Omar's... um... Greatest Hits

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'd still probably give extra "credit" to those moves which seemed pointless-to-insane at the time.[/quote:1wzqjdmc]

I'm assuming that you meant "negative extra credit" when you wrote "extra credit". And based on my assumption, if those seemingly pointlessly acquired players then developed good value, you might be discounting that Minaya knew or saw something that you didn't.[/quote:1wzqjdmc]

Yep-- if it seemed like a "WTF" move to most impartial, rational-minded observers, and it indeed didn't work out, then yeah, it's a bit more egregious than if a prized player acquisition goes unexpectedly sour.

And on the second point, a la John Maine as "throw-in," yep.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

(REPOSTED FROM ANOTHER THREAD: Anything he does this year probably deserves an asterisk. If I don't give my direct supervisees a budget for, say, an office party, either I have to line-item approve everything, or shit doesn't get done. Also, the party will most likely be shittier than a pen full of overfed cattle.)

From today's Buster Olney blog post: No budget? No problem. Just ask nicely.

Part of the unusual nature of the Mets' offseason has been the fact that general manager Omar Minaya has never been given a budget. As the baseball operations powers have been evaluating possible strategies, the executives haven't been able to cast these choices against the context of how much money is available. On almost all teams, the talent evaluators are given a budget and then paint within those lines, dispersing the dollars according to the needs. The Mets' front office, on the other hand, is making its recommendations to Jeff Wilpon on a case-by-case basis, without knowing whether it is yet bumping up against a financial ceiling, or knowing how to prioritize the current needs for pitching or catching. "You need to start with a budget," said one talent evaluator. "And then you work from there. This really makes it much more difficult." In many cases, Wilpon has been the lead negotiator for the Mets this offseason, and not Omar Minaya -- reinforcing the belief in some corners of the organization that Minaya is one extended losing streak removed from being fired.

[Valadius]

I call that mismanagement on Jeff Wilpon's part.

[MFS62]

Well, here's a list of all his moves (the non-moves, such as leaving Flores unprotected, aren't on it):

2005:
signing Pedro
signing Beltran
- those seem obvious, but keep in mind the mets were coming off of three straight last place finishes and had a reputation for not going out and spending...omar convinced ownership to do this for both talent and credibility
drafting Mike Pelfrey

2006:
traded Mike Cameron for Xavier Nady
traded Yusmeiro Petit and two middling prospects for Carlos Delgado who hit 38 HRs
traded middling prospects for Paul Loduca who hit .320
traded Kris Benson for John Maine and Jorge Julio
later traded Julio for El Duque who was the mets most consistent starter in 2006 and 2007
traded Jae Seo, coming off of a very good year, for Duaner Sanchez who was the best setup man in baseball in 2006 until his injury
traded Nady for Oliver Perez (won game 4 of the nlcs and had a good start in game 7, then won 15 games the following year) and Roberto Hernandez (replaced Sanchez)
identifying Jose Valentin as a cheap bounceback candidate who ended up hitting 18 HRs as a 2B
acquired Shawn Green in a waiver deal

2007:
traded for Luis Castillo (proved a good move down the stretch, the 4-year extension is another story)
traded Heath Bell (one of the bad moves, but he never seemed to fit in with the mets)
signed Moises Alou, who while he got hurt, hit .340 for 2/3 of the season

2008:
Castillo 4-year deal - stupid
swapping out Milledge for Chuch and Schneider - many would do this again, regardless of how it worked out
ripped off the Twins for Santana when several other teams could have done the same...Omar deserves more credit for this than simply offering a big contract extension to Johan

2009:
Perez 3-year deal - looks bad, but the Mets got excellent value out of the initial trade that brought him in
signed k-rod (obvious)
trading for JJ Putz - regardless of how it worked out, it was a great deal at the time and one i would make 10 times over
**************************************************************
This is maybe a better body of work than 90% of the GM's over the last five years (Of course I didn't check that. Just an impression)...my biggest knock on Omar is the penny pinching in the draft, which has become a terrible trend since signing Pelfrey in 2005. By that I mean not paying over "slot".


My contention has been that much of Omar's success has been money related - he could afford to buy a player (Beltran, K-Mart, et. al.), trade almost nothing for a guy making, or about to make money (Delgado) or protecting a highly/ over paid player he already signed by trading away a minor leaguer who is better (Bell).

If the owners hadn't had the money they had, I doubt Omar could have acquired the players he has.
But, the money seems to dry up when it comes to paying for draft picks.

On just good old fashioned player-for-player deals, IMO he leaves a lot to be desired.
Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Those are not all his moves. Far from it.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Who actually wrote that post? It's a cut and paste no?

trading for JJ Putz - regardless of how it worked out, it was a great deal at the time and one i would make 10 times over

It was a retarded trade at the time, and because it worked out horribly, it'd be stupid to even consider again.

[MFS62]

Who actually wrote that post? It's a cut and paste no?

[/quote:s9mhs0q3]
Yes, from a members only site, so I couldn't post the link.

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

When you do that, I'd suggest you put it in a quote box. You probably don't want people thinking that someone else's words are your own.

[MFS62]

When you do that, I'd suggest you put it in a quote box. You probably don't want people thinking that someone else's words are your own.[/quote:to4bvh47]
Good idea.
Thanks,
Later