I have to be honest, it might not even be worth youreading any more of this entry. My weekend was good – some time out with some good friends, but the real activity of the weekend was the Mets not making the playoffs after a pathetic defeat by the Marlins Sunday afternoon. Yep, this is an all-Mets post.

But first, I will address like 3 things before I go on a tirade…

I lost in my fantasy baseball final yesterday by a score of 6-3. Essentially, there are 11 categories that we compete in – whoever has the best numbers in that category wins that category, and whoever has the most categories wins. 6-3 sounds like it wasn’t close, but it actually was. We tied in 2 categrories (runs and wins) and I lost by one in errors and saves. Thus, if my team had put together 1 more run, 1 more win, 2 more saves, and 2 fewer errors over a 2 week span, I win 7-4. Fun nonetheless, albeit it was a demanding season. For my first fantasy baseball season ever, I would say I did fairly well

RIP Paul Newman. I am too young to remember you as an actor, but I can assure you, you had the BEST pineapple salsa in the universe. 

Maybe this will lighten the mood before the venom I am about to spew. 

And now, the elephant in the room. My stupid Mets. Do you have any idea how much time, energy, blood, sweat, tears, and money I have poured into this team over the years? How much emotion I have put into this, hours spent listening to Mets coverage, hell, even supporting entertainment figured I would normally hate because they were Mets fans (yes, that’s you Jon Stewart and Tim Robbins). 

I love the Mets. I love love love the Mets. I love baseball because I love the Mets. I have loved the Mets from my earliest memories of Daryl Boston, Howard Johnson and Frank Viola. I have loved the Mets through the dark ages after Generation K and before the late 90s surge. I loved Bret Saberhagen, Rico Brogna and Dallas Green. Ok, maybe not Dallas Green. Keep in mind, this is all from the top of my head some 15 years later – and being pulled from the impressionable elementary school mind I was carrying around at the time. I remember watching the Jackie Robinson game with my dad in 1997 and the Piazza-Clemens incident in 2000. I loved Bobby Valentine when he was ejected from a game and returned in a costume some innings later. 

Things I didn’t love but endured? Always being in the shadow of the Yankees. Fran Healy, the worst play by play man in history. The dump that was Shea stadium. The aforementioned Dallas Green. Losing players as soon as they found talent (Isringhausen, Jeff Kent – I look at you). Having anyone who made their name with the Mets go to the Yankees (Doc, Straw). Roberto Alomar.  Mo Vaughn. Karim Garcia. Mike DeJean. Jim Duquette. Victor Zambrano. Braden effing Looper. Shawn Green.

Willie Randolph ended up on my list of hatred earlier this year, but I have ranted about that in the past. Is he still responsible for this team’s collapse in 2008? Not necessarily, but he was responsible in 2007 and this was still hanging over the heads of this team. David Wright was pressing. Reyes couldn’t buy a hit down the stretch. This discussion wouldn’t even be had if Delgado didn’t dog it under Randolph. However, Willie is gone and the team performed 18 games better with Jerry Manuel at the helm.

Manuel has to stay newxt year. He turned this team around 180 degrees. They went from 1 game under-.500 to a team competing for a division title into the last weekend. Willie was a Yankee all the way, and Jerry has a good attitude to fit the Mets.

The manager, obviously then, is not the problem. Who sucked down the stretch? Wright, for sure. Reyes was bad. Church was awful, but he gets a pass because of the injuries. Beltran, Deglado were both good. Santana was an animal. Pelfrey was great. Maine was hurt, but is constituently good, at worst.   Perez was his normal erratic self, but was good enough.

We had some kids come up this year which brings some level of confidence. Daniel Muphy, Nick Evans – you guys were very solid and I look forward to what you have to offer next year. Tatis was a product of the minors. Angel Pagan was hurt all year but was solid when he first played. Parnell, Kunz, Figueroa, Niese, among others tasted the majors. 

So things seem pretty good though right? Well, not quite. When mentioning all the good, I have to also mention all the bad. Pedro was terrible. Castillo is terrible and reaping the benefits of a 4 year deal signed… oh wait, just this past off-season. Looks like we just eat that contract. El Duque never even pitched an inning this year. Alou played 12 games. Trot Nixon played like twice. Andy Phillips played one game. Marlon Anderson is done, even as a bench player. We were always at least one starter short all year – why? Because Pedro and Duque are fragile old men. We never had anyone reliable in the corner outfield spots – because Alou is a fragile old man and Church got hurt in a freak accident. We didn’t have a closer for the last two months because Billy Wagner is a fragile old man. But you can’t blame injuries, that’s for sure. What you can blame, though, is the retard who signed these injury prone bums…

Omar Minaya, I am looking at you. What does this guy have to do to get fired? He somehow gets a 4 year extension by… losing in the playoffs despite having far and away the best talent in the NL? Then having the greatest collapse in baseball history? Oh, then follow that up by missing the playoffs again. The performance of the 2^nd half proved that yes, Willie Randolph was the problem. But this team did not run away with the division like they should have – talent was an issue too. And who compiles the talent? Omar Minaya. 

You know, it’s quite obvious what the team’s weakness was: the bullpen. This was the worst bullpen ever to contend for a playoff spot. Statistically, it was the second worst in history. They blew TWENTY NINE games after the 7^th inning. This is ridiculous! And we had no closer for the 2^nd half of the season because of Wagner’s injury. Wagner, although certainly not dominant anymore, was good enough. And who brought together this merry band of losers? Aaron Heilman might just have been the worst pitcher in the National League. Scott Schoenweiss literally turned right-handed batters into MVP candidates to a tune of .350 / .450 / .650. Duaner Sanchez struggles to hit the mid 80s with his fastball. Joe Smith is good but has a propensity to get rocked every now and then. Brian Stokes was good down the stretch but prone to blowups. Luis Ayala, he of a 5.50 ERA in 2008, should never have been installed as a closer. All Minaya acquisitions.

I opened this discussion with my love of the Mets. Why? Because I am considering abandonining my Mets fandom because of Omar Minaya. He has routinely dealt away any prospects we have in exchange for mediocre Latino players. This is no myth – look at the change in the team since he has taken over. Brian Bannister for Ambiorix Burgos. Jae Seo for Duaner Sanchez. Heath Bell and Royce Ring for literally nothing. Matt Lindstrom and Henry Owens for Jason Vargas. Xavier Nady for Roberto Hernandez. Kris Benson for Jorge Julio. The signings of Endy Chavez, Ramon Castro, Robinson Cancel, Raul Casanova, Angel Pagan, Fernando Tatis, Beltran, Pedro, Duque, and the list goes on and on.  Some of these players truly are the elite – but most are not. 

Even beyond the racial tension in the Met clubhouse, why not consider the amount of money being thrown around for this? The Mets have the second highest payroll in baseball… to not make the playoffs. Last year? Third highest – no playoffs. What’s wrong here? Anyone can throw money at the wall and be “good” – but one playoff stop in 4 years at the helm isn’t going to cut it. What does Minaya have on the Wilpons that they refuse to fire him? Instead he gets an extension?! The bullpen was the strong point of the Mets in 2006 – going something like 83-0 with leads after the 7^th inning. So what does Minaya do? Goodbye Darren Oliver, Chad Bradford, Heath Bell, Royce Ring, Dave Williams. Since then? Worst bullpen in baseball, consistently. 

Omar needs to go. Next year? CF, 3B, SS, 1B, C, RF are all set. Left field and second base are up for grabs. Starting pitching? Johan, Pelfrey, Maine are good to go. Perez’s contract is up, and we can tell you first hand – this guy is too erratic to pay any money for. That leaves 2 starters. And the bullpen? Well, there are 11 guys out there. Joe Smith can stay. Brian Stokes can stay. Pedro Feliciano can stay. Every single other guy must go. Heilman and Schoenweiss should literally be put in front of a firing squad. These guys can literally not throw another pitch in NY. Omar, of course, won’t do anything about it. I mean, last year’s bullpen was dredful too – so what did he do? Got rid of Mota, and that’s it.  

Omar Minaya has no friggin clue as to what he is doing as a GM. He pulls off an odd great steal of a deal, but makes enough terrible decisions to more than make up for the good. Willie’s head rolled because the team underperformed – Omar’s head has to roll for underperforming again. 

One more for the road: