HOUSTON — Omar Minaya tried to make Manny a Met.
After the dust finally settled on the blockbuster trade that sent Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers in a three-team deal, Minaya said today the Mets tried this week to bring the disgruntled slugger to Queens.
Speaking after the non-waivers trade deadline, the Mets GM said he made late contact with Boston counterpart Theo Epstein about Ramirez but couldn’t meet Epstein’s price tag.
“I checked in with Theo a couple of days ago, and we did talk about some things,” Minaya said in a conference call. “What Boston was looking for, we could not provide.”
DODGERS LAND RAMIREZ; BAY TO RED SOX
Minaya said Epstein wanted a “major-league ready outfielder,” something in short supply with the Mets. Epstein ultimately found that outfielder, the Pirates’ Jason Bay, who was sent to Boston as part of the trade.
Minaya was left empty-handed again with Ramirez after multiple attempts over the past three years to land the player people around baseball say Minaya has coveted the most.
“In the end, they really just wanted to move him,” Minaya said of Boston. “And [Epstein] got Jason Bay, a guy who was going to help him right away. We couldn’t give him a guy who was going to help him right away.”
Aside from the Red Sox, virtually every club the Mets talked to wanted one or both of their two most prized minor-league prospects: Double-A outfielder Fernando Martinez and Triple-A left-hander Jon Niese.
The Mets were in the market for a corner outfielder and bullpen help, but not at the expense of Martinez or Niese. The Mets felt particularly strong about that after Minaya depleted his system to get Johan Santana from the Twins last winter.
Bay, Mariners outfielder Raul Ibanez and relievers Brian Fuentes of the Rockies and Arthur Rhodes of Seattle were high on the Mets’ radar but ultimately weren’t worth youngsters the Mets covet.
“The guys we were interested in were rental guys, and you just can’t continue to give up two or three guys for rental players,” Minaya said. “You’re going to need some of these young guys to fill in the needs going into next year.”