A Case for Omar Minaya as one of MLB's Best General Managers

The Mets are in good hands with Omar Minaya running the ship. There's a phrase that wasn't likely to be heard when they hired him in September of 2004. The Mets were coming off a disappointing season in which they finished 10 games under .500, despite making two big trades at the deadline. Thinking they were in post-season contention, the Mets acquired Kris Benson and Victor Zambrano to bolster their rotation, giving up a host of prospects, including Scott Kazmir, to acquire an injured pitcher with control problems (Zambrano) and a pitcher eligible for free agency at the end of the year (Benson).

While it was clear that the Mets needed to clean house, it was far from certain that Minaya was the man to head the operation. Minaya, a former Met executive given a shot as Montreal's GM, was best known for trading future stars Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips for Bartolo Colon and turning Carl Pavano (who would go on to win 30 games in the two full seasons after he was traded) for Sunny Kim and 15 games of Cliff Floyd. Not a sterling reputation. To make matters worse, Minaya was portrayed as a lightweight in the book Moneyball.

The team Minaya inherited was full of aging veterans from the squad that made the World Series in 2000. Previously, the team believed it was still a contender, because it contained some big-name players, but in reality the team needed to be rebuilt at least since the end of the 2002 season. However, neither Steve Phillips nor Jim Duquette, the previous two general managers before Minaya, had the courage to state that the emperor had no clothes.

Another problem facing the team was the perception (if not the reality) that certain players had too much pull within the organization. Derisively known as the Cabal, veteran pitchers John Franco, Tom Glavine and Al Leiter supposedly had great influence with Jeff Wilpon, the owner's son and the team's Chief Operating Officer. The Cabal allegedly pushed for Scott Kazmir to be dealt, feeling that the star prospect did not show the proper respect for veterans in the clubhouse.

Minaya moved in and immediately put his stamp on the team. He disposed of two members of the Cabal, letting Franco leave via free agency and refusing to pick up the option on Leiter. He also signed Willie Randolph to take over for Art Howe as the team's manager. Meanwhile, he used the team's big market status to acquire high-profile free agents Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran. Minaya also aggressively pursued free agent Carlos Delgado, but the slugging first baseman ended up in Miami, believing that the Marlins had a better shot at the post-season. Delgado's agent, David Sloane, was also a factor in steering Delgado to Florida, preferring to keep his main client close to his home office.

While Minaya's big moves gathered all of the publicity, he also made several minor moves that helped the club. He signed Marlon Anderson, Ramon Castro, Roberto Hernandez and Chris Woodward to minor league contracts and each of those players contributed positively to the 2005 team, which won 83 games and finished over .500 for the first time in three seasons.

For the 2006 season, Minaya again was a big player in the free agent market, landing closer Billy Wagner. He also made high-profile acquisitions trading for Paul Lo Duca and Carlos Delgado in separate deals with the Marlins.

But Minaya made just a big as an impact with his minor free agent signings and trades, adding Jose Valentin, Endy Chavez, John Maine, Chad Bradford, Pedro Feliciano, Jorge Julio, Darren Oliver and Duaner Sanchez to the mix. He turned the bullpen from a giant question mark into a team strength. Later, he flipped Julio for Orlando Hernandez, signed Guillermo Mota and turned Xavier Nady into Oliver Perez and a return engagement of Roberto Hernandez. It was just a magnificent job of adding on the margins, which helped the team to a 97-win season, despite massive injuries to the starting rotation.

In his two-plus seasons on the job, Omar has overseen a 26-game improvement in the standings and completely changed the long-term outlook for the club.

But just as important as the moves that Minaya has made are the ones that he did not. He was rumored to be interested in Sammy Sosa, but never signed him. He was rumored to be giving up every prospect in the system to trade for Manny Ramirez, but he didn't. He was rumored to be trading Mike Pelfrey and Lastings Milledge at the trading deadline in 2006, but he didn't. And the Mets are better off because of those non-moves.

It would be a mistake not to list the bad moves the club has experienced during Minaya's tenure. But these have been few and far between, with little long-term implications, certainly nothing close to the Kazmir fiasco. He acquired Kaz Ishii prior to the 2005 season, but gave up only Jason Phillips. Doug Mientkiewicz did not pan out. He traded Mike Cameron for Nady, but that could be justified in trying to do right by Cameron by giving him the opportunity to play center field again. Also, it has been speculated that move also was for payroll purposes.

So far the three biggest mistakes by Minaya were signing (and twice promoting) Jose Lima, getting nothing out of, or for, Victor Diaz and trading for Shawn Green. And really, what did that amount to in the overall scheme of things? Lima cost us four wins last season, Diaz could have been a bust regardless of who was in charge and Shawn Green only cost us the pennant.

OK, I made that last part up.

In my alternate universe, Milledge makes up for whatever mistakes he made and becomes an impact player down the stretch in 2006 without the Green trade. But that's wild speculation. What is known is that Milledge ticked off some of the veterans on the squad (Billy Wagner allegedly stole all of his clothes out of his locker as payback for Milledge's poor attitude) with his behavior. Maybe acquiring Green was a way to placate the veterans. After all, Green was Carlos Delgado's best friend while the two were in Toronto. Acquiring Green to placate the veterans makes at least as much sense as acquiring him for his bat. What we do know is that once you factor in ballparks, Milledge was already a better hitter than Green at the time of the trade, Green made the Mets even more left-handed and he was a terrible defensive player. After the trade, Green had a big day during a doubleheader and did virtually nothing else the rest of the season.

But that is a whole lot of positives combined with very few negatives. And the negatives could have been further reduced if manager Willie Randolph would have limited the appearances of Ishii, Mientkiewicz, Lima and Green.

So far this off-season, Minaya has again made some good moves. Acquiring Ben Johnson for two relievers who didn't figure to see much time in New York was nice. Signing Moises Alou to a one-year deal gives the team a right-handed bat that should help take pressure off David Wright in the lineup. Keeping his word to Tom Glavine, declining his option and allowing him time to make up his mind about returning to Atlanta showed that taking the high road can be a good business decision. And finally, flipping fifth-starter candidate Brian Bannister for Ambiorix Burgos, a 23-year old who can throw 100 mph, was a solid move. Bannister was clearly behind Maine, Perez, Pelfrey and Humber in the team's pecking order and Dave Williams (another Minaya pickup) and Alay Soler already provide injury depth at Triple-A. Plus, Burgos has a chance to be this year's Sanchez.

At the time this was written, Minaya was in discussions with the A's about a starting pitcher. First indication was that he was after Rich Harden but now it seems like he's after Dan Haren, instead. Because of his moves the past two seasons, I have confidence that Omar will make the right move, either picking up Harden/Haren or walking away instead of making a bad deal.