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Omar Minaya

Mets Rumors: Kuroda, Livan, Estrada, Colon

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UPDATE, 12-4-07 at 5:49pm: Jayson Stark says the Mets haven’t talked to the the A’s or Orioles at all in Nashville, meaning no talks for Haren or Bedard as of yet.

FROM 12-4-07 at 8:05am:

What’s cooking with the Mets?  Let’s round ’em up.

  • Mark Hale reports that the Mets have advanced to "Round 2" of the bidding process for Hiroki Kuroda.  They did this by indicating a ballpark of what they might offer but without actually making an offer.  Hale says 8-10 teams are in on Kuroda, including the Royals, Phillies, Diamondbacks, and Mariners.  The Ms reportedly have some kind of offer out to him, either 3/30 or 4/44.  The Phils are said to have an offer out as well.  Hale doesn’t name the Dodgers but it’s been said they’re getting aggressive on him too.  The Cubs and Rangers are other teams that have been connected to Kuroda. 
  • The Mets appear to have mild interest in Livan Hernandez, perhaps as a fallback innings-eater option.  The Phillies, Cardinals, Nationals, and Astros are other known suitors for Livan.
  • The big fish are still out there in Johan Santana, Erik Bedard, and Dan Haren.  The Mets won’t include Jose Reyes, David Wright, or Carlos Beltran in any deal.  It’s been said that a Carlos Gomez/Aaron Heilman/Philip Humber package was offered for Bedard and rejected.
  • Dan Graziano says the Mets also inquired on Dontrelle Willis, Ben Sheets, and Roy Oswalt and were told none of the three are available.  Graziano adds that the Mets are looking into signing Bartolo Colon.
  • Omar Minaya will meet with the agents for Octavio Dotel and Shawn Chacon today.
  • Minaya disputes Ken Rosenthal’s report that he sought an extension from the Mets and didn’t get one.  Ownership told him he’ll be there "a long time."
  • Though they didn’t want him in the Lastings Milledge deal, the Nationals are interested in acquiring Johnny Estrada for their catcher vacancy.  Damian Miller is also known to be a target of Jim Bowden’s.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Roberts, Barrett, Piazza

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Ken Rosenthal is presumably in Nashville doing what he does best – collect trade rumors by the dozen.  His latest column is an excellent example.  What’s the over/under on Rosenthal scoops over the next four days?  I’ll set it at 10.

  • Rosenthal says the Mets are unwilling to extend the contract of GM Omar Minaya, who is signed through 2009.  The lack of job security could compel Minaya to mortgage the future, and the Lastings Milledge trade was a good example.  Carlos Gomez, watch out.  Here’s MLBTR’s look at Omar Minaya’s Mets trade profile.
  • The Astros, Giants, and Cardinals aren’t really in the running for Miguel Cabrera, so they don’t need to wait for that shoe to drop to go after Miguel Tejada.  However it sounds like all three clubs don’t have the talent even for a Tejada trade.  Jon Heyman mentioned today that the Orioles do have interest in Adam Everett and Michael Bourn of the Astros.
  • Here’s a good one: Peter Angelos favorite Brian Roberts might be available.  The Mets and Astros inquired but moved on, but Roberts might be just what the Cubs are looking for.  The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec recently told us that he doesn’t expect Andy MacPhail to move Roberts unless he’s "totally overwhelmed."
  • The Marlins, Rays, and Orioles have interest in Michael Barrett.  In the case of Baltimore, the interest indicates the availability of Ramon Hernandez.  If Barrett can find a multiyear deal from one of those teams, he may decline the Padres’ offer of arbitration.  It’s a catch-22, though, because that would make Barrett much less signable in terms of draft pick compensation. 
  • If Barrett does decline, the Padres might bring Mike Piazza back.
  • The Nationals keep asking for Rickie Weeks for Chad Cordero, and the Brewers keep saying no.
  • The Braves are big fans of Coco Crisp, and could have a passing interest in Corey Patterson.  But they certainly wouldn’t mind going with internal options in center next year.
  • Aaron Rowand is definitely getting that five-year deal – a Mystery Team has already offered one.  The Yanks could pursue him if they trade the Melk Man. 
  • Deja vu – the Yanks and Mets both like Octavio Dotel, again.  It’s known that Octavio loves New York.

Omar Minaya Trade Profile (Mets)

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Omar Minaya’s made so many trades in recent years that I decided to break up his trade profile into two posts.  I covered his 25 deals as the Expos’ GM here.  Minaya jumped to the large-market Mets in 2004, and by my count has made another 25 trades.  Download new_york_mets_minaya.xls; it should be Minaya’s entire trade record.

Minaya kicked off the new year in 2005 by sending backup catcher Vance Wilson to the Tigers for infielder Anderson Hernandez.  The Mets already had Mike Piazza and Ramon Castro on hand to catch that year.  Wilson went on to become a 150 AB-a-year backup for the Tigers with mixed results, while Hernandez has gotten a few cups of coffee as a glove man.  I’ll call it a wash.

Not thrilled about switching to right field to accomodate Carlos Beltran, Mike Cameron requested a trade in January of 2005.  Though Cameron was coming off wrist surgery, the Diamondbacks had interest.  The A’s liked him too, and a deal was on the table that would’ve brought Eric Byrnes and saved the Mets $2.5MM to use on Carlos Delgado.  The Mariners, Pirates, Astros, Tigers, and Rockies were in on Cameron as well, but Minaya couldn’t get anything done.  Cameron rescinded his trade demand in March and reluctantly moved to right field.  The Padres, Orioles, and Yankees all expressed interest in Cameron that summer, with even Gary Sheffield on the table.  But Cameron’s Mets career ended in August after a terrible collision with Beltran.  We’ll pick up this story later in the post.

Minaya had to go with a glove man at first base in ’05, getting Doug Mientkiewicz from Boston for a first base prospect who never panned out plus some cash.  Minky was the backup plan after Minaya failed to sign Carlos Delgado.  A torn hamstring injury and a back bruise limited Mientkiewicz’s playing time, but he turned out to be a pretty lousy Plan B.  Mets’ first basemen hit just .227/.303/.391 on the season.  Delgado, meanwhile, was a seven-win player for the Marlins.  The Mets finished the season six games out for the Wild Card and seven games out for the division title, making the failure to sign Delgado loom large.

In March of 2005, Minaya sent catcher Jason Phillips to the Dodgers for southpaw Kaz Ishii.  The Mets couldn’t fix Ishii, and he was demoted in August after making 16 starts.  He’s since returned to Japan.  Phillips was no big loss, but Ishii didn’t help at all.

Minaya’s first year as Mets GM was not a success in terms of trades.  Cameron again asked for a trade in November of ’05, and Minaya sent him to San Diego for Xavier Nady.  Nady would later be used in one of Minaya’s best deals.  Swapping him for Cameron straight up was fairly even, though it would’ve been nice to add Akinori Otsuka as had been rumored.

A week later Minaya got his man, acquiring Delgado and $7MM from the Marlins for Mike Jacobs, Yusmeiro Petit, and Grant Psomas.  The Mets were essentially on the hook for $41MM over the 2006-08 period for Delgado.  Delgado, while currently a burden, had a nice ’06 and definitely helped the Mets get to the playoffs.  Minaya pretty much sold high on Petit and Jacobs.  Even though two-thirds of Delgado’s tenure may be less than acceptable, I have to call the trade a success.

Minaya hit up the Marlins again in December, getting Paul Lo Duca instead of signing Ramon Hernandez or Bengie Molina.  Pitcher Gaby Hernandez was the main piece for Florida.  I think Hernandez will reach the Majors in 2008 and could settle in as the Marlins’ #4 starter.  But Lo Duca was solid in ’06 and it’s another win-now move.  I consider it a good trade for both clubs.

Minaya’s roll continued when he got Duaner Sanchez and Steve Schmoll from the Dodgers for Jae Seo and Tim Hamulack in January of ’06.  It was the perfect sell high on Seo, and I have to admit I thought he was going to be pretty good in ’06.  Sanchez was a very good late-inning reliever until his July injury.

Another gem: Minaya snagged Jorge Julio and John Maine from the Orioles for Kris Benson later in January.  As you know, Maine blossomed into a legitimate cheap #2 starter (actually #1 might be fair; he’s been the seventh best starter in the NL this year according to VORP).  Huge win for Minaya. 

Better still, Julio was spun into Orlando Hernandez.  El Duque will miss a start here and there, but he’s been excellent for the Mets. 

By June, Minaya had almost no choice but to unload Kaz Matsui.  While he’s had some success for the Rockies, I wouldn’t argue that he could be succeeding as the Mets’ second baseman right now.  I just don’t think New York worked for him.

In July of 2006, Minaya made a minor move to get Ruben Gotay from the Royals for Jeff Keppinger.  Both players seem to be over their heads this year, but who knows, either guy could have a decent career.  I’ll call it even for now.

Another huge steal came on deadline day last year, as Minaya traded Nady for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez.  The Pirates had given up on Perez, but he’s already back to form with the Mets. Three-fifths of the current rotation came via shrewd trading by Minaya.

Minaya was active in August as well, getting Shawn Green and Guillermo Mota.  The trades were helpful, and nothing of value was surrendered.

The 2006 season ended a success.  Since then, though, Minaya’s made only three major trades and all appear questionable.

In November, he sent Heath Bell and Royce Ring to the Padres for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins.  Bell’s been awesome this year, with a 2.49 ERA in 61 innings for the Padres.  He’s now Trevor Hoffman’s setup man.  You can argue that the Padres always do this with relievers and it’s their home park, but Bell has a 1.93 ERA on the road this year so the potential’s been there all along.  I’m sure the Mets would love to have him back.

A few days later Minaya sent hard-throwing relievers Henry Owens and Matt Lindstrom to the Marlins for lefties Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick.  Owens has been hurt much of this year, but Lindstrom has been decent.  Vargas and Bostick have not impressed.  This one’s too early to call but the Fish have the early advantage.

In December Minaya acquired a live bullpen arm in Ambiorix Burgos from the Royals for starter Brian Bannister.  Burgos throws hard; he definitely is the upside play.  But Bannister, while less of a scout’s dream, has thrown 100 solid innings for the Royals this year.  Hindsight is 20/20, but if Bannister received the 13 starts that went to Mike Pelfrey, Jason Vargas, Chan Ho Park, and Dave Williams this year, the Mets would probably have a couple more wins. 

The only deal I can find made by Minaya this calendar year was the minor acquisition of Jake Gatreau (that deal is oddly absent from MLB.com’s transaction log, so leave a comment if I’ve missed any other 2007 trades by the Mets).  Minaya added many players via trade in 2006, but seems content to go to battle with the group he’s got this year.  They’re the best team in the National League, so who am I to question his inactivity?

Omar Minaya had a fine run making trades from November ’05 to August of ’06.  He’s in a bit of a slump, though, and the results of his Mets tenure have been a mixed bag overall.

Omar Minaya Trade Profile (Expos)

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Omar Minaya has done so much wheeling and dealing through the years that I’ve decided to break up his trade profile into two parts – Expos and Mets.  The vast difference between the two situations is another reason to separate the posts.  Click here to Download new_york_mets_minaya.xls, an Excel file with Minaya’s entire trade history. 

The 2002-04 Expos were owned by the other 29 baseball teams, with Minaya at the helm.  It was a unique and bizarre situation.  Probably a conflict of interest, too – Bud Selig did not allow the playoff-contending 2003 Expos to add September call-ups that year because it was deemed too expensive.

Anyway, Minaya made 25 trades in his three years as GM of the Expos.  Let’s analyze some of the bigger deals.

  • 3/23/02: Sent Guillermo Mota to the Dodgers for Matt Herges.  Since Mota went on to have a couple of dominant seasons for L.A., we’ll give the advantage here to Dan Evans, then the Dodgers’ GM.  Herges was later spun by Minaya to the Pirates for Chris Young.  I still can’t credit Minaya though as he subsequently gave Young to John Hart and the Rangers for junk in April of ’04.
  • 3/25/02: Sent Jason Bay and Jim Serrano to the Mets for Lou Collier.  I’d dock some points from Minaya for this one or give Steve Phillips props, but no one respected Jason Bay in 2002.  He was traded two more times before ending up a Pirate.
  • 7/11/02: Sent Carl Pavano, Graeme Lloyd, and others to the Marlins for Cliff Floyd, Wilton Guerrero, Claudio Vargas, and cash.  Floyd was quickly spun to Boston for Sun Woo Kim and Seung Song.  Essentially Minaya gave up Pavano and Floyd for Vargas.  Vargas never did much in Montreal, so I’ll give this one to Larry Beinfest and Mike Port (Red Sox GM at that time).
  • 7/28/02: The big one: Acquired RHP Bartolo Colon and minor league RHP Tim Drew from Cleveland in exchange for 1B Lee Stevens, minor league SS Brandon Phillips, minor league LHP Cliff Lee and minor league OF Grady Sizemore.  Even with the future of the franchise in question and a desire to win now, this was just too much to give up for Colon.  You have to give this one to Mark Shapiro. 
  • 1/15/03: Big three-team deal: Acquired RHP Orlando Hernandez and RHP Rocky Biddle, INF/OF Jeff Liefer and an undisclosed amount of cash from the Chicago White Sox in a three-team trade involving the New York Yankees, while sending RHP Bartolo Colon and INF Jorge Nunez to the White Sox.  I lack the full context of this deal, but it appears that MLB wanted Minaya to trade Colon because of his $6MM salary.  I’m a little skeptical of that though because El Duque was paid $4.1MM in ’03.  Biddle and Liefer were already looking like failed prospects at the time, so Kenny Williams won there.  The Expos also missed the boat on El Duque, as he soon developed shoulder problems and needed rotator cuff surgery.  He never pitched a game for Montreal and was non-tendered the following winter.
  • 3/24/03: Traded RHP Jim Brower and a player to be named for RHP Livan Hernandez, catcher Edwards Guzman and cash.  This is clear ownage of Brian Sabean, as Hernandez became the team’s ace and the premiere innings-eater in baseball for a three-year span.
  • 12/4/03: Traded RHP Javier Vazquez for the Yankees’ 1B Nick Johnson, OF Juan Rivera and LHP Randy Choate.  Just an awesome deal for Omar, maximizing the return for Vazquez.  A huge bounty was expected though as Vazquez was 27 and coming off his career year.  As you’ll later see, Choate became John Patterson.  So that’s three bona fide solid big leaguers for Vazquez. 
  • 12/15/03: Traded C Michael Barrett to the A’s for minor league pitcher Jonathan Brett and a player to be named.  You can dog Omar for this one, though Billy Beane turned around and sent Barrett to the Cubs  for junk.  Plus, Barrett had been terrible in ’03.  Credit goes to Jim Hendry for recognizing his talent.
  • 1/5/04: Minaya acquired two still-useful players from the Indians in Ryan Church and Maicer Izturis for reliever Scott Stewart.  Stewart, a 28 year-old southpaw, had posted two fine seasons for the Expos but flamed out shortly thereafter.  Perhaps not full revenge on Mark Shapiro for the Colon deal but it was a start.
  • 3/25/04: Snagged John Patterson for Randy Choate.  Patterson’s pretty messed up these days but you can’t deny the value of 198 innings of 3.13 ball in 2005.  That’s more than Choate ever game the Diamondbacks; advantage Minaya.
  • 7/18/04: Acquired RHP Jon Rauch and RHP Gary Majewski from the White Sox for OF Carl Everett and cash.  Jurassic Carl was always pretty average for the White Sox, while the Nats’ are still enjoying the fine work of Rauch.  Doesn’t top Kenny Williams’ Colon fleecing (ewww, gross) but it’s a start.  And Majewski?  Jim Bowden later used him as a major piece in order to acquire Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez, and Ryan Wagner.  Another fine move by Omar.
  • 7/31/04: Another three-team blockbuster: Traded SS Orlando Cabrera to the Red Sox. Acquired SS Alex Gonzalez, minor league RHP Francis Beltran and minor league 3B Brendan Harris from the Cubs.  Beltran never panned out, but Minaya saw something in Harris that many GMs missed.  Harris found his way to Tampa Bay and is currently sixth in VORP among rookies this year.

Looking at this progression of trades, you can see Minaya kind of learning his way.  He got burned quite a bit on his trades from 2002 through the Colon to the White Sox deal.  But then Minaya went on a major winning streak and managed to acquire some talent for the Montreal/Washington franchise on his way out.  Your thoughts, and did I misinterpret any of these trades?  We’ll cover Omar’s Mets deals next time.

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