Know What I'm Saying?

By Tom "Mr Star" Starita
Posted Thursday, November 22, 2007

Before I begin I would like to thank everyone who sent cards and emails over the last couple of weeks wondering if I was alive. Dry those eyes; everything is fine on my end. I just didn’t want to post any column just for the sake of posting it.

But everything changed today!

While on the 5:15 Staten Island Ferry I hammered out a column defending Omar Minaya’s handling of the 2007 off-season so far. This was a portion of my original opening:

I’m not surprised there has been an upswing in Omar Minaya bashing throughout the World Wide Web. After all, the internet can be a very negative place. Combine that with a segment of Mets fans who will always complain about something and you find bitterness towards our General Manager. Today I come to you defending a man who has done a great job since taking over the helm at the end of the 2004 season. Some will say I’m merely drinking the Kool-Aid. I just think it’s a case of looking at the facts objectively. We’ll start with the most recent talk and work our way backwards.

But as of 6:25 pm today, my job became that much easier. Why 6:25 pm? Because that’s when I received a text from my friend Mike that read:

We made a small trade.

Johnny Estrada to the Mets; Bill Mota to Milwaukee.

Suddenly all is right with the world.

There have been very few Mets trades I have celebrated the moment they occurred. John Olerud for Robert Person. Mike Piazza for Mookie’s kid. Hampton and Bell for Cedeno and Dotel. You can now add to the list Johnny Estrada for Bill Mota.

Seriously, did Doug Melvin drunk dial Omar at 3 am and get fleeced? Does Omar have incriminating photos? Did Omar call in a favor to “The Wolf” to make this trade go down?

At this point, the natural reaction is to think, “oh no, what do they know about Estrada that we don’t? Why would they be so quick to do this seemingly lopsided trade?”

Well we know he had arthroscopic surgery on October 4th to repair torn medical meniscus in his left knee. He also had a bone spur removed from his right elbow. On top of that, you might remember a certain afternoon game where Estrada and Ned Yost almost had a full on brouhaha in the dugout. Maybe this was more than enough for the Brewers to just throw their hands up and dump him to the first team that wanted him.

I still don’t care.

Johnny Estrada could be a secret agent, a serial killer or even a terminator sent from the future to find John Connor and he would still be better than Guillermo Mota!!!!

But enough Mota talk. Anyone reading this has an opinion on him already and there is no sense rehashing the past. Let’s talk about how Omar did a masterful job filling the catcher position. First off, sentiment aside, he made the correct call on Lo Duca. Paul is 36 years old and was not the same player we experienced in 2006. I love his heart, his grit and his passion, but if you aren’t producing, those qualities only go so far. Factor in Paul’s wanting of a three year deal and it’s clear that we had to move in a different direction. I’ll gladly chant his name the first time he comes back to Shea as a thank you but this is the smart move.

So who replaces him?

I didn’t want to give up a Milledge or a Gomez for Ramon “Highly Overrated” Hernandez or any other average catcher. When I heard the Yorvit rumors I was admittedly not thrilled with going three years on a guy who is average at best. But I rationalized it by thinking its better to get stuck with a bad contract than give up one of our big chips for a catcher.

Thankfully our doctors did their job during the physical and we gracefully removed ourselves from the scene.

Even more thankfully, Omar didn’t panic and trade Lastings for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church (as reported today by Jon Heyman). Instead he brought us a guy who is a former all star and for his career bats 280 with 12 home runs and 77 RBIs. Even if he falls short of those numbers, if you combine his stats with what Castro puts up and the catcher’s spot in the lineup is a very productive one.

Omar has a plan and I believe it’s a smart one. Take care of the secondary spots on the roster now so come December 3rd, at the Winter Meeting, he can concentrate solely on upgrading the pitching staff. Was I thrilled with going four years on Castillo? No, but I liked the idea better than giving David Eckstein four years, or again trading one of our big chips for Orlando Hudson.

People have been writing things asking why Omar didn’t address the starting rotation or the bullpen last year. Well for $126 million he could have signed a pitcher who went 11-13 with an ERA of 4.53 while pitching in a pitcher’s park. Instead he smartly drew a line and didn’t spend the money just to spend it. Other than Zito what other starting pitcher was out there to obtain in the winter of 2006?

The bullpen has been hashed to death already. Heath Bell never displayed an inkling of the talent he showed in San Diego last year. The only highlight I remember of Heath Bell was his giving up a game- winning home run to Derek Lee in Chicago despite the wind blowing in at 80 mph! He rolled the dice with Mota, crapped out big time before finally rolling a seven with Estrada. The Schoeneweis deal looked horrible for the first four and a half months of the year, before Scott started striking out every left hander he faced, including Utley a number of times.

Of course Omar could have traded for Chad Cordero at the deadline but didn’t want to give up Humber. Whether you agree with the move or not, I respect how Omar didn’t panic and make the move just because he felt like he had to. The man sees the short-term picture and the long-term one. In that respect, when the time comes to trade away a Humber or a Gomez or whomever I believe it will happen because Omar feels he received maximum value back.

Of course there are people who argue this point by bring up the Bartolo Colon trade he made while General Manager of the Montreal Expos. In that deal he gave up Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips. What people leave out when bringing up that trade is the fact that the Expos were scheduled to be contracted at the end of the year. Why keep prospects if your team won’t be around to see them reach the majors? The Expos were improbably contending and Omar took a shot at putting them over the top by acquiring an ace pitcher. It would be like if you knew you had six months to live and had one million dollars in the bank. Why not buy a new car or go on an expensive vacation? You’re going to die anyway, spend the money and enjoy the short time you have left. That’s what Omar did; he went for the opportunity to make the playoffs with a team on death row.

With the Winter Meetings two weeks away, I am confident in Omar’s deal-making ability. He knows this team needs an ace, or even an Al Leiter circa 1998 kind of pitcher. He knows our chips are limited in terms of prospects. And most importantly, he isn’t afraid to stick his neck out and make a deal. There are plenty of GMs who would rather stand pat or make the safe deal in order not to get killed by the media. Omar has no such fear.

For as long as I have been alive, the Mets have only had one great GM – Frank Cashen, and there are plenty of moves he made post '86 which left a sour taste in our mouths. I believe Omar already jumped Steve Phillips and is number two in that time span. Omar came in with the job of making the team relevant and winning the World Series. In his three years he has remade the team and put us in position to win. This off-season will either be his crowning achievement or damning evidence for the bashers. I believe come Opening Day 2008 we will look favorably on the job he did.

Especially if Johan Santana or Dan Haren are wearing the blue and orange!

Know what I’m saying?

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Tom just wants to congratulate his cousin Greg, who gets married this Friday to Melissa. His other cousin Matt and his fiancée Paige just finished doing their wedding registry as well. If you would like to buy a gift for the happy couple click here http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?order_num=-1&wrn=%2D1153381391& If you would like to welcome Tom back, express your love for all things Starita or simply send Happy Bill Mota Leaving e-cards, email him at MrStarita@yahoo.com. Or, as always, if you want to bash, yell and scream go to the forums below and go crazy!!