Over the weekend, Mets CEO Fred Wilpon gave Omar Minaya a vote of confidence that he would return for 2010. As expected, the backlash from Mets fans was not pretty.  I have been very critical of Omar too lately, mostly because of the bizarre way in which he handled the Tony Bernazard affair. But is the criticism of Omar fair? Does he deserve to come back or should he be let go?

The popular response is to fire him. But how much of that opinion is tempered because of fans’ anger and frustrations of a team with the largest payroll in the league playing so poorly because of injuries beyond repair?

No one can blame Mets fans for the anger they are showing. When a fan base has been promised a winner and when they are expected to pay exorbitant prices to attend games, souvenirs, and eat at concession stands, those fans have a right to be heard.

But is firing Minaya fair? Does he really deserve to go after a season when the team has been decimated by injuries, the most recent being to ace Johan Santana? Would any team be doing better under the same circumstances?

A common criticism in the media has been that the Mets farm system is barren and the Mets had no one to call up to fill in. Is that fair considering the number of major injuries the Mets suffered? Whose farm system could have replaced the homerun and RBI production of Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado? What club can boast a minor leaguer that could have replaced 50 to 60 stolen bases when Jose Reyes left for the season?

Emotionally, I wanted Omar fired too. However, intellectually, is it fair to not give him another chance considering the ridiculous number of players that were hurt and missed huge amounts of time this season?

As I recall, I did not hear many complain when Minaya brought in Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado, Billy Wagner, Xavier Nady, Paul LoDuca, Jose Valentine, Chad Bradford, Endy Chavez, Duaner Sanchez, Darren Oliver, John Maine, Pedro Feliciano, Orlando Hernandez, Oliver Perez (the first time), Shawn Green, Damion Easley, Jorge Sosa, Fernando Tatis, Marlon Anderson, Guillermo Mota, Brian Stokes, Ryan Church, and Johan Santana.  Each one of these players has contributed greatly to the Mets success from 2005 through 2008. I know many will disagree with 2007 and 2008 as being successful seasons but they were winning teams ending in second place, not the stumble bums from the Jim Duquette/Art Howe years. And the deals made for this year would have likely paid off if not more than half the team spent the summer on the DL. Francisco Rodriguez, J.J. Putz, Sean Green, Jeff Francouer, Alex Cora, and Angel Pagan all helped the Mets this season until the wheels fell completely off.

And in regards to the minor leagues, Omar and his staff drafted Mike Pelfrey, Jon Neise, Bobby Parnell, Joe Smith, Daniel Murphy, and Eddie Kunz. All have contributed to the Major League club to some degree. They are not the greatest prospects of all time but each has shown potential to have very good major league talent given time to develop. Also, there does appear to be a lot of talent at the lower levels of the organization. They were not ready this year to fill in and probably won’t be ready for a couple of more years. And don’t forget that some minor league prospects were used to acquire Santana, Delgado, and others.

What are some of the bad moves Omar has made?

He should have never let Chad Bradford go to Baltimore after 2006, haggling over a two year deal then giving a two year deal to Scott Schoeneweis who never worked out.  He traded Heath Bell and Royce Ring to San Diego for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins, both since released.  Omar then sent power arms Matt Lindstrom and Henry Owens to Florida for Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick, both released. He traded Brian Bannister to Kansas City for Ambriorix Burgoes, also released.  He let Darren Oliver go to the LA Angels where he still enjoys success and signed aging player Moises Alou who could still hit with the best of them but could not stay healthy. Omar traded for Luis Castillo who was dreadful until this season. He brought in Brian Schneider who has had trouble staying healthy and never lived up to the hype in terms of being a great pitcher’s catcher. He acquired Tim Redding for 2.25 million, whose shoulder was not in good shape when signed then resigned Ollie Perez, giving him 36 million, not recognizing they had likely gotten all they could have from the left handed enigma.

A bigger problem with Omar was what the handling of Tony Bernazard revealed. Attempting to blame New York Daily News writer Adam Rubin for having to fire his crony was completely out of line, immature, and totally unprofessional. I say that with the notion that some of the Bernazard flap was blown out of proportion.  Bernazard was trying to teach his AA players that abusing alcohol would not be tolerated.  Regardless, Minaya handled the situation poorly.  Bernazard was a loose cannon who thrived on intimidating minor league players and other organization underlings. Why didn’t Minaya handle the situation sooner avoiding much embarrassment to the organization?  The fact is Minaya would have kept Bernazard, enabling an apparent abusing employee, than to do the right thing. I find that more troubling than any negative trade or signing he has made.

Could some of this communication breakdown be going on with trainers and doctors too? You have got to wonder if some of the Mets injury issues are partly due to less than adequate training personnel whose friendships, like Bernazard, Omar is protecting.  What damage will this do for acquiring other Major League players who may be targeted by the Mets in the off season? Carlos Beltran and agent Scott Boras, so distrusting of the Mets medical staff, sought their own opinion when Beltran’s knee became so problematic. No other team, regardless of record, has suffered the amount of injuries the Mets have this season. Is it completely a coincidence?

2009 is hard to completely blame on Minaya. The injuries to the Mets are like something I have never witnessed while following the Mets for so many years. The other two seasons that come to mind in regards to injury are 1972 and 1987 but even they do not compare to the disaster of this season.

Wilpon says Minaya will be back. However, as pointed out by Ed Coleman, he didn’t say as GM. Omar is under contract for three more years. That means the Mets could move him to a less volatile position.  We’ll see.