Tell Minaya To Come Back From Vacation

I think it's time for Mets General Manager Omar Minaya to come back from vacation. Oh wait, he's not on vacation? Then what the hell has he been doing the past few weeks. Since he signed Gary Sheffield on April 3rd, Minaya has done very little to improve his team. He signed Nelson Figueroa, Mike Lamb, Wily Mo Pena, Javier Valentin, Tom Martin, claimed Pat Misch and Arturo Lopez off waivers, traded Ramon Castro for Lance Broadway, designated for assignment (DFA) Darren O'Day and got Wilson Valdez from Cleveland and Emil Brown from San Diego for cash and a player to be named later, respectively. Meanwhile, since April 3rd, he's put the following players on the DL: Brian Schneider, Oliver Perez, Carlos Delgado, Alex Cora, Ryan Church, Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan, Ramon Martinez, J.J. Putz, John Maine, and Carlos Beltran.

Here's how the acquisitions panned out: Figueroa (1 start and then DFA'ed), Lamb (.597 OPS in AAA), Pena (released), Valentin (released), Martin (?), Misch (8.2 IP), Lopez (13.50 ERA in AAA), Broadway (7.24 ERA for AAA), Valdez (.603 OPS and then DFA'ed), and Brown (5 ABs and then DFA'ed). That's pretty damn awful. Meanwhile, Darren O'Day has gone to Texas and is 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 0.974 WHIP in 29 games out of the Texas bullpen (playing half his games in a hitters park). So the best player involved in a Mets transaction this season (other than a DL or AAA call-up) was the guy they DFA'ed. Not good. No wonder Joel Sherman declared in the New York Post that there's "nothing good going on for Mets" (well, that and their furry run-in).

Meanwhile, Minaya has watched other players go for cheap. The worst error on his part was watching a $800,000 salary for Eric Hinske go across town to the Yankees (for only $400,000, as IIATMS notes, because the Pirates paid half: "Let's repeat that: the Pirates PAID THE YANKEES half of Hinske's remaining salary to take him off their hands."). As Joel Sherman notes, it's not just the failure of the big players that have hurt the Mets the past two Septembers "But just as vital has been their lack of depth. The main players get overplayed during the first five months and there just is not a quality next line of talent available. For $800,000, the Mets could have brought in a player used to playing in big games (Hinske was part of the last two AL pennant winners) who could have made it a little easier to give days off around the diamond at first, third, left and right."

Then Minaya watched as Scott Hairston went to the A's. But as Ken Rosenthal asks: where were the Mets? Hairston has hit 10 home runs (as many as Mets' leader, Gary Sheffield) this season while playing his home games in Petco Park. He's making $1.25 million this year and would have been a perfect, affordable stopgap until the big bats return. Tony Gwynn Jr., Hairston's now-former teammate, would have also been a good pick-up for the Metropolitans.

I think that Mark DeRosa would also have been a perfect fit for the Mets. I know they don't want to mortgage the future to fill a hole, but they are in desperate need of help and their GM has done nothing to help since the start of the season. I know they don't want to fill some voids, but they need to do SOMETHING. Adam Dunn, Nick Johnson, Matt Holliday, Alex Rios, Aubrey Huff, Mark Teahan, Doug Davis, Jarrod Washburn, Brian Bannister (who the Mets once had) would all be good acquisitions. Hell, even taking a flyer on guys like Tony Clark, Ian Snell or Nomar Garciappara who can be acquired for cheap and would be an improvement.

I wouldn't mortgage the future for a guy like Cliff Lee or Victor Martinez. But I would do what it takes to get Roy Halladay. True the Mets have hitting woes, but a rotation anchored by Johan Santana and Halladay would be pretty unstoppable. The Blue Jays are supposedly looking for a shortstop in the deal. Would the Jays take Jose Reyes (if he can come back soon and show he's healthy), Fernando Martinez, Bobby Parnell and two prospects for Halladay and Rios? If I were the Mets, I'd do that deal. The Mets gave up a lot of players to land Johan Sanata and J.J. Putz and seem reluctant to do trades like that again (mostly because of lack of prospects), but it would be a lot better to go after Halladay than watch him go to the rival Phillies. Or, if you're not going to go for Halladay, use some lower level prospects to go after some hitting. Something.

In the end, I wonder if the Mets would have been BETTER off had they signed Manny Ramirez. They wouldn't have had him for 50 games, but they also wouldn't be paying him for those 50 games and right now, when they need a big bopper in their lineup, he would be coming back. I know that idea is a little hard to grasp considering he was suspended, but MannyBeingManny would have been a huge addition to this Mets lineup.

I just don't feel the Mets really know how they're going to get from point A (playing this sorry-ass brand of baseball) to point B (getting players back from the DL, getting them in game shape, and playing like they're supposed to) without losing a lot of games and ground in the process. Ken Davidoff put the Mets chances of getting Halladay at about a 1 out of 10 (with 10 being a "metaphysical certitude"). I can understand that in some ways: there are a lot of holes to fill and Halladay isn't young or cheap. But they need to stay in contention until the big boys come back. And Ken Davidoff got an insufficient answer from Minaya about how they'd do that: "When I asked [Minaya] how exactly he thought the Mets - as currently constructed - could stay in contention - Minaya didn't offer much of an answer." That's not what you want from your GM.