Omar Minaya Missed Out On Golden Opportunity

At some point during December's winter meetings in Las Vegas, Mets GM Omar Minaya stopped rolling up seven's at the free agent tables. After bringing in Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz to fix what was a terrible bullpen in 2008, Minaya forgot to do one thing, one very BIG thing: fix the starting rotation.

Even though the team has rights to the game's best pitcher, Johan Santana, the team had really fielded nothing substantial behind him: John Maine was coming off an injury riddled 2008 which saw the pitcher turn into a four or five inning pitcher; Oliver Perez (more on him in a minute); a shell of a future Hall of Famer in Pedro Martinez, and the young bright spot, known as Mike Pelfrey.

The Mets had a chance to get better. They had a deal in place with the Chicago Cubs to acquire Jason Marquis for reliever Scott Schoeneweiss, a deal that would have made the Mets markedly better in the starting rotation.

Something happened when that deal was close to being done; either Minaya pulled away, or the Cubs realized that Schoneneweiss was worthless.

Either way, it was an opportunity missed. Marquis was instead dealt to the Colorado Rockies, and he is well on his way to having an appearance in this year's All-Star Game.

Marquis is 4-1 with a 3.31 ERA for the Rockies this year, including a dominating complete game against the San Francisco Giants Saturday. Marquis is not known for putting up big numbers, but his start is better than anything the Mets have to offer.

Then, there was Derek Lowe. The Mets and Lowe were on the verge of agreeing to a three year contract, but Lowe wanted an extra year and a little bit more money.

The Mets, having been burned by Pedro Martinez's four year contract, buckled and decided not to sign Lowe to a contract. Instead Lowe walked to division rival Atlanta and got the four year deal he wanted.

How's Lowe doing this year? He's doing great. 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA. He leads the Braves in wins and innings pitched, 35 and two-thirds to be exact. Lowe has struck out 28 batters in that span and has a WHIP of 1.29. Think the Mets would trade for Lowe's stats over Oliver Perez's 9.79 ERA right about now? You betcha.

Finally, there was Jon Garland. Garland has not been great for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009; he's 2-1 with a 4.94 ERA, but he is certainly a better number five starter than Livan Hernandez whose ERA is over 7.

Plus Garland is only 30, so you could have made the argument that if the Mets had shown any interest in Garland at all, he could have been the Mets number five starter for three or four years. Oh well, another one bites the dust.

Instead the Mets settled for Oliver Perez. Throughout the winter the Mets were competing against themselves for Perez's services. No team in its right mind would want a pitcher who is wild with his command and lacks the mental make up to get through a game without a psychologist's visit to the pitching mound.

The Mets threw three years and $36 million at Perez. Three years and $36 million that could have been used to sign Garland, or Lowe, or even Marquis after a trade was completed. The complaints about Perez began in March when the pitcher decided to join team Mexico in the worthless World Baseball Classic.

The Mets were upset that Mexico manager Vinny Castilla allowed Perez to throw 85 pitches in a game in which he bombed and were even more upset at Perez for gaining weight during his time with team Mexico.

When Perez returned to Met camp, he continued to get shelled, this time by double A and Triple-A players. The warning signs were there, but the Mets, already committed to Perez, had no choice but to try to get him back on track.

Now, five starts into the 2009 regular season, the Mets need to realize that it is time to do something. Perez is 1-2 with a 9.97 ERA, with 21 walks 21 and two-thirds innings.

The Mets have been here before. In 2001, the had to send Steve Trachsel down to triple A to get his mechanics and confidence back. When he returned, Trachsel was a different pitcher. Instead of being timid with his pitches, he was confident, and he stayed with the team for five more years.

Problem is the Mets have three or four Steve Trachsels. They can't possibly send down everyone. In other words, it's not all Perez's fault. John Maine has been equally awful.

Maine has lost command of his pitches as well, walking 12 batters in 21 and two-thirds innings, and owner of a 1-2 record with a 5.40 ERA. Before a decent six inning outing against the Marlins last Monday, Maine had an ERA of 7.47. Maine, too, has no confidence in himself and is timid about his pitches as well.

Someone have the number for a therapist?

Meanwhile, Mike Pelfrey and Hernandez have struggled. Pelfrey, in spite of a 3-0 record, has a 6.00 ERA, has walked 13 and struck out only six batters in 21 innings. Hernandez is what he is, an innings eater and nothing else. He's 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA, 12 walks, six strikeouts in just 21 innings.

Talk about Groundhog Day the movie coming to fruition.

The Mets can send down Perez and try to get him worked out, but there are three other men who are having as much trouble as Perez is right now. If the Mets can't work things out with these pitchers, and fail to meet the high demands of other teams in a trade for a big pitcher, e.g. Roy Halladay of Toronto or Tim Lincecum of San Francisco, then the Mets can forget about competing in 2009.

The man to blame for all of this? Omar Minaya. He must pay for this with his job. He is the one who brought in the likes of Moises Alou, who barely played for the Mets; Pedro Martinez, who spent more time on the DL then on the pitching mound; Perez, Maine, Livan and Orlando Hernandez, Schoeneweis and Luis Castillo. It is time for Minaya to go.