Omar Minaya Made Right Move With Molina

It has been an odd series so far in Philadelphia for the New York Mets. The team had a great first game of the series. They obtained a blowout win, led by Rod Barajas and the hot Mets bats. The second game was the exact opposite. The Phillies had the solid pitching and strong offense.

Tomorrow night's game will be the deciding game in the series. But an equally interesting news story has been breaking today in the MLB. San Fransisco Giants catcher Benjie Molina is contemplating retirement .

The New York Mets signed the aforementioned Brajas, only after long negotiations with Benjie Molina had failed because Mets management refused to add an extra year. At the time, Mets General Manager Omar Minaya was blasted by media and fans alike for his lack of aggressiveness. I must admit, I was one of those bashing him. I am also one to commend a job well done as quickly as I point out a job poorly done.

In this case, hindsight truly is 20/20. It is doubtful that Minaya and his 'baseball people' saw this coming. It is also doubtful that they even thought this would be a possibility. They most likely didn't extend the offer to Molina an extra year for two reason.

First, the team was most likely shying away from extending an offer for monetary reasons. They did not want to tie that much money into an extra year. That is money they could apply for the future. Which brings me to my second reason, his eventual replacement.

It is no secret that the team holds young catcher Josh Thole in such high regard and plan to make him their future backstop. They signed veteran catchers to help groom him at each level, whether he made it to the majors or not, and they have only committed to short term deals on catchers they thought would be better accustomed to platooning with him as early as next year.

With all of this considered, it is still noteworthy that the team, most credibly Omar Minaya's conservativeness paid off. I would like to offer him a pat on the back. Job well done. Had they signed Molina to the extra year and he retired at the end of this one, the fans and media would have crucified him for overspending and wasting money. I am sure I would have and I am prone to believe that many of my fellow Mets bloggers would have too.

There will be plenty of time throughout the season to criticize him and his bad decisions. For now, I would like to say 'Omar, congratulations, you had one right.' One out of one hundred isn't bad, I guess.