THIS is Omar Minaya’s mess. It might turn out that Minaya is a better politician than talent evaluator, great at accepting bouquets in good times, but better yet at ingratiating himself to upper management with his pleasant persona while craftily escaping blame when matters go poorly.
Even yesterday he was showing the agility of a seasoned pol. He was asked multiple ways if Willie Randolph will return. It was a yes or no question that Minaya never said yes or no to. He praised the totality of Randolph’s work and sounded like a GM who wants his manager back. Nevertheless, he left wiggle room just in case Mets ownership wants Randolph’s job as a sacrifice for the greatest regular-season collapse ever.
The Post learned yesterday that Met ownership is almost certain to let Minaya have his way, but will need a strong explanation on why to retain the manager and then will hold Minaya as responsible as Randolph in 2008 should there be more despair. So Randolph is now to Minaya what Art Howe was to Steve Phillips. You want him, you got him, but you are on the clock, too.
That would be evidence the Wilpons might be eroding the autonomy over baseball operations Minaya still claimed to have yesterday, and also are beginning to wonder if they have the right man leading those baseball operations.
It is a good question.
Minaya had a dream season last year where nearly every move – big and small – worked en route to an NL East title. But was that an oasis in an otherwise checkered career of decision-making?
You will find executives around the game who say Minaya claims more credit than he deserves for finding Latin talent early in his career, notably Sammy Sosa. Plenty of officials who were around the Mets when Minaya was a top executive under then GM Steve Phillips swear Minaya, among other failed items, strongly endorsed Jeromy Burnitz and Mo Vaughn, and gave a tepid report on a young international free agent named Alfonso Soriano.
In Montreal, Minaya hid behind the threats that the franchise was going to be disbanded to make damn-the-future moves that included trading Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips and Cliff Lee for Bartolo Colon.
And now, Minaya is responsible for assembling a team that had players admit they did not play hard enough, and picking a manager that could not motivate that group out of those doldrums or prevent too much clubhouse lawyering. Minaya left his roster short with poor winter moves and never fixed the problems in season.
Throughout the offseason and into spring, Minaya dismissed concerns about too much age and too little pitching depth. He praised the youth/experience blend of his team and insisted the club had more than enough arms to withstand injury/poor seasons. But physical breakdowns by veterans and inadequate pitching depth undermined this club more than anything Randolph did or didn’t do.
There were minor positives such as the cheap signings of Damion Easley and Jorge Sosa. But they were outweighed by the inexplicable.
For example, with both Paul Lo Duca and Ramon Castro facing walk years, Minaya’s front office lost, via the Rule 5 Draft, young catcher Jesus Flores, who had a fine first season for Washington. Minaya shielded a lot of Steve Schmolls and Alay Solers, but most criminally protected 48-year-old Julio Franco over a 22-year-old catcher with promise.
San Diego’s Heath Bell and Florida’s Matt Lindstrom blossomed into top set-up men and Kansas City’s Brian Bannister into a Rookie of the Year candidate. The Mets’ haul for that trio – Jon Adkins, Ben Johnson, Jason Vargas, Adam Bostick and Ambiorix Burgos – was a modern version of Joe Foy and Jim Fregosi.
What message did Minaya send by re-signing steroid offender Guillermo Mota or firing a hard-working hitting coach (Rick Down) in midseason and hiring a renowned loafer in Rickey Henderson, whose time as a Met player was underscored by indifference?
The magic of last year (Endy Chavez, Darren Oliver, etc) faded into the tragic of this year (Brian Lawrence, Aaron Sele, etc). Last year all the moves made Minaya a wonder boy.
This year’s decision and collapse make us just wonder about a GM who claims talent evaluation as his best skill.