Sports are all about adjustments. In football, the quarterback must adjust the play based on what the opposing team is doing. It is the same in other sports as well. In-game adjustments at halftime and between periods are a necessity for success. Baseball is no different.
However, instead of adjusting at a half, players must make adjustments with every pitch. Management must also make adjustments—that is what the trade deadline is all about. If a team has a need, it is up to the general manager to make the proper adjustment to put his team in a better position for the second half.
The best GMs in the league are known for this. Brian Cashman of the New York Yankees, Theo Epstein of the Boston Red Sox , and Ruben Amaro of the Philadelphia Phillies all come to mind as recent examples. What do they all have in common?
They have all built World Series teams in recent years. They have all done it by using all of their resources, including midseason trades. They are all also GMs for bigger market teams. The city’s particular size and market makes a difference. It impacts the team by either hindering them or enabling them based on how much they can spend.
The New York Mets GM Omar Minaya is in a big market. However, he often makes small market transactions. He will acquire players who are past their prime such as Gary Matthews Jr, Frank Catalanotto, and Mike Jacobs (combined one home run, three RBI in 42 at bats).
He also will claim players who were waived by bad teams for terrible output. Brian Bruney is a classic example of a Minaya waivers candidate. Bruney posted an 0-2 record with a 9.64 ERA for a Washington Nationals team that is in the basement of their division at 39-50 as I am writing this article. Minaya has made cheap moves in the hopes that they pay dividends.
So far, they have not. Too often, he has not been the type of GM to make the big market midseason move. This may be attributed to his time with the Montreal Expos, before they were relocated to Washington DC. They were a prime example of a small market mentality.
They produced many great players but failed to keep them, players such as Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, and Moises Alou . They let those type of players swim in the free-agency pool due to a small market, low budget mentality.
To be fair, Minaya does sign the big contract free agent in the offseason. He has no problem spending the Mets ‘ money in that regard. He has even done a remarkable job rebuilding the depleted farm system. With this said, he has never been the type of GM to make the midseason trade consistently. He would rather wait until after the deadline for a bargain.
Bargains almost always fail. Every small market GM searches for lightning in a bottle. A very small amount of them find it, and when they do it is fleeting. The best GMs in the league use the trade option as a weapon. It is a way of re-arming themselves for a second half playoff run. This aggressive mentality turns the teams they represent into winners.
If Minaya does not share in this aggressive mentality with this current team, they will not win. What’s more, this team is ready to win now and may be just one pitcher away from being complete, assuming Jose Reyes will get and stay healthy. If they fail to reach the playoffs due to another season of inactivity from Minaya , he deserves to go.
In fact, if he does not make a move by the July 31 deadline, he should be relieved of his duties on August 1. This team has had several seasons of inactivity under his watch. Those seasons all led to late-season collapses. The last time he made a significant trade deadline move, was in 2006.
That season, they came within an out of the World Series. Is that a coincidence? I am not so sure. It is most likely that this is further evidence for an aggressive mentality in this market. The small market mentality is not a good fit in New York. The fans and media alike expect big things in a big city.
That expectation can make or break a career. Even the career of someone in management. Management is just as responsible for results as the players and coaches are. They build the team and spend the payroll on the roster. If this current payroll does not produce a playoff, it reflects on the one who assembled the roster.
That would be Omar Minaya . If he assembled it and failed to respond to its needs, he is not capable of making this team a winner. A good GM must recognize weaknesses and correct them. If he cannot be honest toward this current roster and make the proper adjustments, he is no better than a small market GM for a team out of playoff contention.
As it stands, he is the GM of a team in the largest city in the country. He needs to make the big market type of moves to help his team remain consistently contenting. If he makes a move and the player does not work out, that is a different story. Then, at least he tried to improve the team.
However, this transaction silence and inactivity in recent July trade deadlines is divisional suicide. If the Mets fail to benefit from this trade deadline and strengthen their team for the next few months and beyond, than they are a small market team.
If that is the case, then they need a new strategy because a small market team mindset does not win in New York. It rarely wins in major league baseball or sports in general for that matter. That mentality never wins in the NL East.
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