No-Mar Minaya

John Biancardi — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 10:00:59 -0400

Bottling up your emotions is bad. Hiding them inside over the years is even worse and as a result, this is what you get:

Mets’ general manager Omar Minaya should be fired!

There, I said it, but somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.

Maybe it’s because the Mets just signed him to a three-year extension or maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Mets collapsed for the second consecutive year.

Who is to blame for the Mets pathetic performance for the second straight year?

While some will look to blame Mets’ manager Jerry Manuel, this is what I say to them: The Mets were 34-35 before Manuel took over, and 55-38 after he took the helm. Does that seem like grounds for firing?

Others will look to blame the players, with the old adage being, “Players are the ones who get paid to win games.” While this is true, who is the one responsible for signing the players?

Survey says: “The general manager is the one responsible for signing the players.” Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner.

It was Omar Minaya who went out and signed the bullpen of no-names, as I like to call them. That bullpen, which was the Mets downfall, was responsible for 29 blown saves. Yes, you heard correctly, “29 blown saves.” If they had just blown 15 saves, which by the way is still terrible, the Mets would have coasted to a division title. I now dub thee the blow-pen.

I’m not done yet.

Not to be lost in the shuffle are Minaya’s horrendous signings of players such as Moises Alou, Luis Castillo, and Orlando Hernandez. Alou played all of 15 games last season, Castillo was getting paid millions to sit on the bench, and Hernandez didn’t pitch a single inning for the Mets in 2008. How that can be the manager’s fault is beyond me.

It is obvious that all of these players are on the downside of their career (having had past injury issues while also all being over 33-years of age), but yet Minaya felt the need to invest in these players, when he could have been solidifying the bullpen.

However, by no means, is this Minaya’s first instance of poor judgment.

Minaya was fired as general manager of the Montreal Expos in 2005 due in large part to his poor history of decision-making. Minaya’s worst deal by far came when he was with the Expos. He traded prospects Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, and Brandon Phillips for pitcher Bartolo Colon.

For those of you who aren’t baseball enthusiasts, let me spell this out for you in terms you can understand. Lee is most likely going to win the Cy Young Award this year as the best pitcher in baseball after going 22-3, while Sizemore and Phillips are both regarded as two of the best players at each of their respective positions—centerfield and second base.

And where is Bartolo Colon you ask? Surely he must be a great player with Hall of Fame credentials.

Wrong!

While Colon has had a few good years, his contribution to the Expos was half a season. So you tell me: Would you trade three cornerstone players for a guy who was going to have no impact on your team in the long run?

My point exactly.

Okay, enough of the bashing for now. What got me going on the tirade in the first place is the fact that the Philadelphia Phillies, the bitter rivals of the Mets, are in the World Series. Is it because they are that much better than the Mets?

Absolutely not.

The Mets had a record of 11-7 against the Phillies this past season, showing that they did not lack the talent to be in the World Series themselves. They were simply missing a few key pieces to the bullpen, and for that reason I blame Minaya.

But don’t worry Mets’ fans; Minaya will be sticking around for at least another three seasons. Yippee!

New England Patriots: Tom Brady Already Stirring Up Controversy

John Biancardi — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:57:03 -0400

Even though the start of the NFL season is approximately three-and-a-half months away, that did not stop Tom Brady from stating how he truly feels about the J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets.

In an interview with WEEI, a sports radio show in Boston, Brady added a new element to one of football’s biggest rivalries, by stating that he did not respect the Jets. While Brady did not directly mention the Jets, can you think of any other teams in the NFL that have four letters and just so happen to be green?

That is how Brady referred to the Jets, and it should come as no surprise that he didn’t specifically mention their name because, after all, his own coach repeatedly refused to mention the name of his one time prodigy, Eric Mangini.

In a rivalry that has been marred by the "Spygate" scandal, this only proves to be the latest twist in the ongoing feud between the Patriots and Jets.

If I was Eric Mangini, Brady’s statement would be posted all over the locker room, to serve as a reminder in more ways than one.

First, Brady’s statement shows the attitude of an organization, which is proving to be more childish by the day. Between the "Spygate" scandal and Belichick walking off the field during the Super Bowl, it shows that the Patriots' organization simply lacks class. In addition, if I could win a dollar for every time Brady threw a fit and complained about getting hit, I might be as rich as he is. This leads into my second point as to why Brady should’ve just kept his mouth shut.

Brady is not used to hitting the turf too often—getting sacked only twenty-one times in 2007. Why then would Brady choose to anger a team that only managed to sack him once in two games? Add the fact that the Jets can’t stand him into the equation, and you have a recipe for disaster.

That’s why Mangini should use Brady’s comments not only as a means for motivation, but also as a way to show his players that they need to do a better job at knocking Brady around. By going out and adding key defensive players like Calvin Pace, Kris Jenkins, and Vernon Gholston, putting more pressure on Brady is exactly what the Jets have in mind.

Maybe Tom Brady should’ve thought a bit more before opening his mouth, and adding fire to a rivalry that was already burning.

Bleacher Report - Articles by John Biancardi

No-Mar Minaya

New England Patriots: Tom Brady Already Stirring Up Controversy