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He's coming back. Apparently. (Photo by The Associated Press.)
I lost my faith on July 7.
In Omar Minaya, of course.
That's when I wrote this fairly scathing analysis of how Minaya botched getting a bat this offseason. It was one of many negative entries I wrote about Minaya this season from his inaction when the ship starting sinking to his reaction when Tony Bernazard got the axe. It's all in the archives and you can find it all by clicking the "Omar Minaya" tag in the right rail.
So you may have found it odd that I was fairly quiet about the reports of Fred Wilpon stating that Minaya would return next season. Silent no more.
I dedicated my feature-length column for this week's Sunday Review page to that very subject, albeit in a somewhat unconventional format. You can read it online here or conveniently pasted below before you read it Sunday's editions of the Home News Tribune and Courier News.
Thanks for reading.
A real world analysis of Omar's performance
By STEVE FEITL
Published Aug. 30, 2009
Clik here to view.
Not a favorable performance review. (Photo by The Associated Press.)
Dear Omar,
It's time for your annual performance review. This process will help us determine whether we should keep you on for the duration of your contract as general manager here with NYM — New York Manufacturing.
Let's first look at your overall performance. We set some benchmarks for you to attain and it appears you will fall well short of them. It should be noted this will be the third straight year that your departments miss these thresholds. In the past two years, you appeared on pace to meet them only to falter at the end of the year. This year, you are not even close.
Your team of employees is currently operating at a success rate of .450. The industry minimum to meet your benchmark is currently .558, attained by a company in Colorado. Our direct competitor in Philadelphia is operating at a .587 clip, not to mention that the other manufacturer here in town is at .625. But to be fair, the other New York company does pay better.
We also understand your staff has been hit with unprecedented absences, with as many as 19 employees using extended sick time. However, many of those assets were asked to continue working while sick, including frequent Employee of the Month Johan Santana. It's unclear if this decision worsened his sickness, but the risk was questionable at best.
This reflects poorly on your operation, so let's look at some of your direct management decisions.
You chose to purchase the KROD-75 model to improve our efficiency at finishing the product. This has been a good buy. Overall, our efficiency has improved from an incredible 29 failures in 2008 to 18 in 2009.
However, your choice of rehiring Oliver Perez to start the production process once a week has been a poor hire. As you know, many favored bringing in Derek Lowe, who now runs a plant down in Atlanta. His production there has been four times greater than Perez's output at only $3 million more. This was a terrible decision that will haunt this company for two more years.
Also, it appears that Daniel Murphy did not receive adequate training for his original assignment, though he seems more comfortable after a transfer to a new department. His production, however, is still below industry standards.
As is the output of most of the employees you promoted from our operations in Buffalo and Binghamton.
Your inaction as production fell during the summer seemed ill-advised.
As were your public comments about a reporter who inquired about a career in manufacturing.
You've had a larger budget than any of our direct competitors for five years.
But you have only one successful year to show for it.
In the face of these findings, we must decide that you are no longer the right person to lead our company. Perhaps if you worked for a professional baseball team, you could keep your job with this track record.
But in the real world, you get fired.