Omar Minaya was crowing to the press last night about a conversation with Mets owner Jeff Wilpon about his job status.
"He said, 'I want you to be our general manager and I want Jerry to be our manager.' That's always nice to hear."
Ask Willie Randolph how nice it was to hear it for the first couple of months of the 2008 season. Over and over again, we heard Randolph's job was safe from Minaya and the Wilpons, until they flew him to California and fired him after he managed the team to a win against the Angels.
In other words, Jerry Manuel should still stick to buying ripe bananas for his office.
The vote of confidence was actually made before the Mets were swept by the Yankees at Citi Field, which makes sense given history. Minaya, after all, got a contract extension last season while the Mets were letting another season get away from them. That kind of job security may have played a role in the G.M.'s decision to reportedly turn down a trade for Roy Halladay because he doesn't want to mortgage the future.
It's laughable that a man who has built a mediocre, at best, farm system would try to protect a mediocre, at best, future at the expense of his big league team, but, then, there's almost nothing rational about the way the Mets do business. Firing Manuel and Minaya doesn't make much sense right now, lost causes and all, but neither does making firm declarations about the future.
Compare that to Hal Steinbrenner's comments yesterday. The Yankees majordomo implied that Joe Girardi's future was contingent on the way the team finished the season. Say what you want about the expectations in the Bronx, but isn't that a more reasonable approach to managing an organization?
Sports
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.
