Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 10, 2008
Minaya's Fault

Adam Rubin in the New York Daily News lays the blame for the Mets poor performance at the feet of Omar Minaya:

The decline and fragility of veteran players has been compounded by one of the worst farm systems in baseball, which has left no safety net. When Alou and Marlon Anderson landed on the disabled list in rapid succession, Mets brass promoted third catcher Raul Casanova. When they finally dipped to the minors for a young player, they called up Double-A first baseman Nick Evans and asked him to play the outfield, a position he'd manned for only 17 games in his professional career. After a three-double debut in Colorado, Evans was in a 1-for-19 rut when he was sent back down. The Mets subsequently promoted 32-year-old former Phillie Abraham Nunez, who had been released from the Brewers' minor-league system, and who had batted just .133 in 13 games at Triple-A New Orleans. Regardless of anyone's opinion about Willie Randolph's job performance, and the manager certainly goes before Minaya, Randolph was handcuffed during San Diego's four-game weekend sweep that included three one-run games because his five-man bench consisted of unusable Ryan Church (post-concussion syndrome), two backup catchers, Nunez and the non-starter among Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis.

Compare that to the Red Sox front office, which simultaneously brought in quality free agents and rebuilt the farm system. It's no easy task, but it can be accomplished.


Posted by David Pinto at 10:54 AM | Management | TrackBack (0)
Comments

You mean the same front office that paid for Julio Lugo, JD Drew, Matt Clement, and Curt Schilling? They did do a good job with the farm, which served to counteract these terrible free agent signings. Sounds like they lucked out and won in spite of their unwise spending, not because of it.

Posted by: Steak at June 10, 2008 02:50 PM

Steak's a fool, ignoring other free agent signings (And for that matter, Matt Clement was pretty good till he got hit by a bean ball, then tore his rotator cuff.)

Take, for example, Sean Casey. Coming off the bench and helped keep the team going while the starters (by playing 1B while Youkilis played 3B when Lowell was out) were hurt or needed rests. (For that matter, JD Drew is extremely hot right now and helping the Sox stay afloat while David Ortiz is hurt.)

Bartolo Colon, while Schilling is out and Buchholz is rehabbing?

What about signing Hideki Okajima as a free agent?

Seems like they had a mix of good fortune and bad fortune, like any team does, but that the Sox -prepared- very well for the injuries and failed signings by adding depth to their bench and bullpen and starting rotation by picking up guys like Colon and Casey in the first place. They made sure they had -other- options in case their big guys couldn't do anything.

Posted by: Digit at June 10, 2008 03:57 PM

Steak - Schilling I believe has won 6 playoff games and 2 WS Championships with Boston. If that's bad where do you get more?

Posted by: Bandit at June 10, 2008 04:23 PM

Schilling's current contract looks awful while he tries to salvage his season and career, but it's a low-cost one year commitment to a franchise icon. There are many, many, many worse FA contracts in baseball. To be honest, if your worst FA pitching contracts have been Curt Shilling's last contract and Matt Clement, you're doing pretty good; neither are/were long term, nor huge money.

Lugo and Drew are both much worse contracts, to be sure.

Posted by: NBarnes at June 10, 2008 04:53 PM

Curt Shilling was NOT a terrible free agent because he helped the Red Sox defeat the surging Yanks in 2004, who were one game away from the World Series by the way, and then swept the Cardinals in the WS. How could anyone forget the bloody Red sock that Schilling used because the man was just operated on his ankle and the stitches must've been tearing up. Talk about showing guts, he proved he was one of the best pickups the Red Sox made in a loooong time! I think Steak better gets some glasses or a clue because he was waaaaay off the mark in regards to Schilling.

Posted by: The Truth at June 10, 2008 04:59 PM

Drew had a down year last year but is the top 10 in the AL in BA, OBA, OPS and R this year and has 3+ years left. He also cracked the GS in the game winner in the ALCS and I believe hit over .300 in the WS. If they win again in the next 4 years it's be pretty hard to call his a bad contract.

Posted by: bandit at June 10, 2008 05:53 PM
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