Intriguing Interview with Omar Minaya

[ljshorty89]

Matt Cerrone, of metsblog.com recently organized and held an interview with Omar Minaya. He accepted questions on the blog, and used his chosen questions as the ones that were actually asked of Minaya. Minaya answered 6 questions. 1 each about Daniel Murphy, Luis Castillo, the bench, the bullpen, gritty players, and the shift from a Free Agency based Major League to one based entirely on growing a farm system.

I found Omar's answers to be reasonable, even though I still disagree with his deal for Castillo. I also don't completely understand his argument about locking up relief pitchers, but I think he was very honest. I think the fact that he was interviewed by a third person and not a major news source helped him be more real and less contrived. Take a read and tell me what you think.

[ljshorty89]

Wow. I never gave you guys a link. I'm sure much of the interview is unimportant now, but here's a transcript anyway:


Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Thanks for making time to talk with me, Omar, I really appreciate it.

Omar Minaya: Sure no problem, it’s my pleasure, Matt.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: So, as you know, I asked my readers to send in questions for you, and the second-most popular name mentioned was Daniel Murphy, who everybody is really excited about.

Ed from Melville, NY, asked, “How do you envision Murphy being used in the line up? What position do you see him playing? And how excited are you about this guy?”

Omar Minaya: Well, first of all, we are very excited… We rarely see a young player having that kind of plate discipline, that kind of patience at the plate. I am comfortable that he is going to play the outfield if we need him to play the outfield. We are most comfortable that he would be able to play first base, if someday Carlos Delgado is not with us… He is going to play second base in the Fall League, but that was something that was decided a while back before he actually came to the Major Leagues.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: I had a lot of questions about Luis Castillo, as you can imagine. Michael from Tennessee asked, “If you had to do it again, would you give Luis Castillo another four-year contract?”

Omar Minaya: Well, no, not the way he played this year - of course not.
It’s easy to make decisions based upon one year’s performance, but we don’t work that way. As General Managers, we have to make decisions based upon what a player has done in their whole career. Up until that point, if I’m not mistaken, Luis Castillo had been a consistent .300 hitter with about a .360, .370 On Base Percentage, in that range, and a steady defensive player that turned a double play very well… He played well for us when we had him in 2007 - I think he hit over .300.
That being said, he did not play well for us this year. You know, a lot of times, with these long-term contracts for guys, one year they look good, one year they look bad and the next year they look good. I think that there are a lot of guys around baseball, a lot of guys who don’t look good and they turn out to be better.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Going back to that time, though, was there a rush to lock in a second baseman before the Winter Meetings? Or, before other trades were explored? I mean, was there some sort of urgency? I ask, because I think most fans were confused as to why the four years? I know you probably can’t revisit it too much, but was there any kind of feeling that, ‘We’ve got to lock somebody in here?’ Was that the motivation?

Omar Minaya: Yeah, I mean, at the time, I think we worked hard on making sure that we were going to have an offense built on a high On Base Percentage at the top of the order… When we looked at the market place, we liked David Eckstein a lot. We tried to do a deal with Eckstein and we couldn’t get it done. We just felt that it was an important part of our offense and we wanted to lock that up as soon as possible.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Speaking of position players, I was sent a question from Ted in Brooklyn, and he asked, ‘When you have guys like Damion Easley and Argenis Reyes, who maybe weren’t hitting so well off the bench, why didn’t you turn to guys like John Rodriguez or Val Pascucci, who were hitting really well in Triple A?’ Why don’t guys like that get the call? Is it a roster situation? Or contracts? Why not turn to those guys? Because they were hitting really well in Triple-A.

Omar Minaya: They were hitting really well, but the reality is that Easley had a very good year. I mean, we’ve got a really good bench. And the fact that a lot of our guys were hurt, early those guys were hurt, we had injuries, and guys like Fernando Tatis – as a bench player – were outstanding, Easley as a bench player was outstanding. Castro as a bench player did a very good job. Those guys, though they may have numbers that look good in Triple A, still they have never been proven guys in the major leagues and you can’t take Triple-A numbers and correlate them to Major Leagues numbers.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: I think a lot of fans were excited when they heard Jerry Manuel in his press conference talking about going back to a hard nose, gritty kind of fundamentally-sound type of offense. I think Mets fans love those type of players, that is kind of what the history of the team is and they love that stuff.
However, Dave from Princeton asks, “How do you evaluate and identify a ‘gritty, clutch player?’ Is there a stat that you look at? Is it just reputation? How do you define gritty?”

Omar Minaya: Well, you identify it by seeing the player in the trenches. A lot of people think that some guys are ‘clutch players,’ but the reality is that they are not really ‘clutch,’ it’s just the perception. A lot of it has to do with perception. People want to perceive one guy to be one thing, but in reality you don’t know if these guys are good ‘team players’ or ‘selfish players’ internally, you don’t know these things. We know that a lot of people, at least I know a lot of players that are considered really ‘tough players’ and they’re not – they are basically ‘selfish players.’

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Plus, you then have to apply that to New York. I imagine that brings a whole other level.

Omar Minaya: Yeah, I mean, it is all perception. The perception of how players are and the reality of how they are, a lot of times, they just don’t correlate.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Do you feel it out by asking other players who may have played with him? Like, is it word of mouth? Or, is it…

Omar Minaya: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is a combination of listening to all the players and listening to the other coaches and managers, listening to all of these things to make a true evaluation. I’ll tell you that we do have some guys here that are finding it out. Also, a lot of times, the fans don’t know which players are playing hurt either.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Right, like with Beltran, I would think. I know he spoke with reporters a lot this season, and played through a ton of injuries, and ran out there, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for that.

Omar Minaya: I mean, Beltran is one of the ‘toughest players,’ who grinds it out as much as he can and does it in a smooth fashion. But fans, because he is so smooth, fans don’t see that, you know… I mean, Carlos Beltran, the last few years down the stretch, has been banged up, but he went out and played outstanding, while being really, really hurt. That’s ‘tough.’

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: The most-popular topic sent in to me on e-mail was the bullpen, which I am sure is no shock to you. Basically, a lot of people referenced the Rays, noting how they were the worst bullpen in the league last year, but were able to be one of the best this year. So, it’s possible that a team can turn it around.
In short, people are wondering, is there anything that you can learn from other organizations, like the Rays, that you can apply to the Mets? You know, ‘picking up a player off the scrap heap,’ as they say, or refusing to give long-term contracts, as the results seem to be so sporadic from year to year?

Omar Minaya: The Rays are a great point. Also, if I’m not mistaken, the Phillies had a pretty bad bullpen for the last couple of years. Bullpens are made up of guys that are hot and cold and they are hard to predict – you do the best you can. The fact that we lost our closer, who we knew would be steady, that is something that we have to take into account.
It’s hard to predict any bullpen. My belief is that you have to bring in good arms; you have to bring on guys that are able to go take the ball on back-to-back days and sometimes three days in a row. All bullpens are works in progress. The reality is, while there are some special guys like Mariano Rivera, look at (Brad Lidge), and look at the closer for the Rays, some of these guys were almost out of baseball three years ago. So, it is a hot-and-cold thing, but I do believe in order to win championships you’ve got to have a bullpen, and you do the best you can to put it together. Unfortunately, for us, this year, our number one guy got hurt, in Billy, and other guys we counted on, Duaner Sanchez and Aaron Heilman, didn’t have good years, but for all we know they might be great next year.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Because it’s always a work in progress, as you said, should you keep it fluid. That is to say, is there a reluctance, in the current market place, is there now a reluctance to give a guy a three– or four-year contract? I would think that you would have to have some kind of hesitation to be locked in to a guy like that. I would think it would have to be the absolute right guy, is that correct?

Omar Minaya: Pitchers, like those bullpen guys, year in and year out, are going to get three– to four-year deals, that’s just the way it is. But, you are right, I mean, in the ideal world you would rather not give a long-term contract. But, if you want a guy you are going to have to pay that price – it’s just the way it is. But, in an ideal world, I would rather not.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Lastly, it seems like there has been a big shift in the last year or so – going away from the big time free agent signing – and it has shifted to locking up young players, such as the Rays and Evan Longoria, or even what you did with Wright and Reyes. It seems to me, that that means there are going to be less and less free agents available on the open market in years to come. I would assume that you are going to have to have a more concerted effort in terms of developing young talent. However, the problem as I see it, and I feel for you on this, is that you are in a city where a lot of people have a ‘win–now mentality.’ So, the question that kept coming to me on e-mail was, ‘How do you strike that balance, between a win-now style, but also to build from within?’

Omar Minaya: That is a very good point, and an observant point on your part.
We are a the market with a ‘win-now mentality.’ The reality is that there aren’t going to be as many free agents out there available… First off, teams economically are doing very well and they are locking up all of their young players long term. Teams are really going to have to be more creative, you’re really going to have to be more astute from an evaluation standpoint, from a scouting standpoint, to be able to bring in guys like the John Maine, the Oliver Perez. You are going to have to bring in guys who are having bad years and bring them in and hope that they perform well.
At the same time, from a budgetary standpoint, as much this is a ‘win-now town,’ you are going to have to give the Pelfrey’s, the Murphy’s, the Niese’s, you are going to have to give them a chance, because you just cannot rely totally on free agents. You are going to have to rely on guys that have had bad performances in the past and slide them in, or use young guys that you hope will perform in the Major Leagues. We’ve been fortunate with that in the last year with Pelfrey, Murphy, Evans, and Niese, who won a big game for us, even Argenis Reyes has done a good job for us… So we are going to have to find a way to blend them in, even though the market wants proven winners, because you’ve got to ‘win-now,’ that’s the bottom line.

Matthew Cerrone, from MetsBlog: Thank you so much, Omar, for taking time to listen to what readers of MetsBlog.com have to say. I really appreciate it.

Omar Minaya: Great, great, keep up the good work. I think it is great that there is so much fan participation in the blogs and all this. For me, I think it’s all good.