There are many knacks on the job Omar Minaya has done over his tenure as the General Manager of the New York Mets. I myself have been a huge criticizer of the work he's done recently. The two glaring problems he's given us is Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo's contracts. Now while Ollie never deserved his money, at least Castillo this year and last year has been quite productive.
Now this brings me to the year 2010. As of right now we are 18-15 and showing some real signs of life. We've had a long winning streak already, we're good at home, and we have seen some fight in this team. Credit has to go to the man who has built this team. Let's take a look at some of the players Omar has brought in this season.
Who wasn't curious why Omar brought in so many catchers this off season? Well it's a good thing he did because Omir Santos, who was our projected starter before Rod Barajas came in late during Spring Training has recently been demoted to Double A because of his awful batting. Barajas on the other hand has given us big hits in even bigger moments. His average may be low, but when he does hit it's usually for extra bases and he is as clutch as they come this off season.
Next, Alex Cora has been huge for us this year. Last night showed how smart of a player he really is. With both the first and third baseman playing deep during his at bat, he laid down a bunt single to move Rod Barajas into scoring position, while putting himself on base. At first when I saw he re-signed for $2 million, I was skeptical to say the least. But Cora has been a fantastic backup at middle infield for us.
Ike Davis. What can I say about this guy that hasn't already been said? Some people say he should have been brought up to start the season, but I feel that his hot hitting in Triple A gave him some much needed confidence when he came up. He has been hitting well and seeing the ball even better. Not to mention he's been catching balls over the railing so often and with such ease, the play itself is becoming known as "The Ike." He is a much better first baseman than Daniel Murphy, our projected everyday first baseman to start the season.
Other players? How about Chris Carter? Acquired in the Billy Wagner trade, "The Animal" gave us a huge hit last night when we needed it. He should have been brought up much earlier, but when he finally did come up he did it with a bang. Takahashi? He's been the best guy in our bullpen this season arguably. He has come in to get us out of huge jams and seems to strike everyone out.
Now we have Ryota Igarashi and Raul Valdes. Before Ryota went on the DL he was pitching fantastically and his replacement Valdes has been equally effective for us.
One name I didn't mention in this post? Jason Bay. He hasn't played up to his full potential but he started off our huge rally last night and has been playing great defense, which was his biggest knock. As soon as he starts getting hot, you'll see he deserved his contract.
So for now, get off Omar's case. He has done a great job assembling this team and they're fun to watch again. This team hasn't had this much enthusiasm and excitement about them in a couple years.
No comments:
Post a Comment