The way owner Fred Wilpon explained it, Minaya might as well have Harry Truman’s “The Buck Stops Here” sign on his desk.

“Omar will have the authority and the autonomy in the baseball department,” Wilpon said. “He will make the final decisions.”
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“It’s not for having not spent money that we have not succeeded, we haven’t had the right players,” Wilpon said.

That was in late September, 2004. Omar’s strength, if you believe all of the hype, was that he was a skilled talent evaluator. Almost five years after his hiring, he’s got a team that’s top heavy in talent (a few top guys) but bereft of depth and skilled players otherwise. David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes are as good a top 3 as any team could possibly hope for. Two of them have been on the DL for extended periods of time. And Wright, while healthy, has seemingly been swallowed up by the malaise covering this team like a sticky syrup… not to mention the cavernous new ballpark. Did you know the entire Mets infield has 11 home runs total this season? Eleven. Delgado’s been out, Reyes… a disaster.

The Mets payroll for 2009 is an astounding $149.4 million. For that, they have zero to show for it. They have, what I am told, is a gorgeous, fan-friendly, new tribute to the Brooklyn Dodgers ballpark but the team is embarrassing. Defensively challenged, retarded fundamentally (in a way that I can point my kids to what they do and say: “Don’t do it that way”), mostly passionless. Layer in the Bernazard foibles and you have the makings for an organization CRYING for leadership. Someone, anyone, take control. Right the ship. Calm the fans, reassure them that you’re here to fix the mess. But that’s not happening:

With all the disarray, now would appear to be a good time for the Mets’ leadership to communicate directly, through the news media, to the team’s fans that someone is fully aware of the problems and that help is on the way.

Instead, Omar Minaya, the team’s general manager, is generally evading direct questions. Perhaps, more significantly, Jeff Wilpon, the man in charge of the team’s off-field operations and the son of the club’s majority owner, has not been heard from in months.

In normal times, a chief operating officer’s public silence would go unnoticed. On many teams, general managers do most of the talking because they are responsible for the team on a day-to-day basis. But when the problems spill off the field, higher-ranking executives often step in to clarify the team’s goals and project stability.

This would seem to be one of those moments. The Mets have one of the league’s highest payrolls, a disabled list so large it raises questions about the team’s training and medical staff and what appears to be a weak farm system. In the off-season, the Mets will have to decide how much they are willing to spend anew to attract free agents and become competitive again. Right now, they are a sloppy product and Mets fans are angry and uneasy, not just about the team but also about the higher ticket prices at Citi Field. “

I have a simple philosophy with regards to management, turn-arounds and ship-righting activities: If you are part of the problem, you cannot be part of the solution. Omar Minaya is clearly part of this problem. Jeff Wilpon might be, too, but he’s the owner and not going anywhere. That puts the onus on Minaya. So is Minaya the one to fix this? I’d say no way. But, guess what? Minaya signed a three year extension after last year that is set to begin after THIS year. Let’s review: The Mets fumbled, choked, blew it, etc. two years in a row to miss the playoffs. For that, he was rewarded with a three year extension. Ladies and gents, your New York Mets. There’s been a bunch of talk lately that manager Jerry Manuel and Minaya should be spared this year due to the injuries the team has suffered. Maybe Manuel should be. His job is to win with the players his GM provides. He hasn’t done that, but then again, he’s got a team of AAA guys out there.

Minaya, on the other hand, is wholly responsible for all of this. The lack of depth, the fact that half his team is on the DL (does that have something to do with the training staff under his control?), the lack of fundamentals, the selection of players. Livan Hernandez? That revolting three year contract for Oliver Perez…a deal NO ONE else would ever consider foisting upon that headcase? Seriously? The Mets have some very good high-end talent besides Wright and Reyes (DL) and Beltran (DL), including Johan Santana and K-Rod. What about Billy Wagner (DL) and JJ Putz (DL)? At least they traded for FAIL-coeur, right?

Back to the Wilpons. They clearly have lost more to Madoff than we know or would care to imagine. This has to be a horrible thing to have to deal with. However, it shouldn’t keep you from managing your remaining assets to the best of your ability, and the Mets are one of those assets. Their absence is conspicuous. Coming from a Yanks fan who is used to ownership bluster, the silence is deafening. While I generally can’t stand ownership proclamations without merit, now’s the time for the Wilpons to assert themselves.

Ownership has to make the decision when is the right time to speak and this looks like a situation that cries out for it,” said Bob Gutkowski, the former president of Madison Square Garden. “The Mets are bleeding from all angles. You have to protect the brand.

Yet Jeff Wilpon and his father, Fred, the chairman and chief executive of the team, have said nothing on the record about the team’s floundering fortunes. In recent seasons, they haven’t spoken much on the record at all. The few times Jeff Wilpon has spoken publicly this year, it has been limited to discussing the new park.

On Monday, Minaya told reporters that he and Manager Jerry Manuel had received a vote of confidence from Wilpon in recent weeks. Wilpon, however, did not publicly confirm that.

The ship has no rudder. The emperor has no clothes. The Mets have no chance until significant changes are made. If you are part of the problem, you cannot be part of the solution.