since players love being there. Lackey? I see him either staying in Anaheim or going home to Texas, so Omar might be chasing his tail on both of them. With the rest of the free agent market lukewarm at best, Omar is going to have to change course and try something else.

Maybe that draft class from 2008 which includes Ike Davis and Reese Havens will be confirm Minaya's skills as a builder. But who knows if and when the Mets can reap those grains? Maybe Chris Carter will be a good first step, but that's assuming he makes the club. Minaya's best chances to fix this might not contribute until after he's gone. Since much of his staff will be starting from scratch, is there really a chance to make meaningful improvements in one season?

You want to fix it this year? Well, that might involve mortgaging some future, and that's what makes a lame duck dangerous, getting rid of future to save his job today. Here's the two edges to this sword: A: People say you have no future in your farm system ... and that's part of what needs fixing with this organization. But B: Omar says that's overblown, that there are some pieces that other teams want. All right, prove it. Make a trade for Derrek Lee if that's the case. Make a trade for Dan Uggla and Jeremy Hermida and give Florida more salary relief if that's the case. Make a trade for Doc Halladay if that's the case.

I don't know what the exact answer is. But if you want to fix this, maybe a good way to start is to watch a replay of the Tigers/Twins playoff, where you'll see two teams with talent up and down the roster, not to mention the balls to trust that talent when it mattered most. (You'll also see a team who won said playoff game where the winning pitcher was a guy you released in '05 ... probably to make room for Julio Franco or Juan Marichal or Juan Marichal's grandmother on the 40 man roster.)

Maybe a good way to start is to not waste roster spots on broken heroes on a last chance power drive. Don't even think about giving Gary Sheffield another season. I don't care what kind of numbers he put up, his signing was a mistake. Nick Evans' lost season was probably due in no small part because of Sheffield's signing pushing him to the minors and starting him on the abyss. Were 10 HR's and 43 RBI's worth that? Hopefully, Evans will be a viable option on the bench next season (heaven knows that Snoop Manuel made him familiar on the bench in September), along with Carter, and maybe Hermida if you trade for him. They can't be any worse than Fernando Tatis and his band of empty bench spots as the Mets played the whole season with anywhere from 23-19 players.

Maybe another way to start would be to take a chance on Miguel Cabrera, as the Tigers might try to trade him after his escapades during the last weekend of the season. Now, notice I didn't say that it would be another "good" way to start. Sure, while you wouldn't get him cheap, you might be able to get him at a slightly reduced rate. But if you want to change the entitlement that the locker room has been accused of having, Cabrera would be the absolute worst option you could choose. I know it's tempting, but now that the Mets are on a streak of sweeping final series, the last thing the Mets need is a lazy problem child who goes on benders and tells kids they're fat after once being as big as an El Dorado.

Other than that, have at it. Go forth and fix the team, somehow someway. Just go against everything you've ever been taught about how to run a team. Easy, right? Figure out what you've learned, Omar. Then forget all of it.

Ollie Being Manny

You have to be kidding me ...

"When he came out, Perez said that his knee had been bothering him all season. Asked which knee, he paused and looked down. 'The right one', he said."

Because while there's a list for injuries, there is as of yet no sanctioned list for incompetence. Hence, the "injury."

So let me get this straight: The Mets are going to put Oliver Perez on the DL for what looks like a conveniently invented injury, and they misdiagnose the real ones???

Mike Pelfrey takes up a roster spot and the Mets lose Darren O'Day because they deem a DL stint isn't necessary for tendinitis, but Oliver could go on a two week paid vacation for an ERA which is a bases loaded walk to Jamie Moyer short of ten? I, as usual, am confused.

(Editor's note: Darren O'Day, since stepping off an airplane and giving up a game winning hit to Kevin Millar in Kason Gabbard's jersey, has two holds and has given up nothing of significance to the opposition. Omar Minaya will regret this. I already do.)

Mets Finally Honor Their Past!

The bad news is: The past they honored tonight was 1962.

Daniel Murphy is going to get killed for that stumble in the eighth which turned out number one into a triple, which turned into Tuesday's winning run for St. Louis. Your hope for Murphy is that going forward, future errors are the kind of errors which come in 9-3 games or don't lead directly to a run ... and not the kind of errors which lose ballgames, like his last two.

But let's scatter some blame here, shall we?

First off, when did Jeremy Giambi open up a baserunning camp and when did Carlos Beltran attend this? Can we slide next time, please?

And boy am I glad that Mike Pelfrey wasn't placed on the DL, so that Darren O'Day can be DFA'd and offered back to the Angels as a Rule V draftee to make room for Nelson Figueroa to replace Pelfrey, so that Figueroa could then be DFA'd to make room for Casey Fossum to have that second lefthander in the bullpen to face lefties ... so that Fossum could walk the tying run home against the first lefthander he sees as a Met on four pitches.

(That tossed the dog, that worried the cat, that killed the rat ... etc.)

That's roster management at its best, folks. Omar Minaya is the guy who's really good at buying expensive gifts for his wife, but he has to because he constantly screws up the little things like letting three weeks of garbage pile up or calling the dinner order ahead, then forgetting to pick it up and spend the rest of the night wondering why everyone is so hungry. Nice job, Omar.

Of course, it wouldn't have come to Casey Fossum if Oliver Perez could get through six innings without giving up a leadoff single to a pitcher and walking a .230 hitting shortstop with the bases loaded. At least Ollie's ERA went down from 7.84 to 7.80 on Tuesday. That's called good news.

And in an unrelated story, here's some bad news:

“Teams are going to realize the Florida Marlins are for real and they have to play us differently. That’s what we want. We want to be known as the team to beat.” -Wes Helms

Great choice of words, Wes. Spectacular.

Hide Your Pets, It's Oliver Perez!

Well hey ... at least statistically, the bullpen was perfect.

Considering that Joey Votto picked this weekend to announce to the National League that he was changing his name to "Babe", the Mets should consider themselves fortunate that they won two out of three. But for those concerned about whether Oliver Perez would carry his horrid spring over the the regular season, well be concerned no more. He has.

(While it was actually Darren O'Day that gave up the base hit that eventually proved to be the game winner, all of the runs on the table were Ollie's ... and O'Day's pitch that was hit by Paul Janish to drive in the deciding two runs wasn't a bad pitch. You could say that hitting Edwin Encarnacion with a pitch as soon as he came in was O'Day's biggest mistake. Considering O'Day pitched today knowing his friend and former teammate Nick Adenhart was killed last night, nobody should have any qualms about Darren's performance.)

There will be plenty of time to panic over Perez (remember, panic is a marathon not a sprint). For now, let's tip our hats to Babe Votto on a Ruthian series. Here's hoping you at least have him on your fantasy team.

A Little To The Left

Here's the question that you, the Met fan, need ask yourself at this moment:

Would you rather have a second lefty on the roster, even if that second lefty has proven himself to be a complete bum? Or ...

Do you fill the remaining spots with righties that have proven to be useful parts of baseball society in the spring?

Ron Villone not being able to get lefties out today against Detroit, combined with Bobby Parnell pitching a stellar inning makes the question an interesting one. You want to take your chances with righties like Parnell, Darren O'Day, Brian Stokes, and perhaps Carlos Muniz's New Splitter (sounds like a movie) against the likes of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Raul Ibanez? Or do you want another lefty to boo at home?

And how much more difficult is this question to answer knowing that you have guys like Will Ohman out there practically begging for a job with a contender. It's such a sad sight ... I wish it didn't have to come to this for Ohman: