Omar Minaya Being Relieved Is The Best News Since 2004

On the fateful day of September 30, 2004, the Mets made the biggest mistake in the history of the entire franchise. It was on this day that the Wilpons hired Omar Minaya to be the general manager of the New York Mets. For the next six seasons, Minaya led the Mets to one playoff appearance and zero World Series titles. All signs pointed to this being a terrible relationship.

Minaya started off his second tenure with the team by making a big splash in free agency. With the signings of Cy Young award-winning pitcher Pedro Martinez and Gold Glove winning center fielder Carlos Beltran, it certainly looked like Minaya had a penchant for winning. The Mets also hired Joe Torre's bench coach Willie Randolph to take the reins of the team. For once it looked like brighter days loomed for the Mets.

But after a wild off-season in 2005 which saw the GM acquiring big-names such as Billy Wagner, slugger Carlos Delgado, catcher Paul Lo Duca, and some quality bench players, the team begin to grow as a winner. A couple in season trades saw the Mets make their only appearance in the postseason during Minaya's tenure. With a mortifying loss to the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS at home in 2006, certainly 2007 was going to be our year.

2007 came and went with the biggest September collapse in all of baseball history and well I don't see it fitting to talk about that dark time anymore. More of the same in the 2008 season, but seriously no need to talk about it. The off-season following that dreadful year can be thought of as the beginning of the end. With contracts handed out to Oliver Perez and K-Rod, and Luis Castillo the year before as well as six years for Johan Santana, and the team is filled with dead contracts that are totally unmovable.

Julio Franco, Guillermo Mota, and Kelvim Escobar are three more names that should haunt Mets' fans for years to come. At no point in time did any of these signings make any sense for the present or the future of the ball club. And this may sound completely racist, but it surprised me at how much of the team was comprised of Latin players.

It seemed as if the qualifications of these players didn't matter as much as their ethnicity. There is nothing wrong with a team full of Latin players, but the ones signed weren't even good.

With Minaya finally gone, the Mets have taken a step in the right direction for their franchise and for the support of all their fans.

Let's just hope that the new GM will be able to build a team that can maintain its winning ways for more than just one season.