Monday, April 03, 2006
Opening Day
Pending rain on both coasts, the New York Mets and the New York Yankees open their respective baseball seasons today. Optimism is particularly high for the Boys from Flushing. Even with pitiching ace Pedro Martinez not starting today's game because of a bad toe that delayed the beginning of his spring training, the Mets have reason for good feeling: A killer line-up, revamped bullpen and fingers-crossed starting rotation give the "Amazins" a real shot at finally deposing the Atlanta Braves as the beasts of the National League East -- if not more.
That said, my DC baseball pal ERA writes in with what he calls the "missing" piece to the tale of owner conflicts we detailed on Friday.
He writes:
And, if this comes to pass, then it means that every key participant (whether directly-involved owner, memberof a key owners committee or deeply-involved general manager) in the Expos-Sox-Marlins merry-go-round will have gotten (been rewarded with) a world championship over the four years since the multiple deals went down -- to say nothing of the millions each owner gets as his cut of the eventual sale of the Expos.
Tags: sports, baseball, New York Mets, Jeff Loria, conflicts, Boston Red Sox
|
That said, my DC baseball pal ERA writes in with what he calls the "missing" piece to the tale of owner conflicts we detailed on Friday.
He writes:
The one key player missing from theMLB/Montreal/Florida/ Boston cartel is the man MLB let leave the job as GM of the Montreal Expos to let him pursue his dream job as GM of the New York Mets ---- Omar Minaya. Minaya's silence had to have come with a higher price than just a job. Lets see: Minaya's first major acquisition for the Mets -- Pedro Martinez -- came from John Henry's Boston Red Sox. A free agent after the 2005 season, Martinez was insulted by Henry's seeming little interest in retaining him, so he gladly signed with Minaya's Mets. Then Minaya miraculously signs Carlos Beltran when everyone assumed he was NY Yankee bound but the Yankees showed surprising little interest in him. (The Yankees would later be compensated by stealing Bostons CF, Johnny Damon, a year later.) Minaya's big catches this off-season were made through multiple trades with -- oop's, there he is again -- Jeff Loria's Florida Marlins: Carlos Delgado and Paul Lo Duca. It is quite clear that come this October, the NewYork Mets will be World Series Champions ---justlike 20 years ago.Well, folks, you read it here first!
And, if this comes to pass, then it means that every key participant (whether directly-involved owner, memberof a key owners committee or deeply-involved general manager) in the Expos-Sox-Marlins merry-go-round will have gotten (been rewarded with) a world championship over the four years since the multiple deals went down -- to say nothing of the millions each owner gets as his cut of the eventual sale of the Expos.
Tags: sports, baseball, New York Mets, Jeff Loria, conflicts, Boston Red Sox
