In 2006 we had the called third strike then in 2007 it was the collapse. The following year was the MVP chants for Carlos Delgado but only another frustrating September. In 2009 it was a great first five weeks and then every player on the team landed on the disabled list. But what do you remember about 2010? Yes, the team had more than an average share of injuries but it didn’t define the year like it did the previous season. The end of the campaign saw the dismissal of manager Jerry Manuel and GM Omar Minaya, which is how most people remember it.
Yet, at some point in the future, people will look at 2010 as the year when the next Mets dynasty started to take root. And while Sandy Alderson will receive the credit for the next winning era, Omar Minaya laid the foundation with a lot of his 2010 moves playing a pivotal role.
Minaya wasted little time making an impact in 2010 but few realized how critical January 5 would turn out to be. After failing to come to terms with him previously, Minaya finally got knuckleballer R.A. Dickey to join the Mets. Dickey ended up being one of the few bright spots for the 2010-2012 Mets, even winning a Cy Young Award, but his real value, at least to the future dynasty, was when he was dealt for three prospects who all contributed one way or another to the team’s future reign.
There were solid acquisitions over the next few months – Manny Acosta, Hisanori Takahashi, Justin Turner and Raul Valdes were all acquired on the cheap – but nothing that added to the future champions. But it’s not like Minaya and his staff sat on their hands at this point. They were busy scouting for the upcoming draft, one that would play a major role in the years to come.
All of the injuries gave the team a top 10 pick for the first time since 2005. And while the club cashed in that time around with the selection of Mike Pelfrey, the Mets struck real gold when they selected Matt Harvey with the seventh pick of the draft. The Mets forfeited their second-round pick to the Red Sox for the signing of Jason Bay (which occurred in the cursed year of 2009 – if only they waited a few days it might all have been different) and their next two picks seemed solid at the time but neither Blake Forsythe nor Cory Vaughn ever amounted to much.
But in the middle rounds, Minaya made non-heralded selections that truly turned the tide.
One year the Mets decided to draft a leadoff hitter and selected Jason Tyner with their first-round pick. Tyner never developed into a star but he had an eight-year career in the majors, which plenty of first-rounders would love to say they did. Regardless, Minaya drafted the leadoff hitter for the dynasty when he grabbed Matt den Dekker in the fifth round of the draft. Known initially for his glove, den Dekker sparked the Mets by giving them a consistent .370 OBP hitter to place atop the lineup and helped ignite many a rally for the league’s top offense.
Greg Peavey and Jeff Walters flashed glimpses of being contributors for the Mets but the real prize came in the ninth round when the Mets selected Jacob deGrom. While Harvey made the majors faster and came with a larger-than-life personality, deGrom turned out to be every bit as good and he didn’t pose in the buff or ever attend a game in Yankee Stadium – things which endeared him to ownership. Fans loved his long hair and the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Awards didn’t hurt, either.
That trio of stars would have been enough to make any draft class a slam dunk success but Minaya also added two key bullpen pieces. Akeel Morris (10th round) and Josh Edgin (30th round) gave the Mets two fireballers who would close for most teams. Once the edict came down to stop using Edgin as a LOOGY, the Mets had a bullpen that was the envy of every team in the league. On the rare nights when the starters couldn’t pitch deep into the game, Morris and Edgin bridged the gap.
For the final piece of future success, Minaya delivered the international signing of Vicente Lupo. While at the time he was not considered one of the top 30 international signings of 2010, Lupo made up for the failure of previously top-ranked international guys like Alex Escobar, Fernando Martinez and Wilmer Flores. Lupo ended up giving the club their own version of Yasiel Puig, for better and worse.
*****
Right now a majority of the fans consider Minaya nothing more than a punching bag. We would all be better served by remembering that in his final year on the job for the club, he brought into the organization Dickey, Harvey and deGrom. And if any combination of den Dekker, Morris, Edgin and Lupo end up being contributors – that would be an incredible influx of talent for a guy who had to know he was a lame duck.
The only punching bags I see are the Wilpons are their incompetent ownership skills. Like all GM’s Minaya had his moments and his lemons
And don’t forget that since the Wilpon’s were backing Selig they did not allow Minaya to go overslot which put the Mets in a weakened position to compete when teams like the Pirates and Red Sox in particular were going overslot on a regular basis to pick off the best talent and have deeper drafts. Since Minaya’s best talent was supposed to be as a scout it would have been nice to see what he could have done had he not been hamstrung by ownership in regards to the draft.
I agree his skills as a young talent evaluator are quite good.
What really hurt him was the absolutely awful signings of Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez.
And Kris Benson.
And Scott Schoeneweis.
And picking up the Moises Alou option, when they could have just re-signed him for cheaper.
And signing Guillermo Mota after learning about a 50 game suspension.
And way overpaying on K-Rod.
But, he was a great draft GM and international signing GM. He just spent a lot of money in the wrong places.
Really? We’re going to credit Minaya for JdG???
After the first 100 players go off the board, there’s maybe 50 career WAR in the next 700 players drafted. I’m guessing at both of those numbers (I’m not going to look it up).
It’s pure luck, and if it wasn’t, he’d be able to replicate sifting talent from later rounds regularly.
The hay gets made in the early rounds, and his consistent failures (not the least of which was signing Frankie R, which meant we weren’t available to select Mike Trout), are what assured the Mets of a dearth of talent that put us through the last several years.
All Aboard the Minaya Train! Next stop Brad Holt, Nathan Vineyard, and Eddie KUU-unz (in my best LIRR conductor voice).
Massapequa Park, next stop! Have your tickets ready.
For all the ridiculous “blame” attributed to Omar, we may as well hear some similarly blinded loyalty for his good work.
The terrible clan in ownership of the Mets has submerged this franchise into its misery!!!…not a bad contract or 10 bad contracts!!!
Castillo’s deal was 5 million dollars!…Ollie’s was 12, and more painful… still, it’s pure “Stepford” to continue to parrot the Ownership Line.
I point to the Red Sox as a Model to emulate—-using all resources. Load up…fail…clean…Load up…Win the Series…Fail;…clean…Load Up coming….
The idea that the Met’s are operating KC on the Hudson is ludicrous. We have 3 GM’s and No Left Fielder!!!!
The Mets have hammered into their kids to be patiently aggressive and work a count into one’s favor. Even if it means to take a fat fastball right down the middle of the plate on the first pitch. The kids are so ingrained and “locked” into this philosophy that they forget what brought them to the big leagues. Now that this idiotic trend has gotten the Mets more efficient to get on base (?) maybe they can teach the kids how to drive in men in scoring position. What’s the point if you have all these runners on base if you cannott secure a proven bat who can knock them in when it counts. Not when the game is out of reach.
And no proven SS eraff
Pete, Jerry points out a fact that is seemingly ignored by too many—“that guy” at SS does not exist as an available player. The Mets will (hopefully) add either a LF or SS and patch the other position. I believe the gains they make by adding an MLB quality bat in LF far outgain the possible additions available at SS. I’d prefer they do both, if possible.
Castro from the Cubs is the only worthy “trade the farm” guy out there—and I do not believe he’s truly “out there”. The Cubs are not trading a 24 year old allstar SS with a .750 plus ops…. that’s crazy, stupid, …..and it aint gonna happen…. if it could happen, I’m in!!!!!
I’ll take a left fielder via trade and let the Mets patchwork SS. If Flores can become the answer some hope he could be than so be it. If not then you can pursue other avenues. No team is complete. Money isn’t always the answer(Dodgers). But at least we will not have to worry about SA garbage shopping this off season. And that alone will be an improvement
Pete, you’re right that money isn’t always the answer. However, your remark seems to reference the Dodgers. Yes, they spent a lot of money. But, not withstanding their loss in the playoffs to the Cards, they had a successful season. 94 wins and a second straight division title. Much better than a certain small market approach team at Citifield.
First off, Castillo’s deal was not 5 million, it was 25 million over 4 years, or about 6 million per year.
For a guy with a career OPS barely above .700, whose game is almost primarily based on speed? You don’t want to sign speed guys to long term deals at age 32.
You’re also missing contracts like Moises Alou (15 million for 92 games over 2 seasons), Scott Schoenweis (10 million for 2-8 W-L record and a 4.20 ERA over 2 seasons [signed for 3]), or Kris Benson because he had 1 good month in September 2004.
Everyone makes bad signings, but it seemed like Minaya had a problem where he would make a trade for a free agent, and then re-sign them because they happened to perform better in that short period for the Mets than they had been doing before getting traded. That’s not really the best idea.
I’m with you, norme… It really is sour-grapes, and not much else, to disparage other teams success with the critique that “they haven’t won anything”. There’s a lot of that going around, including the same remarks about folks like Tampa Bay and Oakland, who’ve done it on a low budget, the Dodgers, who’ve turned it around with spending, and even for some past excellent runs by teams, like the Braves, who strung together pennant after pennant, but have always lived with the cheap critique that they “only won it all, once”. For this fan- give me good baseball. Give me a consistent contender, and a consistent winner that competes. As for the Mets “future dynasty”- it’s here, but it lacks a skilled management committed, willing, and able to spend to fill in some pieces- Not to spend like riverboat gamblers – Just to spend what it takes to fill in the pieces. The opportunity for a new Mets dynasty is being squandered by a totally dysfunctional organization
I don’t want to disparage any other team’s success.
But I do think it’s a legitimate criticism to say that a team hasn’t won it all. I regret that the Mets’ big run in the 1980s only resulted in one World Series and two playoff spots. But I wouldn’t trade that World Series win for a bunch of additional playoff appearances. I much prefer being a fan of the 1984-1989 Mets than the 2008-2013 Rays. How much goodwill do 3 LDS losses and a 4-1 loss in the World Series develop in the fan base?
Sure, we all want to be the Giants or the Cardinals and make the playoffs a bunch of times and cash a few World Series checks, too. But I’d rather root for the 2012-2014 Red Sox than the 2010-2013 Rays, even though Tampa Bay finished with over 90 wins all four years and Boston finished under .500 two out of three seasons.
At some point dancing isn’t enough — you’ve got to actually kiss the girl.
Brian- I understand your hypothetical choice and preference of rooting for the Sox versus the Rays in 2010 to 2014. But that straw-man sinks to the bottom and never makes it to the shore if launched from Rikers Island. The real choice we have, or at least the real hypothetical choice, is between rooting for these Mets, and either the Sox or Rays, and their ilk- successful winning teams. I’ll begin by accepting your nicely laid out premise that this Mets ownership canned the guy who brought in the talent and building-blocks which are the basis of a potential winning club, and they hired the gang that couldn’t shoot straight to run operations. The Sox and Rays relatively good levels of success are borne out of ownerships and management which have a commitment to win and who have clear strategies and plans to do so within their financial frameworks. Their approaches to developing competitive teams and the strategies they employ, although different, need no daily litany of excuses, BS, or any other posing or framing in order to be clearly understood. They are obvious- self-evident- just by watching them do their business. SO, for me- I’d like a little romance, and I’d like to go to the dance. And I’d love that kiss. But this crew doesn’t even know any girls- and they couldn’t find one if they had an all-day free pass for customer appreciation day at the chicken ranch.
I strongly disagree that what I presented was a strawman.
You said that you didn’t agree with people who cut down teams because they didn’t win it all. I used real-life examples to claim my preference for a team that won it all over a team that consistently did well but never won the World Series.
My answer was directly on topic and was not set up only to knock down.
Brian- apologies. I took your comments in the context of the full discussion around your Mets “future dynasty” dissertation. As for the hypothetical of being a Sox fan versus being a Rays fan from 2010-2013, I’m with you on this. If I have a 3 year period, and I can choose a single WS championship over three divisional banners, I’ll take the WS Championship.
I love reminiscing- history teaches us fascinating things. I take you all the way back to that bygone era of 2014. The Mets- rumored, proclaimed, leaked… whatever… “this is a 90 win team”.. Hmm… and there we were with 3 first basemen, and not a single spare middle infielder to take over if we decided to use one of those first basemen, or someone else, to pinch hit for our weak hitting starting shortstop.
A thought regarding the multi-year playoff team versus that one WC team …
How many people thought the KC GM was off his rocker in trading away his best young player for Shields/Davis? And then, to sign that ridiculous contract for Vargas. A fine reliever swapped out for weak lead off hitter. Why bother to get Willingham … I mean, really, you aren’t anywhere near as good as the best team in your own division?
89 wins got them to game 7. We celebrated 79 wins and second place. But hey! We still have all that young talent.
and of course, not to rub it in but they got there with a payroll roughly in our neighborhood.
It’s not sour grapes.I wasn’t disparaging the Dodgers. Just trying to make the point that money does not always equal a WS ring. Ever since I have been replying to blogs here on Mets 360 I have been hammering away at the lack of spending for a team that plays in the number one market in all of baseball. The new MLB television contract went into effect this year doubling revenue for Every team from 25 to 50 million dollars. And yet the Wilpons continued to Reduce their payroll to 80 million+ (after trading Ike Davis) from 93 million in 2013.
Just a thought. If the Wilpons could of applied at least a portion of that additional television revenue don’t you think they would of? Just goes to show you how dire things are in Flushing. Imagine if the Mets had a 100 million dollar payroll? How that would change their approach in regards to signing players to upgrade their shortcomings.
Yes, Jerry Grote with a similar payroll to the Mets and a similar manager as well? Similar divisions, Similar teams. Similar owners? Priceless.
But Pete … Dayton rolled the dice. He didn’t play for 4 years of being in the race, didn’t work on getting the best minor league system.
He took his single best bargaining chip and went out and resolved his need.
All of baseball called him nuts for two years. Sandy Alderson got us … what? Can you even say we have the best chance to win over the next four years because we have “the best young talent”? No. You can’t. Arguably the best young major league talent plays in other NL East cities.
As Gretzky said, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Hard for me to lay 100% of the blame on Alderson. I just get the feeling that winning was and still is not a priority. For the Wilpons maintaining control of the Mets and their entities is still on top of the list. SA ‘s job was to stop the bleeding (losing 50 million in 1 season as I recall fred commenting) with a 140 million dollar payroll to breaking even? with a 90 million dollar payroll in 2013. Sandy’s job was to cut payroll and buy time for the Wilpons to show the banks that the team was in a better financial situation so the Wilpons could re-finance the 2 debts that were coming due. Winning was secondary. Why else hire a manager like Collins? I don’t think you will see many changes (payroll) for the foreseeable future no matter what Jeff and Sandy say. If anything was going to happen it should of occurred this past off season when the new television contracts kicked in.
The Mets Baseball Player Talent Pool is at a very high level….The Management/Ownership Talent Pool is not up to the task of matching the Player resources to the opportunity available.
The Management has greatly underperformed the opportunity through the past several years, most especially in the recent season.
While they constantly stress the quality of their farm system, they seem endlessly reluctant to either put it on the field or in trade.
Gives new meaning to the phrase good things come to those who can wait.