|
Written by Mark Healey
|
|
Wednesday, 03 December 2008 |
 There's lots of theories out there as to why the New York Mets – and
plenty of other big league clubs – haven't made many moves prior to
next week's Winter Meetings.
The economy. Everyone's waiting on Tex and C.C. The MLBPA and its “Get Every Penny Or Else” mantra.
Could be all three for most teams, but there's some feeling around some baseball circles that the New York Mets inactive offseason has more to do with the fact that there are now three voices in the room with a definitive opinion about how the team needs to move forward.
“First of all, everybody loves Omar (Minaya, the Mets' GM), and Jeff (Wilpon, Mets' COO ) has made a lot of progress in his dealing with other clubs,” said one baseball executive, who spoke with Going Nine on condition of anonymity. “The other guy (Mets' VP of Player Development Tony Bernazard) is tough to deal with, but we haven't really spoken with him that much in the last few weeks.
“It's like they can't make up their minds what direction they want to go.”
As rumors persist that the Mets are talking with the White Sox about Bobby Jenks and Jermaine Dye, or thinking about Trevor Hoffman or wondering about getting into the Manny Ramirez bidding, it's hard to pin down what the plan is.
Jeff Wilpon said during Tuesday's tour of Citi Field, that “addition by subtraction” was the operational directive at the moment, and from several accounts, he is of the belief that it is the best course of action.
Bernazard has been telling nearly all of the rival front office folks who are calling to field potential deals that “our kids aren't going anywhere.” Is this true? It is a negotiating ploy? Perhaps. But let's not forget that Tony is the VP of Player Development, and by calling his minor leaguers “untouchable”, he really is justifying his own existence, no?
As he always is, Minaya is the real wild card here. Never afraid to make a splashy deal or to sign a big free agent, his reluctance to pull the trigger – or so it is being said by more than one front office member -- is that he is relying too much on his “Circle of Trust”, and not enough on his own instincts.
A talent evaluator at his core, Minaya is more of a delegator (“I got to trust my guys”, he told me back in February), and a politician these days (“our brand is healthy”), and his willingness to get everyone involved is “slowing things down to a crawl”.
The Mets need the swashbuckler back. After two straight miserable seasons, the fan base needs to believe that their organization wants nothing more than to raise that World Series pennant at Opening Day 2010.
Right now, they see Daniel Murphy on third base, waiting to score. (I think he's still there).
To this point, this slow motion offense hasn't hurt the Mets. Javier Vazquez, despite the incessant attempts to link him and Minaya because of their shared Expos experience, was never a real option. Matt Holliday? I'm still trying to figure that one out. Brian Sabean, who somehow still has a job after spending more money on ordinary players than any GM in history not named Steve Phillips, just spent 10 million bucks on Jeremy Affeldt and Bobby Howry. This apparently, according to Giants skipper Bruce Bochy gives San Francisco a “terrific bullpen and a bullpen we're going to have all the confidence of the world in.”
Okey dokey, smokey. Good luck with that. (Then again, if the Giants offered those two in exchange for Schoeneweiss and Aaron Heilman, find me a Mets fan that would say no).
As I said, it hasn't hurt the Mets yet. But going to Vegas without a Plan A, and the well-earned rep the Mets have for not rocking the boat or setting the trend at the Winter Meetings, it could be a very frustrating few days for the Flushing Faithful.
***
INSIDE BASEBALL CLUB: LAS VEGAS STYLE
GOTHAM BASEBALL LIVE FROM THE WINTER MEETINGS
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 December 2008 )
|
