Minaya Making Costly Mistakesby Daniel PaullingJanuary 20, 2005 I would like to enter this portion of cyberspace by saying that I have absolutely nothing against general manager Omar Minaya. During his tenure with the Expos, Minaya almost successfully put together a winning team in Montreal, which is saying quite a bit. But now Minaya has made three costly errors (none of which include the Leiter Mistake). Minaya’s first mistake was a failed attempt to clean up an earlier mess. The Mets, at the trading deadline, traded away Justin Huber among other parts for Kris Benson. Benson is a fine pitcher and most every team in the major leagues would love to have him on their staff. But Minaya and the Mets re-signed Benson to a three year, 22.5 million dollar contract. They gave that amount of money to a sub .500 pitcher whose career ERA is 4.28. With the Mets last year, Benson started 11 games and went 4-4 with a 4.50 ERA. Now he will face an even longer season under the New York media’s scrutiny as the poster boy of another failed Mets season, should everything go downhill next year. But the Benson signing was just the beginning, as this horrible contract skewed the market for decent pitchers horribly. This was just the first mistake. The second mistake was bringing in the Mets “savior.” This would be in the form of Pedro Martinez, who signed a four year, $53 million contract. The AAV of over 13 million is quite a bundle to spend on a 33-year old pitcher, no matter how good he is. In his tenure with the Sawx, Martinez was a detriment in the clubhouse, but the team’s brass put up with it because he pitched well. In his last season with the Sawx, Martinez managed thirty-three starts and pitched 217 innings. The thirty-three starts were his highest since 1998 and the 217 innings were his highest since 2000. His 3.90 ERA is the highest of his career and his 1.17 WHIP is his highest as a starter. I know he has a good chance to turn it around next year, but Martinez’s stuff isn’t just the same as it has been, and neither is his shoulder. I think he managed to gut through the 2004 season just for the money. Now he must throw to a catcher with whom he’s not very popular with in front of a media that hates him. This constituted the second mistake. But nothing was as bad as the third, and final so far, mistake. The Mets threw a seven year, $119 million contract to Carlos Beltran. This comes out to $17 million annually. Last season, playing in the undisputable hitters’ parks of Kaufmann Stadium and Minute Maid Park (where he received the protection of Berkman, Bagwell, and Kent behind him), Beltran managed to hit .267. This mark was worse than Mark Kotsay, Shea Hillenbrand, Lyle Overbay, and Placido Polanco. Of course, the name of the game is getting on-base, as the book “Moneyball” says. Beltran’s .367 OBP ties him respectably with Jose Vidro, but puts him behind Erubiel Durazo, Lyle Overbay, and Kevin Millar. Well, surely he hit a lot of home runs, after that display in the postseason. He was only two ahead of Steve Finley (who was a free agent) and behind Moises Alou (another free agent). In fact Beltran has only hit more than thirty home runs once in his career, despite playing in a homer friendly stadium like Kaufmann Stadium his entire career. Someone might argue that he must have been on the All Star team many, many times. Actually, he’s only been on one All Star team. Just think about it: he played on bad Royals teams that had to send at least one candidate to the Midsummer Classic. In five seasons there, he was picked zero times. So the Mets paid $17 million per year for seven years for a guy whose career batting average is .284, career on-base percentage is .353, career slugging percentage is .490, and career OPS is .843. Remember folks: this was entirely amassed in hitters’ parks. Shea Stadium is clearly a pitcher’s stadium; Beltran’s numbers will decline. And no, I didn’t forget about Beltran’s ability to steal bases. It would be rather foolish for the Mets to send their $119 million man to steal a base, least he slide headfirst and separate a shoulder. It would be pretty stupid just to blast Omar Minaya and not suggest a better idea. It would be rather foolish of me to do so, I believe. So here’s my 2004-05 offseason for the New York Mets with the $37.5 million AAV ($7.5 from Benson, $13 from Pedro, and $17 from Beltran) Minaya was given. Help the Bullpen – Costing the Mets $12 million a year for two years, Troy Percival would setup closer Braden Looper. Next the Mets would bring in lefty Steve Kline for two years for $5.5 million. The AAV of $2.75 million wouldn’t be horrible, as it would give the Mets a great lefty in the ‘pen to replace Stanton. Rebuild the rotation – The Mets starting rotation consists of Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Kris Benson, Victor Zambrano, and Steve Trachsel right now. To rebuild the starting five, I would have signed lefty Odalis Perez to a three year, $24 million paycheck and give Jon Lieber a three year, $21 million deal. Fix the offense – Next I would have signed “the other center fielder” Steve Finley to a two year, $14 million deal. To take right field, I would have brought in Moises Alou for a two year, $6.75 million per season. The starting
rotation would be Odalis Perez, Jon Lieber, Tom Glavine, Victor
Zambrano, and Steve Trachsel. The bullpen would have two lights
out setup men matched up with Looper at the end. Finally, for offense,
I would have Piazza catching, first base would be manned by whomever
the Mets sign (probably Delgado), second would be Kazuo, short Reyes,
third base of Wright, left field would be Floyd, center field Steve
Finley, and right field Moises Alou. The bullpen, starting rotation,
and offense all would be better and for the same price. Wins are
what puts fans really want, not the latest big name free agent. |
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