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July 31, 2008 Shea What? Joe Janish

Paging Omar Minaya

omar_minaya_2.jpgMr. Minaya, Mr. Minaya …

Paging Mr. Minaya …

Mr. Minaya, please pick up a house phone … Mr. Minaya, Mr. Minaya …

Oh crap … it appears that Omar slept through the snooze alarm. Or maybe his cell phone battery went dead. Or perhaps it was something really simple, like he forgot it was the trade deadline. My wife’s birthday happens to be July 31, and as a result my attention was, shall we say, divided as a result. There’s a really good chance that there’s a member of Omar’s family (wife, mom, kid?) whose birthday is July 31 as well, and all the excitement in ordering flowers, getting a gift, picking up the cake, etc., simply dominated Omar’s day, and he just didn’t have the time or the concentration to make a deal.

Unfortunately, this means the Mets got no one to improve their club. No corner outfielder. No reliever. No starting pitcher. No future Hall of Famer. We’re told not to worry, though, because there will be “plenty” of players available after the deadline.

Uh huh.

Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers. Follow Joe's baseball tips on Twitter at @onbaseball and at the On Baseball Google Plus page.
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  1. isuzudude August 1, 2008 at 6:02 am
    Joe, you’re not implying that Omar didn’t try to improve the team, are you? Come on man, you know it’s not as easy as just picking up the phone and placing a trade like your placing an order from QVC or something. With the exception of what the White Sox gave up for Griffey (and I didn’t want him anyway), every “available” player was being put on the block for a king’s ransom. And I’d much rather be sitting here today lamenting over Omar’s inactivity rather than slamming him for giving up Niese and Murphy for Ibanez. In 2006 the Mets grabbed both Shawn Green and Guillermo Mota in post-deadline trades. If it’s been done before, it can be done again.

    Anyway, look at the big picture. All the Marlins did was get Arthur Rhodes. The Phillies did nothing. And looking into the future, we’ll (hopefully) have Church, Pedro, Castillo, Nixon, and possibly El Duque coming back. The Fish and Phils have nobody significant. Those additions could very well mimic 2nd half trades. And you know what? Just 2 months ago we were all ready to write off the season and trade the spare parts and expiring contracts. Now we want the total opposite. Nah, man, that ain’t right. Be thankful for the nice run we’ve been on, but realize there’s a 2009, and a 2010, and so on, to worry about beyond this year. And I believe Omar is right not to be mortgaging the future (again) for the off-chance that the Mets can win the 3-horse NL East race this year.

  2. joe August 1, 2008 at 7:12 am
    ‘dude, apparently you didn’t spend the entire day on an emotional rollercoaster with your heart racing while reloading mlbtraderumors every two minutes!

    🙂

    I’m glad Omar didn’t trade anyone of significance for Raul Ibanez — that possibility scared the heck out of me. But there are visible holes on this team that need to be addressed. Yes, of course he was working hard on the phone all day, I’m certain. But as some consultant once told me, he needed to “work smarter, not harder”.

    In addition, I wanted Griffey, so that slanted my outlook from the get-go.

  3. isuzudude August 1, 2008 at 7:56 am
    Would you have given up Heilman and Murphy for Griffey? …because that’s what I’m equating the White Sox’ package of Masset/Richar to.
  4. joe August 1, 2008 at 8:37 am
    ‘dude, I think your equation is WAY off … not even close. I’ll be analyzing the deal this afternoon. But I’ll give you this now: Masset is not Heilman, and Richar compares to Ruben Gotay. The ChiSox gave up garbage for Junior, and don’t have to pay his salary. This is what has bothered me about “trade day” — NO big prospects changed uniforms, yet Hall of Famers were. Very strange.