(Inaugural) Mets Blogging: Omar Minaya's a Jerk

For those who haven't been certain, I must be clear about one thing: I am a Clevleand Indians fan above all other teams and sports.

That said, when I moved to New York, it wasn't too hard to pick a team to support in the city, given that my hatred of the Yankees is as lifelong as my love of the Indians. As the "second team" of the city, cheering for the Mets over the Yankees is easy.

What's not so easy is hoping a team does well when it is so unprofessionally run. Willie Randolph's firing has been imminent for weeks; yet the way Minaya pulled it off was the worst way possible. Randolph's been ever graceful and professional as the Mets' manager, even dealing with the mounting pressure like a pro. For Minaya to have waited until the first game of an Interleague West-Coast trip, in which the Mets beat the AL-leading Angels, to let Randolph hold his usual post-game conference with the press, and to then fire Randolph at 3 AM EST at his hotel, is one of the more disgraceful and disrespectful acts a GM could do. I don't know much about Minaya as a person, but the timing of his act is just one of the most unprofessional ever. There was lots of talk that, by the end of yesterday, Randolph would be out. Why Minaya let Randolph travel, win, and hold his conference, and then fire him, is inexplicable and indefensible.

The only reason I ever had to like Minaya was because he traded (in what must be one of the more lopsided trades in recent history) Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, and Brandon Phillips to the Indians for Bartolo Colon when he was with the Expos (and sure, Phillips decided only to play well when he was shipped to Cincinnati, but I'll still take Lee and Sizemore for Colon any day). The Mets have an old team that can't hit, lack pitching depth, have a shaky bullpen, and an outfield that changes flavors by the day, and they're getting that all for $140 million (highest in the NL) this year; something tells me that's not just Randolph's fault. If there's any justice in this world, Minaya will soon follow Willie, and be treated with the same "courtesy" he gave Randolph. Then maybe rooting for the Mets will be easier (getting a farm system of young players who can really play wouldn't hurt, either).