All Hail Omar

With the Mets bullpen in shambles last year, our fearless leader has not let the Shea..err...Citifield faithful down. On the same day Omar Minaya officially signs the most prized closer on the free agent market, Minaya then trades for the most prized closer on the market in general, in the form of J.J Putz. That's Poo-tz, not Puh-tz. Putz will become the bridge to K-Rod in the 9th. Some closers feel that becoming a setup man is a downgrade in position, but so far, Putz is saying all the right things. J.J told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times

"It’s a new challenge and I’m excited about it… I’m going to a new team that’s
going to be very competitive. Francisco Rodriguez is a great closer and with
Sean Green going as well, we should have a great bullpen."

Thankfully this is a far cry from Aaron Heilman being the heir apparent to the closers thrown last year. And speaking of Mr.Crybaby, guess where he is? In Seattle! I think every Mets fan breathed one hell of a sigh of relief after imagining the starter-wannabe walking up those little airplane stairs, turning back and taking his final look at New York. In the immortal words of rock Gods "Steam", Aaron, NA NA NA HEY HEY HEY GOODBYE.

The Mets did give up, 2 fan favorites though in Joe Smith and Endy "The Catch" Chavez. But let's face it, in the case of Chavez, he never really got any legitimate playing time under Jerry Manuel and became a defensive replacement. So losing him, while it hurts the hearts of fans, is not a detriment to the Mets on the field play. Joe Smith on the other had, was finally finding a way to get out left handed hitters last year and as always, dominated the righties. With his submarine motion and his quick success in the bullpen, it didn't take long for Joe to become a fan commodity. But in all trades, you have to give something to get something.

And that's what Omar did. He brought the Mets the 2 most sought after relievers on the open market. He strapped some dynamite to the bullpen and has already changed the face of it. He took what was the major weakness of this team last year and has already made it somewhat of a strength.

For this, we thank you Omar. But don't think your job is done yet.

-Alex