I got to see about five minutes of (Mets G.M.) Omar Minaya’s press conference at 5 pm (ET) today. That was enough. I think Omar said “OK?” about 40 times in the five minutes that I witnessed (live). He also went into some crazy spiel about how Jerry Manuel managed the White Sox in Chicago, and had to deal with living in the Cubs’ shadow, and that was going to help him as Mets manager, living in the shadow of the Yankees in New York.
Huh? Somehow this whole thing is about the Yankees now?
In any event, listening to Minaya babble – albeit just for five minutes – was just an uncomfortable feeling. Have you ever been in a situation where you’re about to do business with someone for the first time, or they’re trying to do business with you for the first time, and the more they talk you get this feeling of “Oh, this is going to be something I regret…the more I hear from this guy, the B.S. is getting deeper and deeper…I really don’t want anything to do with this con artist”? That’s what it was like listening to Omar today.
The Yankees are a billion dollar company. I have to think that the Mets are near that as well. I cannot believe that, seeing this mess today, that the Mets are fine with having Omar Minaya being the public voice of their organization…after seeing him in action this evening.
Anyone who has been reading this blog on a regular basis for a while now knows that I do not believe that Brian Cashman is an astute G.M. – in terms of his ability to scout and acquire talent. Nonetheless, in terms of representing his organization, as a public figure, in a polished and professional manner, Brian Cashman runs rings around Omar Minaya.
Many think that I never have anything nice to say about Brian Cashman. Let this stand as testament towards debunking that notion. After seeing Minaya today, at his press conference, I’d rather have Brian Cashman represent my billion dollar corporation in public, over Omar, any day.
3 Responses to “Give Me Cashman, Any Day”
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Many think that I never have anything nice to say about Brian Cashman. Let this stand as testament towards debunking that notion.
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That’s a backhanded compliment and doesn’t count in my book.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I haven’t seen the press conference, but given the way Randolph’s firing was handled, I can understand why Minaya would come across the way he has.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
The Randolph firing was not the Mets’ finest hour. And Omar is not a particularly good public speaker, in part, I’m sure, due to the fact that English is not his first language or the language spoken around his home when he was growing up. So, in a sense, your disparaging of Minaya by comparing his speaking style to that of a white person whose first, and presumably only, language is English is ignorant and racist. This is separate and apart from the ignorance in equating a GM’s public speaking skills to his, well, GM skills. Ok.