This Guy Needs More Time To Prove His Worth

ANTHONY LAFAMAN
STACHE WRITER

I support Omar Minaya. GASP! Oh no he didn’t.

Listen, I am really not sure why all the pessimistic met fans are pointing their collective guns at Omar Minaya’s head. The Adam Rubin spat notwithstanding this guy has had a very good, yes, very good run here in NY.

If you go back and check out his moves, from the draft picks to the trades you will come to the same conclusion. Mix in some facts and you’ll see Minaya is not a bad GM. At all.

Ask yourself this. Did Omar Minaya put a team together, 3 years in a row, that was in position to compete for a World Series.

The answer is yes. 2006, NLCS loss. 2007, 7 games up with 17 to go, 2008, 3 games up one week to go. Every year the Mets were in it.

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Building a Team after this Moment has been very hard for the Mets (Courtesy of Boston.com)

BY JOSEPH STONE
STACHE WRITER

I have heard it said the the Mets mission statement over the last two years was to win Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. That they wanted to eradicate the memory of the loss and somehow change the course of history. I don’t think that’s quite true. I think that was something we the interactive fans and the professional writers inferred upon the team, that that particular game was somehow still winnable.

The Mets, in a wise move, just stuck with the core of a team over the next three years that was thisclose to the World Series in 2006, and are just now feeling the fallout from a long barren run at post-season success. After the outcome of the 2006 season, obviously the Mets, as an organization, felt that essentially standing pat with a team that was so close to the promised land was the right choice, hence the Alou signing as a stopgap to shore up RBI production and keep the train rolling.

Management felt that the veteran presence would assist, and not even a beat would be missed on the march back to October. They were absolutely correct. The 2007 season was going along according to script until…no need for specifics in rehashing at this point, we are all well versed. The team that had steamrolled along all year hit the wall and blew up. It happens. Only once in a blue moon, but strange things can happen in baseball. Ask the Cubs, or the Phillies.

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Sean Green has certainly had his ups and downs with the Mets this season (PHOTO BY ICON SMI)

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

Back in December, Mets fans had everything to look forward to. We recently found out that Francisco Rodriguez was going to be our new closer, and that seemed to solve some of the problems that prevented the Mets from winning the Division last season. But then, on December 11, a trade happened that nobody saw coming.

The Mets, Mariners and Indians would make a three team trade that lined up like this:

Mets Get: JJ Putz, Jeremy Reed and Sean Green from the Mariners
Mariners Get: Aaron Heilman, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp, Maikel Cleto, Jason Vargas and Ezequiel Carrera from the Mets, and Franklyn Gutierrez from the Indians
Indians Get: Joe Smith from the Mets and Luis Valbuena from the Mariners

It seemed like an awful lot to give up the time, and the two pieces that hurt Mets’ fans the most were Endy Chavez and Joe Smith. The young Smith had established himself as a quality situational reliever, and Chavez had endeared himself to the fan base with some unbelievable defense, which included possibly the best play in Mets’ history.

But as they all say, in order to get talent, you need to give up talent. And the Mets acquired backup outfielder Jeremy Reed, reliever Sean Green and former closer JJ Putz. Putz was obviously the main catch in the deal, as he has proven to be a valuable closer for several years in a small market. This gave the Mets some insurance in case K-Rod got injured or needed a day off.

It seemed like a no brainer, but was it worth it?
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BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

Endy Chavez will be mostly remembered for one big play he made as a member of the Mets. Oliver Perez was the pitcher and Scott Rolen was the hitter. Rolen hit a ball that was destined for the left field bullpen, but Chavez used his superhuman jumping ability to pull the ball back over the wall for what some call the best catch in Mets’ history. But, will we miss Endy Chavez?

Endy’s hitting always gets a bit overshadowed, as he has always posted pretty decent numbers. His average as a Met was right around .280, but his fielding abilities are inhuman. He also has very good speed which came in handy when it would come to pinch running duties. Endy was certainly valuable, but the move needed to be made to improve the more important areas. J. J. Putz was acquired and Aaron Heilman is in Ohio. That makes the deal worth it in itself.

We are going to miss Endy’s defense, but his stock is due to plummet soon, so now may have been the right time to sell high. Seattle is surely going to enjoy him.