Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 26, 2006
Defending Minaya

Omar Minaya had to defend himself against charges that he's intentionally stocking the Mets with Hispanic players. I find that as silly as the charges that Ricciardi's desire for players with high OBAs was a way to make the Blue Jays a whiter team.

Joining in the defense of Omar are Bob Raissman of the Daily News and Bob Sikes of Getting Paid to Watch. Sikes has this insight:

And to be sure, Minaya's style marks a departure from past regimes. The Mets are no longer an organization that fears the four dailies and WFAN. They embrace it. Where once Al Harazin snuck off to write a press release concerening Doc Gooden's shoulder instead of letting Horwitz do it, Minaya is on one the most listened to sports talk show to put a story to rest.

Minaya uses his background to help recruit talented Hispanic ballplayers. It doesn't always work, as the free-agent negotiations with Carlos Delgado showed. But when the best free agents are often Spanish speaking, there's nothing wrong with having a GM that gives you an edge with those players. Omar's brought a lot of talent to New York; if he wins with it, no one will care about the makeup of the team.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:00 AM | TrackBack (0)
Comments

But didnt' Delgado object to being recruited as a Hispanic?

Posted by: David Gerstman at January 26, 2006 09:11 AM

Why should anyone care about the racial/ethnic make up of a team. Unless you can show that a GM is intentionally bypassing higher quality players of one group in favor of inferior players of another - and there aren't payroll constraints - then quit obsessing on race. Ty Cobb is dead and buried.

Posted by: rbj at January 26, 2006 09:15 AM

I think Minaya's track record speaks for itself. He did great work with the limited resources he had in Montreal, and he's done very well thus far with the Mets. Last I checked, his number one offseason priority this year was a lefty fireballin' white fella. If anything, it may be that his scouting contacts are better attuned to the Latin community and/or the Mets as an organization are working to maximize their appeal to the massive Latin fan base available in New York. In any case, the Mets are looking a lot more like a contender than anything else, and Minaya deserves a great deal of the credit. Viva Los Metropolitanos!

Posted by: Dave S. at January 26, 2006 11:24 AM

I only wish Omar refused to even respond to such a ridiculous theory. There isn't a greater non-issue than racial make-up of a team. Just win.

Posted by: miles at January 26, 2006 11:46 AM

The thing I don't understand is, why would anybody refer to Dwight Gooden as "Doc" in 2006? His career's over, he's not going to the Hall of Fame, he's not setting any K records, he's not "Dr. K" anymore and only was for about four years. We stopped calling Tim Raines "Rock," why do we have to apply a half-baked nickname to Gooden that reeks of PR/ego circa 1987? Does he *seem* like a "Doc" when you talk to him? Or like a Dwight? Call the man Dwight.

Posted by: Martin at January 26, 2006 12:53 PM

Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio was just commenting on this story. Now half the time, the guy's opinions are just nonsense, but in this case he made a few good points:

  • The Mets are fighting for market share in NYC against the Yankees
  • The Mets can't compete budget-wise with the Yanks
  • The Hispanic community in the New York area is significant and growing
  • It makes business sense to go after an underserved segment of the population
He likened the NY situation to the LA area, where Arte Moreno has done a similar thing with the Angels (13 Hispanic players on the roster). Here in San Diego, the Padres have targeted local area players (like Brian Giles, David Wells, Dave Roberts, Adrian Gonzalez) as a way to draw in more fans (with the side benefit of possibly getting a hometown discount come contract renewal time). Should Kevin Towers be accused of being discriminatory against non-SoCal players?

Posted by: BosoxBob at January 26, 2006 12:56 PM

I dunno, I don't have a problem with having a huge number of Latino players on the team, and I'm not gonna complain if it works, but it seems rather silly to deny that Minaya has been pursuing a deliberate strategy of stockpiling Latino players. The pattern here, especially combined with his explicit racial appeals to free agents, is a bit too striking to ignore.

The Red Sox got plenty of grief in the 80s/90s over not having enough black players. Unfortunately, people notice these things. As long as it doesn't hinder having the best team, whatever.

Posted by: Crank at January 26, 2006 07:37 PM

How come no one mentions the fact that Bob Sikes is the guy the Yankees gave away Willie McGee for?

Posted by: Yankee Despiser at January 26, 2006 07:42 PM

This team was traded and signed from 1st to third place.Seo will win 15. Jacobs rookie ofr the year. Petit a starter for the marlins. Psomas, one for the future. Roberto Hernandez, resigned for 06. Franco, Redman, Chavez and Boone awaste of time. First base, second base, and right field will lead the league in errors. They should have signed Guerrero last year or Preston Wilson for 06. The ethnic make-up is of no importance, the wrong signings and trades are. The season is over.

Posted by: Ed Wagner at January 31, 2006 12:51 AM
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