Pretty much every Mets fan will agree that Omar Minaya failed as the Mets’ GM in trying to make the squad into a perennial winning team. Some of the problems weren’t his fault; regardless, he failed as General Manager. Minaya had many plans internally with prospects which were supposed to work out but most of them didn’t. Now let’s take a look at what the 2014 lineup might look like if all of Minaya’s plans worked (*Quick Disclaimer* The Mets were never affected by the Bernie Madoff scam).
Leadoff & Shortstop: Jose Reyes
If the Mets had been continually successful through 2011, Reyes probably would have been a favorite to receive a contract extension or perhaps a big contract. Even with the injuries the Mets would have found a reason to keep him- even if he still won the batting title in 2011. He would still be swiping 30 bags and hitting .290 while being half of the legendary left side of the infield.
Two-Hole & Left Fielder: Lastings Milledge
When Milledge was drafted in 2003, there was an enormous amount of hype around him until he displayed an equal amount of attitude. However, this is what Minaya wanted. Even though he didn’t draft Milledge, he would have been a fixture in the Mets’ lineup and would have been producing at a ridiculous level. He also probably would have been under a crazy contract. After all, that is Minaya’s trademark.
3rd Hitter & 3rd Baseman: David Wright
Not much surprise here as he would still be the face of the franchise hitting tons of doubles with great leadership to keep the team balanced. He also would be under another enormous contract especially with the next guy hitting behind him.
Cleanup & 1st Baseman: Ike Davis
If Davis actually came back healthy from his 2011 freak-injury, only the baseball gods would know what he could have done. This man might have been a one-man wrecking crew and ended up with Joey Votto-type numbers. It certainly wouldn’t have surprised me to see him become a 40-55 homer threat. The Mets have almost given up on him- and rightfully so- but then he shows flashes like this. Wow, the thought of that type of bomb every night…
5th Hole & Right Fielder: Fernando Martinez
Every Met fan cringes at the thought of Martinez as he is projected to be a Golden Glove candidate 30+ homer power. He completely busted and never did much as a major leaguer. He could have provided 1/3 of the deadliest 3-4-5 punch in the game and in Minaya’s wonderland he would have. The crazy part about him is that 2014 would be his age 25 season.
6th Hole and 2nd Baseman: Wilmer Flores
Wilmer Flores is the only player on this list that still has a pretty strong future with the Mets besides Wright. There could be much speculation on to whether or not Flores would have actually played 2nd, but he would have had to move over for his terrible defense and the appearance of Reyes. He could have, and can still, be a 20 homer threat with 100 RBI every season.
Batting 7th and Center Fielder: Carlos Gomez
The weird thing about Gomez is that he is the only player that was once a top prospect on the Mets to have success elsewhere in America. Gomez has turned into a 25 homer threat, but that wouldn’t have happened if he were playing in Citi Field. He would have still hustled and played great defense with some pop providing another piece of depth in this lineup.
Batting 8th and Catching: Josh Thole
I know, I know – he isn’t very good. While this may be the case, he would be the only logical option internally. Obviously, the Mets could have gone international, traded, drafted one or signed a better catcher. People may call him a bust, but he did play great saber-metric defense and could have hit .290 with a ton of doubles. But, there are better options.
Minaya wasn’t the best GM the Mets ever had and made some crazy decisions, but most of them were because of the busts we had internally. Obviously, there are still players that could have contended for some spots, such as; Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada, Juan Lagares, Jefry Marte, or Kirk Nieuwenhuis, but these were the best options. As one can see by this lineup, it would bring in many runs and possibly a championship.
One interesting player that you left out…one of the pitchers that would be on the Mets team would be Marlins Ace Jose Fernandez. In the 2011 draft, the Mets had the 13th pick and chose Brandon Nimmo instead of Fernandez (who was picked next by the Marlins. While I am not defending Minaya in any way, do you think given the choice of Nimmo or Fernandez, that he would have picked Fernandez over Nimmo….no way he goes with Nimmo!!!
If the Mets had picked Fernandez, he would not have made his MLB debut yet. In fact, if any team other than the Marlins had picked him, he would have spent 2013 at AAA at best and still nothing more than a top prospect. Can’t assume a player’s career path would have been the same if the Mets had picked that player.
Also, in the short term Fernandez seems like the better pick, but if you relook at this 10 years later, it could very well be Nimmo that looks like the better pick.
The plan then was placing inherited players at four of the eight everyday positions and Thole at another one.
Say what you want about Omar Minaya, but he did put a potentially great team on the roster for his managers to work with. If you just look at the pitching rotation alone, he gave the Mets names like Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Mike Pelfrey, etc. But the lineup should definitely be toyed with to make a better team for the 2014 season. Personally, I think it would go better like this:
1. Reyes
2. Flores
3. Wright
4. Davis
5. Gomes
6. Thole
7. Martinez
8. Milledge
Also, Minaya brought over a lot of Hispanic talent and, if he were to have better managers under him, they could have led the Mets to a whole more championships then they won.
I am sorry, but with Fernando Martinez’s potential there is no way that Thole would hit in front of him. I do agree that Minaya did a great job, but unfortunately everything pretty much soiled in the farm system.
Compared to what the Mets had when Minaya took over and you can see that he did what a GM is supposed to do. Field a team that can win and add depth to the roster. Julian you chastise Minaya for not making the Mets perennial winners but since when have the Mets been the Atlanta Braves? When Minaya took over as GM no free agent even considered playing for this team. He changed the atmosphere and attitude. Last time I checked the Mets drew 4 million fans during his tenure. Can’t blame him for Randolph’s idiotic mismanagement of the 9th inning against St. Louis. So if he failed as a GM then Alderson has failed as a GM too. It just depends on your point of view. Your comments about Carlos Gomez being the only top prospect having success elsewhere is ill-conceived and not very well thought out. From Amos Otis to Nolan Ryan. I could go on and on. Every team has hits and misses. That’s why they’re called prospects. By the way. Who drafted Harvey?
First off, I am not in any way chastising Omar Minaya. I am simply listing the players that he thought were going to be successful. I also meant Carlos Gomez was the only person on this lineup to have success elsewhere in America (Milledge has hit pretty well in Japan) – I should have made that more clear. Finally, just to be clear with Harvey- Minaya would have never drafted him if the Mets were successful in 2009, while that is not technically his fault he still had special circumstances to draft him.
Well, it’s a double-edged sword. If you’re saying that if the Mets stayed healthy in 09-10 that they wouldn’t have been able to draft Harvey-Nimmo — that’s fair enough. But the flip side of that is if those teams had been healthy, the Mets’ record would have been so much better and Minaya would still be GM.
Before Delgado went down in early May in 2009, the Mets were in first place.
Also, I’m with Pete that when you compare what Minaya inherited versus what he left behind, the Mets were in a lot better shape. No one is arguing that Minaya was an ideal GM but he’s made out to be some kind of punching bag and that’s not fair at all.
No free agents would come to the Mets?
1999 – Ventura
2000 – Zeile
2001 – Appier
2002 – Floyd, Weathers
2003 – Glavine, Cedeno
2004 – Matsui
Heath bell, Matt Lindstrom, Joe Smith, Jason Vargas and Darren O’Day found success elsewhere in addition to Carlos Gomez.
Very impressive list of free agents Jason Bay! I get your point. I was never a fan of Glavine. But I’ll grant you he was still a star at the time of his signing. Ventura? Okay. Weathers? Appier? Matsui? Cedeno? Impact free agent signings? Mostly second tier and on the wrong side of their careers. I should of made my point clearer. Should of quantified it as impact free agent game changers which Martinez definitely was.
When I think of Minaya, fair or not, the first name that comes to mind is Oliver Perez.
When I think of Minaya the first thing that comes to my mind is Pedro Martinez. Patrick we can pick and choose any GM’s signings. If it wasn’t for that signing we would not be having any discussions. It marked a turning point for the franchise.
Patrick what about the 4 million fans who went to Shea and watch the Omar Minaya Mets? The Mets had 2 home grown super stars in Reyes and Wright and 2 solid acquisitions in Delgado and Beltran.
” ‘Balls Balls” cried the Queen “if I had two I’d be King”.
Millings and Martinez were absolute unmitagated busts. Davis is halfway down the road to be a bust and Thole is a back up catcher. Minaya was the one who traded Gomez (although who wouldn’t have traded him in the Santana deal). Reyes is flamboyant but he is better in everyone’s memory than he actually was/is. (zero baseball IQ, awful baserunner, long lapses of concentration and erratic arm) Let’s face it he hasn’t exactly lit it up in either Miami or Toronto.
We will see about Flores over the next couple of years.
So Minaya has left us with David Wright and nothing else.
Oh let’s not forget all of the really old guys that he saddled the team with such as Moises Alou, Shawn Green, Livan Hernandez, that were always hurt and blocked some of the young players in the system.
Is he kidding? The reason why we let the 2011 NL Batting champion walk was because Minaya himself signed a certain bum for $66 mil. who didn’t even wanna play for us. As for Martinez, I was never impressed with his minor league credentials. He never hit many HRs, he didn’t steal very many base, and he didn’t hit for a high average. His defense wasn’t all that great either.
His 30+ homer power and gold glove defense was his potential. Not necessarily what he actually did anywhere.
The reason why we let the batting champ go was that the Madoff funding was gone and along with it more than 400 million Wilpon dollars. No money. No future. No more free agents.
How can you include Gomez as part of “Minaya’s plan”? Minaya was the one who traded Gomez away before he ever had a chance to develop so clearly Omar didn’t consider him part of any plan.