The Loyalty Quotient

By Taryn "The Coop" Cooper
Posted Sunday, February 24, 2008

As Morrissey once sang, stop me (oh-oh-oh, stop me) if you’ve heard this one before…

Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez is given the green light to be the fifth starter in 2008.

Jose Valentin signs a minor league contract with the Mets, complete with an invite to Spring Training, in January.

Ryan Church is traded to the Expos (later Washington Nationals), orchestrated by one Omar Minaya, in 2004, then traded again to the Mets in the 2007 offseason, also orchestrated by one Omar Minaya. Did I mention that Minaya traded away a player considered one of the crown jewels of the homegrown system?

In 2006, Julio Franco signed a two-year contract with the Mets, complete with Omar Minaya publicly stating in a Sports Illustrated article that as long as he has a job, Julio Franco will have a place in his organization.

OK, I will stop now. Of course, if you are a Mets fan who has not been living in a cave with no television, radios or newspapers, you have heard of these deals that occurred not only in the 2007 offseason-going-into-the-2008 season, but in Omar Minaya’s tenure as Mets general manager (and previously as the Montreal Expos GM).

Minaya has been a stand-up guy, as far as baseball guys go. In a game where loyalty is only as good as the next payday, Omar Minaya has consistently stood by his guys, no matter how old, how broken, or how overrated they may be.

So The Coop has to raise the question…when will the loyalty quotient bite the Mets in the ass this season?

Right now, it looks as though the El Duque factor will hit the Mets first. Now, as mere spectators, we know El Duque when healthy (operative words) is a workhorse and not to mention a warrior. But at what expense? With offseason surgery on his foot already hindering his full practice at Port St. Lucie, the rumors are swirling that Duque will move to the ‘pen, with “Big” Mike Pelfrey taking his spot at the back-end of the rotation.

Since we know El Duque will eventually make his trip to the DL (which has given him the apt nickname in certain forums of DL’uque), why not let Pelf get his licks in as fifth starter right off the bat, no pun intended?

One of the reasons why Pelf was set up for failure in 2007 (well, also in 2006) was that not only was he rushed, but the Mets really had no contingency plan in the starting rotation. Meaning, when he lost a game, which was often in the first month of the season, it was felt – and especially with 20/20 hindsight, given how we now know the season ended.

But with Johan as the bona fide ace, Pedro being Pedro, and Maine and Ollie being Maine and Ollie, why not let the guy who didn’t go to Minnesota get his due? I mean, there was not only a reason why he wasn’t sent in the Johan trade…Pelfrey actually showed signs of life at the end of 2007 when the rest of the team seemed to cash in their chips. Who remembers the make-or-break series against Atltanta Labor Day weekend in 2007, when Pelfrey came up and pitched his butt off?

But we all know that Duque will get the nod once he is given the physicians’ OK. And Pelf will get more “seasoning” in AAA. At this rate, Pelf’s gonna be Emeril.

Which leads me to Jose Valentin. Mr. Mustache was probably the most ridiculed Met in 2006, with his Frito Bandito-ooking mustache and stellar play or lack thereof. Until Jose Valentin became, well, Valentin of 2006. Ironically, it was in Mike Pelfrey’s first ML start against the Marlins in a game in July that Jose Valentin became a fan favorite, driving in seven runs within the first two innings, four of those ribbies being a grand slam. Then, who can forget the Mets NL East clincher in 2006, with Valentin being THE Mets offense of that game?

We know how this story ends. Well, where it left off anyway. Jose Valentin breaks his pinky during questionable activities (rumor has it there was a ballroom brawl). He returns from that injury, only to get a season-ending injury, which started the Mets spiral of bad luck, if you will, at second base. Damion Easley starts and gets injured. Ruben Gotay was not given much a chance, as Omar Minaya orchestrated a trade for Luis Castillo. Which, if my sources are correct, was the first stepping stone in getting Johan Santana to be a Met. But I digress.

I guess I thought, since Minaya and Mets & Co locked Castillo in for the next four years, Jose Valentin would be an after-thought.

NOT!

Of course, Valentin gets invited to Spring Training. Now the best case scenario would be that he decides it’s time to hang up the cleats and become a coach, which people say is what he is best suited for. OR…as The Coop fears…he becomes this year’s Julio Franco, the guy who has Omar in his corner, and will waste a roster space deserving for a Gotay or another young dude. And did I mention that Damion Easley was re-signed too, making the Mets average age 103? OK, 102. And a half.

I guess the good news is that with Castillo locked in, Valentin will not be the everyday guy. Yet again, to even the lay Mets fan, we all know Castillo will eventually need some time off, and eventually Willie will go to Valentin to start. Why even bother to trade for Gotay in the first place? Yes, I know, he’s not that good. But he’s young and young guys are never given the chance to prove themselves.

Perhaps Omar Minaya’s loyalty is none so blatant as with his lust for former Montreal Expos players. While Ryan Church is perhaps the only guy we’ve seen with this pedigree that Omar has actually traded for. Oh, and it bears repeating that Minaya traded Lastings Milledge to get him…you know, the guy who was supposed to get us Manny Ramirez three years ago…gets us a lifetime scrub.

I know, I will hear that The Coop is being too harsh. But I mean, Church is pretty underwhelming as a player, with a lifetime .271 BA…yes, yes, I also realize he’s been around only four seasons. But at 29 years old, that means he came into the league at 25…presumably, he is expected to show some signs of decline, where Milledge is projected to be better. And perhaps, better than that.

Of course, Minaya goes on the defensive, saying he’s gotten criticism on most of his trades and they turned out well. I agree, if we look Nady for Cameron, Perez and Hernandez for Nady, Benson for Julio and Maine, Julio for El Duque…Do we see a theme here? These are of course, Minaya’s better trades. What about Bannister for Burgos? What about Bell and Ring for Johnson and some other dude? I could look up who “other dude” is…but honestly, it just goes to show that for every good trade Minaya has made, he has an equally bad or at the very least mediocre one to match.

I guess that’s a sign of a decent general manager, since there are some pretty bad ones out there. But I digress. Did any of us have Ryan Church on our Christmas list? And yes, I know that Brian Schneider came along in the deal. I am giving Omar a pass on that…since as fellow blolleague, Stefi Kaplan, said, how long has it been since the Mets had a good defensive catcher? The jury is out.

My point is…Ryan Church is bland. Milledge was flashy. Mets with no Milledge or Jose happy dances = boring. OK, maybe not if they win the division. But again, I digress.

Now before I know Dingo or Uncle Johnny will call me fickle or dumb or impatient, I will bring up my last whipping boy, and that’s Julio Franco. Now, I do recognize that Franco played diplomat in his first season as a Met. He was able to get Beltran and the fans to call a truce. Franco apparently guided Jose Reyes and many of the young Latin players to be professional and have fun at the same time. This got out of hand when Franco reportedly undermined Willie Randolph’s command as Mets manager.

Rumor has it when former Coop whipping boy Rick Down – notably “Willie’s Guy” – was made the scapegoat for the Mets’ poor offensive performance, Willie apparently went tete-a-tete with Omar, saying, you get rid of my guy, I get rid of yours. Meaning Julio Franco, who Minaya has had a man-crush on since who knows when. Maybe when he was five years old and Franco was 50. I kid, I kid.

My point is, loyalty is blinding. But loyalty exists no more in today’s version of baseball. When Roger Clemens goes from team to team, and the teams he performs on don’t even like him, there’s a problem. But it exists everywhere, not just in baseball. Look at corporate America. I work for a big corporation, and every time there’s trouble, it doesn’t matter how well-liked one is, they’ll can you just to make Bill Lumbergh’s stock go up a quarter of a point.

Omar has to learn when to cut the cord. And yes, the Coop is definitely eating crow as a vegetarian here. This whole time I thought the loyalty thing was all Willie Randolph’s doing. But he can only do so much, with the players Omar Minaya brings in, crushes on and loves...As men and as players, no matter how they played in the past, play in the present or what they will do in the future.