My reactions to today’s press conference at Citi Field with Mets’ COO Jeff Wilpon and GM Omar Minaya. Consider this my quick and dirty obituary of the 2009 New York Mets:

1. Mets’ front office execs using the word “inexcusable” in October is officially an American tradition. Greeting cards soon to follow.
2. “The payroll is what Omar needs” = “let’s lock up Alex Cora and Jeff Francoeur to three-year deals”
3. If you go from a line of .313/.397/.473 in 2008 to .266/.313/.427 in 2009 like Daniel Murphy did, Omar Minaya will be “encouraged”  by what you showed him.
4. “Minaya believes he and his staff must look at every aspect of the team, while putting better talent on the field.” This is a brilliant plan. Follow it. Can’t go wrong.
5. And clearly, I’ve wasted my time even paying attention.

So the news just came down that Johan Santana has a serious elbow injury that will require surgery, and is likely done for the season.  Added to the news that Jeff Francouer has a torn ligament in his thumb, it is just ridiculous how injury-bitten the Mets have been this year.

But the bigger story here is how horribly the Mets have mismanaged Santana.

Last time I checked, Johan Santana is under guaranteed contract for four more seasons after this one, to the tune of a whopping 98.5 million dollars. But even though Santana has been experiencing sever pain in his elbow since at least June, the Mets have continued to allow him to keep pitching all the way to the end of August, even thought this season has been a total lost cause for at least two months now.

Jerry Manuel admits that he has been “terribly concerned” about the pain in Santana’s elbow. But apparently not concerned enough to take the obvious step of shutting Santana down for the season and protecting his team’s massive $100 million plus investment.

Santana never complains, so he just kept pitching through the pain, and Manuel never shut him down until Santana himself begged out of a start. And if Santana himself begged out, you know it’s got to be crazy amounts of pain. It should never have even gotten close to this point, especially in a completely lost season.

Look it would be one thing if there were vague mentions of “discomfort” or something, which Manuel just wrote off.  Even that would have been bad, but in this case we hear in a direct quote from Manuel himself that “He has not been throwing between starts for quite awhile. I would say since before the All-Star break.”

Your ace is not even throwing at all between starts for two months, your ace who is under contract for four more years, and yet you keep running him out there? Rob Neyer recently wrote a column calling Jerry Manuel a “medieval manager,” but it turns out we really had no idea!

But ultimately, blame for this ridiculous situation has to go all the way up the chain to Omar Minaya and ownership. No matter which way you slice it, there is some serious idiocy going on here, because how dumb do you have to be to not take steps to protect an investment like that, in a lost season? Whether they knew about the injury and did nothing, or somehow are so oblivious that they didn’t know about the injury, Minaya and the front office have been totally negligent.

So Gary Sheffield is upset at the Mets for placing him on waivers and then pulling him back when a team claimed him, and now Sheffield is apparently demanding that the Mets either sign him to an extension, or grant him his outright release.

Sheffield has pulled these kinds of stunts often enough in the past with other teams, that it’s tempting to blame Sheffield for being a dick and to tell him to just shut up and play.

But this time, for once, Gary Sheffield is right.

Because on what planet in the universe does it make sense for Omar Minaya and the Mets to pull Sheffield back from waivers? By pulling a player back from waivers, the team is no longer allowed to trade him for the rest of the season, so the Mets missed out on a chance to trade Sheffield for a prospect.

This makes no sense at all, given that the Mets are way, way out of it this year, and also have apparently told Sheffield that he is not in their plans for next year either. If that is true, then why in the world would Minaya hang on to Sheffield and prevent him from playing for a contender when you could have at least gotten something for him?

The only thing I can sort of vaguely see as being a reason is if the claiming team were somebody like the Phillies or the Braves, who are rivals with the Mets and in the same division. But even so, the Mets are waaaay out of it this year, so cares? Take a prospect and let the Phillies or Braves have him.

There is a possibility that we may not have all the information here, but based on everything we know, Sheffield has a right to be pissed. Sheffield is already 40 and it’s not like he’s going to have too many other chances to play for a contender after this season.

Even his demand for an extension from the Mets makes sense, because the only valid reason not to let Sheff go would be if the Mets really, really want him for next year, and want to have the exclusive negotiating rights window.

Clearly Sheffield is wanted by at least one other team, so the Mets are just being petty and stupid by keeping him on a team going nowhere when they could have gotten at least something for him.

The Mets are heading for an iceberg of 1912 proportions.

For years, GM Omar Minaya has charged after glitzy, high-profile free agents while ignoring just about everything else that makes a team good.

This season’s injury woes have shown that while the Mets were loaded with big-name stars, their minor league system is not loaded with much of anything.

Stocking the minor leagues is not just about hot young prospects (which, by the way, the Mets are low on too), but is also about signing all those has-been and never-were fringe major leaguers to minor league free agent deals, just in case you need a replacement-level stiff to fill in with some reliable mediocrity for a few weeks when a star goes down.

Omar largely seems to have ignored this part of his job, which is why when someone gets injured he consistently finds in a situation akin to a gunslinger in a duel who fires off the six bullets in his first gun, then pulls out his other six-shooter only to realize he forgot to load it with anything.

Nobody can blame Omar for the ridiculous rash of injuries the team has sufferered this year, which is certainly out of the ordinary. But at the same time, there are always going to be at least a few injuries every year.

Before the season who exactly did Omar think was going to be the backup option if some of these guys went down? Have we ever seen a team’s starting lineup go so quickly from playoff contender to worst in the majors? The utter lack of depth in the upper level of the Mets system can only be laid at Omar’s door.

But worst of all is what this all means for next year and beyond. Because the Mets were clearly in “win-now” mode this year, and have been for years, with the attendant ill-effects on the future.

Next year the Mets are going to have gaping holes at left field, first base, catcher, and at least two starting pitchers, and even that is only if you assume that Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran will both come back fully healthy (questionable), and if you consider Jeff Francoeur to be “not a hole” in right field (extremely questionable).

Sure, it is true that the Mets are going to be clearing off about $40 million from their books via departing free agents, so they could go after some free agents. But they also have about $20 million in raises coming, if they offer everyone arbitration, and next year’s free agent class is expected to be the thinnest in years, which will drive up prices on the few mediocre players actually available. Plus it is questionable how much of that left-over $20 million the Wilpons will allow to be spent, given all the collateral damage they’ve taken between the financial crisis and the Madoff scandal. And in the end there is still the basic fact that the Mets have at least 5 major holes to fill.

Meanwhile the Phillies have only gotten stronger, with Happ and Lee pitching in for a full season, and the Marlins are still young-ish with a stacked rotation, and the Braves are always lurking and never mail it in, while the Mets have a farm system which, if not “barren,” can at best be described as “very thin.”

My suggestion *would* be to blow this whole team up and rebuild, if not for the fact that almost all of the Mets’ tradeable commodities, up to and including David Wright, are incredibly devalued at present due to injury or suckage.  At this point the Mets are just going to have to resign themselves to slogging through another mediocre campaign next summer, and hope they can build some of these guys back up in value and flip them at the deadline.

That is, unless they really want to consider flipping Johan Santana or K-Rod at this point, but that certainly seems to be an unthinkable scenario, as the Mets have gotten so used to thinking of themselves as perennial contenders, and the injuries this year are such an obvious and convenient excuse for their struggles to be blamed on, rather than facing up to the fact that the ship is leaking, the iceberg is lurking, the helmsman is incompetent, and it just might be time to at least try to change course, even if it might be too late, instead of just continuing on full steam ahead.

I can never remember when most historical events occurred. Dates just never stuck with me. For all I know, we landed on the moon in 1776, the B.C./A.D. change-over happened in 1977, and Abe Vigoda was born in 1492.  It’s not that I found the concept of dates to be insignificant. My brain just isn’t wired to store this type of information.

But I do remember July 30th, 2004. I was in my old boss’ apartment in Manhattan, looking after the family’s dog while they were on vacation (I didn’t do it to suck up, kiddies. This was just the awesomest dog ever and a great apartment to boot). Left without a computer (I didn’t want to use theirs), I had to resort to ESPN News, wanting to know the deals that were being made before the deadline struck. Turned out, it was not a good day.

As Met fans will recall, at that moment in time, the team was a full seven games behind the division leading Braves and 7.5 games behind the Padres for the Wild Card spot. With two months left in the regular season, it was fairly clear to any man with a brain that it would not be the year for the Metsies. However, Jim Duquette was not that man.

At the deadline, the Mets GM traded top prospects Scott Kazmir, Justin Huber, and Matt Peterson plus third baseman Ty Wigginton and pitcher Jose Diaz in two separate deals that landed them Kris Benson, Victor Zambrano, Jeff Keppinger, and Barolome Fortunato to set the team up for an improbable (literally) playoff run. Electrified by this crop of additions, the 2004 Mets finished the year 20 games under .500. Success.

Which brings us back to today. By comparison, the 2009 version of the Mets are actually in worse shape. After  losing Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, John Maine, Oliver Perez and J.J. Putz to injuries (most of them for a lengthy period of time), the team is now a full ten games back of the divisional lead and 7.5 games back in the Wild Card. Baseball Prospectus gives the Mets a less than 3% chance at making the playoffs. Looks bad. Very bad.

And yet, here’s what GM Omar Minaya said yesterday:

“Right now we do not envision [being a seller],” Minaya said. “If we’re 6 ½ [back] in the wild card with a couple of teams in front of us, we are still kind of trying to find out how we can improve this team, if we can improve it through trades.”

Both Rob Neyer and Dave Cameron have already written responses to this statement, basically calling Omar delusional. But I actually think that Minaya knows very well the season’s done. He just can’t admit it to the public. And to be fair, the man actually has nothing to sell in terms of on-field talent.

I’m guessing that this comment was more about the need to sell tickets in this, the inaugural year of Citi Field. The fans feel like they were promised far more from this team and management is not yet ready to admit that they have not done their part. So Minaya is looking for possible ways to keep the public interested in a town where “being out of contention” basically means that you’re forgotten. And now that I’ve had some time to digest the Francoeur-Church deal, I’m actually wondering if the trade was nothing more than one of those ploys (because hey, there’s no other logic to it). Which is actually very worrisome. Worse still, I wonder if Omar’s just hanging on for dear life at the moment.

When General Managers fear for their jobs, they make mistakes. Horrible, horrible, mistakes. The long term health of the franchise gets put on the back burner to strengthen the team just enough in the  short term to create a mirage of progress. Jim Duquette did just that in 2004 and left the team with a barren farm system and two league average pitchers (Benson and Zambrano) who would combine for just over 400 innings pitched in a Mets uniform over the next two seasons. And I’m concerned that history could repeat itself.

It’s true that just this past week, Minaya supposedly received a voice of support from team COO Jeff Wilpon. But I don’t think that’s worth very much. And the very fact that he even needs such a thing isn’t exactly positive.

For the first time in several years, the Mets’ farm system is on the upswing. Among the group of Brad Holt, Reese Havens, Jennry Mejia, Jonathon Niese, Ike Davis, Josh Thole, Dillon Gee, and Wilmer Flores, there’s probably a few decent future Major Leaguers there. And if there’s anything that I wish the Mets would learn as an organization, it’s the importance of talented players who are cost controlled. Just because you have a big payroll doesn’t mean that you can fill every position with free agents. Do the math. You can’t. And until we get to the point where talented young players get paid what they’re worth, you’re just a dim-wit if you don’t take advantage of this.

I do not believe that Omar Minaya is cut out for this gig.  He’s given way too many years to way too many veteran free agents on the downside of their careers. He has signed a plethora of has-beens and never-weres to big league contracts and considered it “depth” (a ton of nothing is still nothing). And in case you haven’t heard, the front office is a mess, from Tony Bernazard suddenly becoming a hosuehold name to questions regarding the aptitude of the team medical staff, there’s a lot of problems here. And I just wish that the Mets would cut the cord now before he goes and does irreperable damage to the team’s future.

Well-respected bloggers such as ourselves get certain privileges. I, for one, was thrilled when a man in a tuxedo named Sebastian rolled up to my apartment in a Bentley a couple of months ago to hand deliver to me a special invitation. I had been invited to the reunion of the family that owns the New York Mets, the Wilpons, and I would be allowed to bring a camera with me to give you all an inside-look. And here’s the actual footage. Enjoy.

I’m feeling extra snarky today upon learning that manager Willie Randolph, first base coach Tom Nieto, and pitching coach Rick Peterson were all fired overnight. Not that I have great affinity for any of these guys. Randolph in particular would make certain decisions that are completely antithetical to what the statistics show is the proper choice. But those decisions, whether correct or not, are not what has left the Mets under .500 in mid-June. Managerial decisions don’t have enough impact on overall players’ performances to explain why the Mets have become the joke of the National League. It’s not Willie’s fault that the organization decided to simultaneously roll more dice than a game of Yahtzee. It’s not Rick Peterson’s fault that the team has had to give ten starts to Nelson Figueroa and Claudio Vargas. And it’s not Tom Nieto’s fault that… Umm… Yeah… Hell, I have no idea what you can possibly blame on a first base coach. Maybe he didn’t yell “BACK!” loud enough? Couldn’t enunciate? No idea.

The point is, there are far more important bungled decisions that were made by guys who don’t wear the uniform. And none of them seem to be taking responsibility publicly. They’re just throwing each other under the proverbial bus.

Let’s begin with the Wilpons. On the surface, it might appear as if the father-son duo are doing what every good owner should by ponying up the dough. The Mets are currently 3rd in MLB in total payroll with a figure north of $138M. But the franchise also had an operating income of $32.9M in 2007, which was the 3rd most behind Florida and Washington – two of the stingiest teams in baseball. I am not claiming poor because that would probably be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever said. And I’ve said some ridiculous things in my time. However, the manner in which the Wilpons operate bothers me.

For example, let’s take the whole Randolph situation. Willie’s imminent dismissal was one of the worst-kept secrets. We all knew it was coming, fairly or not. But the front office waited. And waited. And waited. They didn’t fire him while the team was still in New York. They did it after the first game of a West Coast trip while New York was sleeping. To top it all off, the principal owner, Fred Wilpon, wanted his own hands clean:

“(GM) Omar (Minaya) is in charge… It was his decision. He made that decision a short time ago, obviously, and decided what to do. You have to ask Omar about that.”

Now maybe I’m reading into this a little too much. But to me, this sounds like the words of a man who wants no part of the blame. He’s fed Minaya to the wolves. Pin the firing on Omar and you don’t have to deal with the backlash. Nice.

Then there’s the whole draft slotting situation. For those of you who don’t follow the MLB draft, the Mets as an organization are notorious for adhering to the slotting system. Long story short, the Commissioner’s office annually sends out contract guidelines for teams to follow when it comes to signing players who are drafted. The #1 pick should get this much money while the #6 pick deserves that much, so on and so forth. The teams that do not follow these guidelines have a better shot at building a strong, sustainable farm system because they’re not scared off by these players contractual demands. They just pay the price. The teams that do follow the guidelines? I guess Bud pats them on their heads for being good sports. And there are some owners who love being Selig’s lapdogs. Guess which side the Wilpons belong to. There are many reasons why the Mets farm system is terrible, but the team’s adherence to this system is one of the top ones.

Which brings me to Omar Minaya. He’s not a terrible GM, and has made some very strong moves. But clearly, the man has failed to create an organization from the top down. Their parent organization has a few too many players who have few too many birthdays. Incredibly, the same could be said of their minor league system too. Of the 13 pitchers playing for AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, 6 are over 30. Their average age is 29.54. Of the five outfielders, 3 are over 30. And the two “youngsters” are 29. They’re a collection of players who for one reason or other couldn’t hack it in the bigs. And we expect them to back up a big league roster full of injured players? While it’s true that Omar isn’t very involved in the drafting process, the Mets minor league system has taken a big step back during his tenure, which was pretty difficult to do since it was never all that strong to begin with. And it is his job to put the proper people in charge. This apparently hasn’t happened. So what we have is an inflexible roster. The Luis Castillo deal was ridiculous and now, he’s untradeable. Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado, Moises Alou, Orlando Hernandez, and Oliver Perez are all free agents at the end of the year and there are no candidates to replace them from within, which means that they’ll end up overspending once again in a free agent market that’s stocked with mediocre talent.

This is the reality of the 2008 New York Mets. They are, in a word, a mess. And I’m still trying to figure out where they have gone wrong and whether or not they have enough time left in the season to do anything about it. I’m still holding out hope, but time is already running short.

PS: Fun story. I was at Shea Stadium on Saturday night in the pouring rain, watching the tarp covering the field being pelted by what appeared to be a monsoon. Just as most fans were giving up on the game happening, six members of the Texas Rangers – Milton Bradley, Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton, Gerald Laird, and Josh Rupe – came bolting out of the visitor’s dugout and turned Shea into a massive slip-and-slide. Highly entertaining. And wouldn’t ya know it? The crowd broke into a chant of “let’s go Rangers”. In Shea Stadium. It’s obvious that the fans are pining for something from their club beyond wins and losses. It was weird to see this “something” supplied by a team from Texas.