My two teams completed a trade with each other, or so I'm told!
I haven't posted since exam week at college, and most of that was because my Dell's wire disintegrated (yes, you read that right - the copper wire just broke up and disappeared). Since my original college computer, the aforementioned Dell Alastair, had been causing me a lot of problems this past year, I am now writing from Alastair II, an HP Pavilion dv7.
The main reason I wanted to post today is because I have heard from a little birdie (okay, Twitter) that Jason Bay is officially going to the Mets. In return, the Red Sox are receiving two draft picks - a sandwich pick between rounds and the Mets' second-round pick. Although the Mets' first-rounder was protected, this still makes me wonder a bit about Omar Minaya's competency. I am a patient fan. I stick with my team(s) regardless of how well they are playing, because that's what a loyal fan does. I do not get upset when they do not play well over a long period of time - that happens to every team in every sport at some point, even the Yankees. New York, the city I live twenty minutes outside of when I am not studying military history in Pennsylvania, is not a patient city. And that is where Omar's problems begin.
Omar feels pressure from the impatient fans who demand championships rabidly, and he attempts to respond immediately instead of gradually working towards the goal of building a perennial contender. He signs big names, regardless of how old they are, hoping the fans will respond positively to this and praise him, but instead he tends to call upon the services of washed up players who are past their prime (two of the few notable exceptions being Johan Santana, who has done everything asked of him and more, and Jeff Francoeur, who came into an extremely difficult situation and played his heart out). The problem with signing recognizable names in this case is that Omar picks them up on the cheap, after their best years are behind them. He depletes the farm system to achieve this, saving the money for their salaries. Here is the major problem - Omar apparently does not trust untested youth.
I use the word 'untested' somewhat lightly - the best kids playing in Triple-A have been thoroughly tested for years and have proven they're ready to move up to the next level in most cases. My point is that Omar tends to go for experienced players instead of calling upon the services of his prospects, and when he does go to the Minors for a player he seems to do so at the worst possible times (Fernando Martinez, for one, was absolutely not ready in 2009). For example, instead of letting Daniel Murphy settle in at first base, where he was starting to get comfortable, Minaya and Manuel platooned him with Tatis. I adore Tatis - he's a gamer - but Murph needs to play every day in order to consistently improve. Once he got more playing time, his characteristic hitting returned, and he ended up leading the beleaguered team in home runs with twelve. It's not a high number, I know, but it's still impressive that a kid in his first full season in the big leagues who struggled defensively and was shuffled all over the place still led the team in homers. He probably would have hit even more if Omar and Jerry had shown more trust in him.
Omar only thinks about the current - namely, "How do I look to the fans today?" instead of "Hmm. Let's cultivate some minor leaguers down on the farm and put together a consistent contender." The reason my other team, the Red Sox, were so consistently good this decade was because of their farm system. Just a glance at some of the names on the current roster exemplifies this - Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, and my personal favorite, Mr. Jed Carlson Lowrie, are all former farmhands from the Red Sox's system. It is extremely difficult to do this with the current Mets - outside of David Wright and Jose Reyes, most of the players were brought in from the outside by trading prospects (though one or two prospects, like Bobby Parnell and the aforementioned Murphy, have survived). While Omar is very good at addressing current needs (or so he believes; he isn't actually the world expert in patching up offensive and defensive leaks), he does not plan for the future, and this, amongst other things, makes him a bad role model for today's children, who need to learn how to save their assets now to prosper later.
At this rate, Omar will never prosper later. He will not prosper at all. He's just wasting crops.
That is not to say I am against Jason Bay going to the Mets - indeed, I am not, because I like JayBay a lot and loved him during his stint in Boston. What I am against is the way Omar got him - two draft picks. At a time when Omar severely needs to rebuild his farm system, he passes up a chance to grab some great kids to help him out. That is not the way to do it. On the plus side, he did achieve the deal without giving up Josh Thole, but it's still something to think about.
The main reason I wanted to post today is because I have heard from a little birdie (okay, Twitter) that Jason Bay is officially going to the Mets. In return, the Red Sox are receiving two draft picks - a sandwich pick between rounds and the Mets' second-round pick. Although the Mets' first-rounder was protected, this still makes me wonder a bit about Omar Minaya's competency. I am a patient fan. I stick with my team(s) regardless of how well they are playing, because that's what a loyal fan does. I do not get upset when they do not play well over a long period of time - that happens to every team in every sport at some point, even the Yankees. New York, the city I live twenty minutes outside of when I am not studying military history in Pennsylvania, is not a patient city. And that is where Omar's problems begin.
Omar feels pressure from the impatient fans who demand championships rabidly, and he attempts to respond immediately instead of gradually working towards the goal of building a perennial contender. He signs big names, regardless of how old they are, hoping the fans will respond positively to this and praise him, but instead he tends to call upon the services of washed up players who are past their prime (two of the few notable exceptions being Johan Santana, who has done everything asked of him and more, and Jeff Francoeur, who came into an extremely difficult situation and played his heart out). The problem with signing recognizable names in this case is that Omar picks them up on the cheap, after their best years are behind them. He depletes the farm system to achieve this, saving the money for their salaries. Here is the major problem - Omar apparently does not trust untested youth.
I use the word 'untested' somewhat lightly - the best kids playing in Triple-A have been thoroughly tested for years and have proven they're ready to move up to the next level in most cases. My point is that Omar tends to go for experienced players instead of calling upon the services of his prospects, and when he does go to the Minors for a player he seems to do so at the worst possible times (Fernando Martinez, for one, was absolutely not ready in 2009). For example, instead of letting Daniel Murphy settle in at first base, where he was starting to get comfortable, Minaya and Manuel platooned him with Tatis. I adore Tatis - he's a gamer - but Murph needs to play every day in order to consistently improve. Once he got more playing time, his characteristic hitting returned, and he ended up leading the beleaguered team in home runs with twelve. It's not a high number, I know, but it's still impressive that a kid in his first full season in the big leagues who struggled defensively and was shuffled all over the place still led the team in homers. He probably would have hit even more if Omar and Jerry had shown more trust in him.
Omar only thinks about the current - namely, "How do I look to the fans today?" instead of "Hmm. Let's cultivate some minor leaguers down on the farm and put together a consistent contender." The reason my other team, the Red Sox, were so consistently good this decade was because of their farm system. Just a glance at some of the names on the current roster exemplifies this - Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Daniel Bard, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, and my personal favorite, Mr. Jed Carlson Lowrie, are all former farmhands from the Red Sox's system. It is extremely difficult to do this with the current Mets - outside of David Wright and Jose Reyes, most of the players were brought in from the outside by trading prospects (though one or two prospects, like Bobby Parnell and the aforementioned Murphy, have survived). While Omar is very good at addressing current needs (or so he believes; he isn't actually the world expert in patching up offensive and defensive leaks), he does not plan for the future, and this, amongst other things, makes him a bad role model for today's children, who need to learn how to save their assets now to prosper later.
At this rate, Omar will never prosper later. He will not prosper at all. He's just wasting crops.
That is not to say I am against Jason Bay going to the Mets - indeed, I am not, because I like JayBay a lot and loved him during his stint in Boston. What I am against is the way Omar got him - two draft picks. At a time when Omar severely needs to rebuild his farm system, he passes up a chance to grab some great kids to help him out. That is not the way to do it. On the plus side, he did achieve the deal without giving up Josh Thole, but it's still something to think about.