Question #63: Should Omar be back?
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- September
- 24
So it was leaked last night that the Mets are about to give Omar Minaya a four-year contract extension … which means it’s already done, but the announcement will come after the season.
Do you think he should be coming back?
On the con side there is last year’s collapse, and this year’s high-wire act down the stretch; there is the Luis Castillo signing, the Willie Randolph firing and the mess of a bullpen.
On the pro side, obviously, are all the players Minaya acquired—Pedro Martinez, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Johan Santana, in particular. Those guys put the Mets back on the map. Amazin’ly to me, some people still don’t like Beltran. Man, I can name about 25 clubs, including the one across town, who would love to have a switch-hitting, power-hitting, run-producing, base-stealing, strong-defensive center fielder like Beltran.
The Santana deal will be a bonanza for the life of his contract—and theYankees sure wish they had pulled that trigger, don’t they? Imagine Santana’s record with Mariano Rivera closing for him?
I don’t think you judge Minaya by what happens over the next five games, but rather by what he’s done since he was hired as GM, and I think that is mostly, largely, positive. But he has to fix the bullpen, first and foremost, this winter.
