Mets Should've Fired Omar Minaya, Kept Jerry Manuel

I like Jerry Manuel too (who doesn't?) despite the fact that he too was also a part of the two biggest collapses in Mets history. I knew it was a longshot, but I wanted the Wilpons to fire Omar Minaya and keep Manuel. Omar doing nothing to help the Mets horrible bullpen this year is the biggest reason why the Mets aren't in the playoffs, thus, giving him a 4-year deal was yet another asinine move by the Mets owners. But I'm glad that Jerry Manuel will be back, he deserves a chance to put his own stamp on this team.

Mets Give Omar A 4-Year Extension

I heard about this tonight on ESPN, if it's true they can't be serious:

General manager Omar Minaya and the Mets have agreed on a four-year contract extension, SI.com has confirmed. An official announcement is not expected until after the season.

Minaya's several high-profile acquisitions have built the Mets into a perennial contender in the National League, and while the timing of the news is a little unusual in that the Mets are struggling in September for a second straight season, an extension was expected all along based on the club's overall improvement during his tenure. He also enjoys an excellent working relationship with the Wilpon family, which owns the Mets.

Unbelievable! And yet another example of why the Wilpons should sell the team. The Mets are on the verge of collapsing for the second straight season and ownership is busy working on an extension for a GM who stood by and did NOTHING to fix his team's most blatant problem. God, where is Nelson Doubleday when you need him?

Houston Astros Sweep Mets

The Mets desperately needed help in their bullpen and the outfield, but Omar Minaya does nothing. Fine. If Omar thinks keeping Fernando Martinez around is more important than getting this team to the World Series this year, that's his choice. But if the We're-Fine-The-Way-We-Are Mets don't make the playoffs this year, Omar Miniya needs to lose his job. By the way, it is just me or does the oft-injured Martinez remind you of another supposed "5-tool prospect" who turned out to be a bust by the name of Alex Escobar?

Here Comes The Yankees!

The Yankees are up 7-3 on the Red Sox in the 7th inning at Fenway. A win today would put the Yanks one game back of Boston for the wild card (the Rays lead the division by 1 over the Sox and 3 over the Yanks.) If the Yanks hold on, it will be their 8th straight win. I know there are arrogant Yankee fans (like Mike Francesca and the hypocritical Mike Lupica) who feel that the world's most famous franchise has a right to be in the playoffs every single year, but if the Yankees are going to make the playoffs every year in order to fall victim to yet another opening series knockout, then really, why bother? By the way, it's because of deals like this that Brian Cashman beats Omar Minaya every day of the week when it comes to whose a better GM.

Mets Finally Fire Willie Randolph

I've never really been a fan of the Wilpon's. As owners of my team they've got little to show for their running the show and it was always my understanding that Nelson Doubleday (when he co-owned the Mets) deserved much more credit then Fred did for the '86 world championship squad.

Either way one can certainly argue that Willie Randolph should've gotten fired for last season's historic collapse alone. So Willie knew that he had to get off to a good start this year in order to keep his job, but for the most part I liked Willie and thought that he at least deserved the full year to get the team back in the playoffs. Carlos Delgado being a flop, Moises Alou forever on the DL and the bullpen being inconsistent certainly aren't Willie's fault.

To me, Willie lost his job for a few reasons besides the team not getting off to a good start: not getting thrown out at Yankee Stadium on that Delgado home-run that wasn't (another reminder of Willie's lack of fire and passion), the controversial comments about race he made a month ago (you don't do that to the first team to give you a chance to manage) and the fact that players just didn't go out of their way for him. I like Willie and I hope he gets another chance to manage someday. As for the Mets? They still need to make a big trade no matter whose managing the team, the lackluster play has just been going on for too long now.

Mets Need To Give Willie The Year

I say Omar Minaya needs to give Willie Randolph the year to turn this team around or fire him--bottom line, if the Mets don't make the playoffs than Willie obviously deserves to go. In the meantime the Mets desperately need to make a trade. My suggestion? Package Aaron Heilman (whose been horrible this year and wants to be a starter anyway) and a prospect for either Raul Ibanez (if he's available) or a good right-hand batter with a little pop. This team is too old, listless and topsy-turvy...going on for a year now, but it's far from being too late. However, Omar Minaya needs to make some changes to help his manager out.

Omar Minaya Is Playing Us For A Fool

That can be the only conclusion a true Mets fan can come to if you buy his crazy idea that the Mets don't need pitching, better yet a top-notch starter. And no, overweight mediocrity like Livian Hernandez and/or Bartolo Colon are not the answers. Dan Haren or Erik Bedard or even Dontrell Willis are, and Omar Minaya needs do to everything he can to acquire one of them what wit the Twins asking for the moon for Johan Santana. Mets fans like myself are still suffering from the worse collapse in baseball history. We lost 13 wins in Tommy Glavine. We lost the guts of the team in Paul Lo Duca. We lost great potential in Lastings Milledge. Unless the Wilpons are holding him back, Omar needs to do what he can to balance all of that.

If Mets Miss Playoffs, Blame Omar Minaya

The Mets have just been swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, which puts them two games in front of the National League East as they limp to Atlanta. And with 6 games left on this 10 game road trip, there's a good chance the Mets could be out of first place by the time they finally make it home to Shea. If that happens and the Mets go on to miss the playoffs, I'm putting the blame squarely on Omar Minaya's back for these reasons:

1) His over-the-top love for Latino players which has come back to bite him, esp. in the cases of Duaner Sanchez and Guillermo Mota.

2) Not re-signing Chad Bradford who had an excellent year last year.

3) Giving up way too early on Brian Bannister and trading him for mediocre relief pitcher Ambrioux Burgiois (who couldn't even make the Mets roster this year and now needs Tommy John surgery)

All year long the Mets have allowed the Braves and the Phillies to hang in there, they haven't even had a 5-game winning streak all season. There's a good chance that they might not even win the wild card--hard to imagine considering that the Mets clearly have the best team in the National League.