Omar Minaya

The news is so premature, the only places you can find reference are on @NCTPadres (North County Times’ Dan Hayes’ Twitter page) and @FollowThePadres (MLB.com beat reporter Corey Brock’s Twitter Page).  No news articles have been sent to the presses yet.  No mention on ESPN, Padres.com, or any of the other blogs.  That’s because it may not happen.

Dan Hayes is reporting that the Padres have offered former Mets GM, Omar Minaya, a front office job with the club.  Corey Brock followed this news up with a guess that the job would be as an adviser.  However, based on other reports in the recent months, Minaya’s hiring seems unlikely.

At the lower end of the totem pole, Minaya may be comfortable providing analysis for sites like MLB.com.  He did so here on 11/16/11 as he broke down some of the available talent in this year’s Free Agent market.  On the upper end of said totem pole, Minaya may be in the hunt for another GM position as reported here.  Where he ultimately lands likely falls somewhere in between, so it is not far-fetched that Minaya could find himself consulting for the Padres.  But based on the possibility of a GM position being out there for him, I would not expect an answer before the winter meetings.  A report from the NY Daily News seems to confirm this in saying that Minaya will choose a job by the December 5th winter meetings.

After serving four years as the Mets’ Assistant General Manager, Minaya was promoted to the Expos and became the first Hispanic GM in Major League Baseball history.  Some of his notable draft signings include Chad Cordero (Expos) and Mike Pelfrey (Mets).  However, he may be most known for the lack of picks he had.  In 2006 and 2007, Minaya forfeited the Mets’ first round picks when he signed Moises Alou and Billy Wagner respectively.  He pulled off some notable trades for Jason Bay, Bartolo Colon, and Cliff Floyd, as well as some notable Free Agent signings in Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran.

Yet in the end, Minaya finished his time as a GM with a combined records between Montreal and New York of 280-366.  This may be the piece that blocks Minaya from ever truly being considered for another GM job.  In New York city, with a payroll well above many other teams, Minaya could not produce a winning product.  In Montreal, he failed to produce a winner as well.  But Minaya is smart.  He knows baseball.  He may be a better fit for the reported job the Padres have offered him, a consultant.

Depending on how the Cubs fare, high profile front offices may become the norm in baseball and if the Padres can jump on that trend before all the talent is scooped up, they’ll be in good shape.  Minaya would be nice as a consultant, and with the Angels GM job going to Jerry DiPoto, it would not be surprising to see Minaya as a consultant somewhere.  He clearly wants to work in baseball again, whether that be with a team or as an analyst no one knows.

Minaya may be best known for his failures in New York with the Mets, but he has talent that needs to be tapped.  A consultant job with the Padres may be the perfect thing to get him back on baseball’s radar, and it may be the perfect thing to help the Padres get back into contention.  His track record as a GM though makes him a risk, but at this point, the Padres need to be taking risks.