I hestitate to write this; by putting the words out there, I fear it could jinx the chance. I sense a shift in New York sports.
It's not simply that the Mets have signed Carlos Beltran, the premier free agent of the off-season. They have also signalled a dramatic change in how to approach certain players. The Mets now have an advantage no team has ever held: They have an Hispanic general manager and lots of money. This has clearly been a plus in negotiating with Pedro Martinez and Beltran. Now they have their sights set on Carlos Delgado, another potential Hall of Famer (he's about 165 home runs away from 500, so it's not impossible, though unlikely at his age.)
I wonder when the rest of Major League Baseball will pick up on this distinction between the Mets and everyone else. Omar Minaya ran the Montreal Expos for the past several years, but he didn't have money to spend there. In this baseball market place, that's a problem. But a team like the Texas Rangers or the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim (their name change just smacks of a marketing consultant gone nuts) have built in markets to develop. The number of Hispanics who already play for the Rangers is a good start. The Angels are owned by an Hispanic. And the Washington Nationals (formerly Expos) have opportunities with Tony Tavares in place as president of the club. But no one is doing it like Minaya.
Personally, if he's going to sign Delgado, I'd like to see him pick up John Olerud as a back up. But I'll let him make that decision. He seems to be doing a good job so far.
On top of all this, I sense the Yankees are having problems. Even when they make a no-brainer of a signing (in this case Randy Johnson) it blows up in their faces. He was photographed on the sidewalk yesterday by a professional photojournalist, and The Big Unit stuck out his beefy palm and said, "Get out of my face." In today's dueling press conferences, I can almost guarantee his accosting a photographer will be a major line of questioning for the new acquisition, whose presence on the Yankees roster has been anticipated for months. They need new news, and he just gave it to them. I know he apologized right after it happened. He's going to be asked about it, and he's not going to like it. And he'll probably get a little POd about it. Then, if he's not careful, he'll make a comment that will haunt him all season and perhaps throughout his contract. Reporters will question his ability to handle a cranky media -- not his obvious talents as a definite Hall of Fame pitcher. Welcome to the big city Big Unit. You're 6'10" and this town's reporters have never had a bigger baseball target.
2 comments:
Here we go with the rediculous notion that a GM is succeeding because of his race. Yes, Minaya deserves credit for signing Beltran but little of the signing has to do with him being hispanic. It has everything to do with Minaya taking the initiative to fly down and meet with Beltran and Fred Wilpon opening up his wallet more than any other team. Being hispanic had nothing to do with the signing as evidenced by Beltran's agent Scott Boras consistently moving his clients to the highest free agent bidder. Being hispanic had nothing to do with the overspending Yankees not making a single big for Beltran (and if you don't think the Yankees' wouldn't have made a bid if they weren't so strung out on crazy contracts, you're nuts). It simply came down to the most money and Omar's work ethic to get Beltran (both with Beltran and getting money from a tight-fisted owner).
You're also correct in sensing the Yankees are having problems, but like many Mets fans, you'll jump on any little incident, no matter how blown out of proportion by the media, to slam the Yankees. The Randy Johnson incident is so insignificant and is so typical of the unapologetic paparazzi-like media in New York. Some writers even compared this incident to the meltdown Ed Whitson had in New York, as if Whitson ever had an ounce of Johnson's talent. And if you don't think the media loves to create a circus, just look at how the Channel 2 camera man who was involved in the incident stepped into the spotlight at the press conference yesterday. "Hi, Duke Castiglione, Channel 2. Remember Me?" Talk about the media trying to create a stir!
No, the shift in New York sports (as well as the Yankees' problems) is happening below the surface at the Triple-A level. The Mets have a farm system, although it would be much more impressive had they not traded Scott Kazmir. The Yankees' farm is in shambles. As has been proven by the Yankees before (80's anyone?) a team more often than not can not be a champion if contstructed simply of high-priced free agents/trades (although the Sheffield-Leiter Florida Marlins could argue that). The Mets' farm is the wheat and the Yankees' are left with the chaff. For the Yankees, that's their real problem.
Senor anonymous,
You make excellent points, though I disagree with characterizing my comment as saying they got Beltran because Minaya is Hispanic. Reading it over, I may not have been quite clear, but I think that right now the Mets have a competitive advantage with an Hispanic GM -- short-lived though I expect it to be. If it truly exists, it will be overcome with other organizations better utilizing those few Assistant GMs out there who are Hispanic. Honestly, Hispanic is too easy a term for a white guy like me to throw around. Puerto Ricans have a culture different from Dominicans and Venezuelans and from Panamanians, etc. Your comment about Minaya doing what needed to be done is exactly right. And it helps that the Yankees didn't want to pay an extra 40 percent premium on his contract, factoring in the luxury tax they'll be saddled with at the end of this year. Once the Mets outlasted Houston, they really weren't bidding against anyone else. Perhaps they overpaid, but I'm honestly ok with the $119 million (averaging out to $17M per) for a player of his caliber. I hope he's over his early-career problems (and I don't think we'll be seeing Tony Muser in a Mets uniform any time soon), but I'm not too worried. Great posting, Mr. Anonymous. Thanks.
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