Omar Was Just Playing His Cards

Omar Minaya's plan to become the team that dominates signings in the Dominican Republic has received another major boost. The Mets have hired the well-connected Rafael Perez, the senior manager of MLB's office in Latin America, who is based in Santo Domingo, to run the team's operations in the country, a source said.

Yesterday Phil Mushnick wrote a piece on the topic. Does his article have any merit? If Billy Beane wanted to build a baseball team with only white people, would anyone hardly care? If Billy was selling his team as a white utopia, would he get fired?

The problem is, I do not think this is essentially what Omar is/was doing. When you have Latin ballplayers who have a native language that they probably feel more comfortable speaking, it is only natural that it would be a selling point. As would it be to a Japanese player, or a player from another country. It could be a deciding factor in some cases for a Japanese player to choose Seattle or either New York team for a certain comfort level. For Kaz, it was important that whichever team he chose, had a sizeable Japanese population in the surrounding area. You spend a whole lot of time with your teammates and while the goal is to win, you want to be in a situation that is right for you. Some players like Vlad Guerrero prefer, and feel more comfortable to be on a ball club that has a good number or Latin ballplayers. Is there anything wrong with that? Nope.

Omar took a gamble on Delgado and it was something that was not important to him, but is important to other players. I'm sure Omar learned a lesson, but if the Mets win, there will be no more need for creative selling. No need to sell them on the Latin population of area, the number of Latin players on the team or Latin front office personnel. Players will want to come here because of the young core, deep pockets, and to be a winning team. Omar was put in a tough spot by having to draw major players to a bad team. Pulling out all the stops was a necessity. Circumstances being what they were, Omar did what he had to do and did an amazing job at that.

* * *

This story is on the craziest things I've heard in a while.

Davis and his wife, LaDonna Davis, 64, were visiting the sanctuary to celebrate the birthday of Moe - a 39-year-old chimpanzee who was taken from their home after biting off part of a woman's finger in 1999.

The couple had brought Moe a cake and were standing outside his cage when the two young male chimps, Ollie and Buddy, attacked the man. Moe was not involved in the attack.

Two other chimps, females named Susie and Bones, also escaped from the cage they shared with Ollie and Buddy. They were recovered outside the sanctuary five hours later.

Primate experts said the presence of the two female chimps could have played a role in the attack.

"We know that one of the most reliable predictors of increased male aggression is the presence of sexually receptive females," said Jeffrey French, a psychobiologist who studies primate behavior at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

The chimps chewed off most of Davis' face, tore off his foot and testicles and dragged him down the road. Davis was transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he had surgery late Thursday night.

The Chimps also chewed off all of fingers according to some other reports. According the article chimps can grow up to 150 pounds.

Minor League camp holds it's first full workout on Tuesday.

Kris Benson starts tonight against the Baltimore Orioles at Tradition Field.

Pedro Martinez starts on Wednesday against the Cardinals at Tradition Field

Steve Trachsel starts Thursday at Baltimore.

Victor Zambrano makes a Start on Friday in Vero Beach against the Dodgers.

Cameron takes Willie deeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Willie Randolph admitted he's lost something off his fastball. Still, it was an encouraging sign for the Mets that Mike Cameron took the manager over the outfield wall during a batting-practice session yesterday morning.

But that's the not REAL tell tale sign he's back.

"He's getting anxious," Floyd said. "He's starting to talk a little bit, talk smack. That's a sign a player is ready to come back. He looked awesome."

Can Aaron Heilman throw in a game without giving up a bomb?

"Are they taking the money out of your pocket to pay this team?"

-- ATLANTA BRAVES MANAGER BOBBY COX, teasing Mets assistant general manager Tony Bernazard

I know he's just being funny, but Omar has constructed a pretty damn good team for the money. The Mets were 2nd in payroll to the Cubbies before they acquired Douggie Fresh.