Question of the Day (710/09)...BUT FIRST A RANT!

Pedro Martinez is not the pitcher he once was. Pedro is not the ace of a staff anymore. He might not have anything left in his tank to pitch in the big leagues, but why would Omar Minaya allow him to go to the Phillies? Watching pitchers like Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding, Brian Stokes, some guy named Misch, is painful to sit through. One thing Pedro was good at, was that when he got into trouble, he was usually able to work himself out of it and give the team an opportunity to fight back. Pedro was a good fit in a clubhouse, he was a veteran presence that could help alleviate the stress of losing streaks and a fan favorite (TICKET SALES).
Baseball GM's have to work the phones and look for prospective deals as if it were a chess game. Blocking their enemies from obtaining pieces that might improve their teams chances. Omar Minaya, regardless of Pedro's final destination, has been stagnant and for the past couple of seasons has made some very questionable decisions or has not made any at all. Whether it was the Luis Castillo contract, the Oliver Perez contract, not pushing for Lowe and allowing him to go to a division rival, firing Willie in the middle of the night on a West coast swing, allowing Ryan Church to travel and play with two concussions and finally giving Jerry Manuel the Managers position. Manuel is great guy, but he is soft, he is sometimes too complacent with the below average play and heartless effort from the team. Manuel also puts too much faith in a pitching coach (WARTHEN) who also seems to not know too much about getting a pitcher out when he is in the game way too long, ie...Livan Hernandez last night pitching through the 5th inning. It's understandable that the bullpen is over used somewhat, but you have to stop the bleeding before it hemmorages into another embarassing 11-2 loss.
Injuries are a way of life in professional sports and in baseball especially, as it has been apparent with the Mets, but there is always an opportunity to pick up a player from a team that is selling. The Yankees didn't really need Eric Hinske, a versatile player and former rookie of the year, but they grabbed him before other teams (RED SOX/TAMPA BAY) could. The Mets were putting guys like Jeremy Reed, rookie Fernando Martinez and Fernando Tatis as their everyday outfielders. Couldn't Eric Hinske be an option instead? Also, there is another problem that Minaya has not addressed. The Mets farm system is depleted and mediocre. Which means there aren't many bargainning chips when it comes to trades (ROY HALLADAY). So Omar Minaya has shot himself in the foot by either not making moves to acquire young prospects or for putting faith in scouts who must be getting drunk at these minor league games instead of watching out for talent. So...this rant leads into today's Question of the Day (7/10/09).....



Should Omar Minaya keep his job?