Su Nueva York Metropolitano

Welcome! Or should I say Bienvanidos?

When the Mets hired Omar Minaya to become their General Manager, a little voice in the back of my head warned of a massive influx of Latin American players. In all honesty, I am surprised I have not seen an article on this topic yet. Could it be that journalists are afraid of being politically incorrect? I doubt I am the first person to think of it.

Is it entirely possible that Minaya will start rebuilding the Mets organization by loading up on Latino players, coaches and scouts? Omar Minaya is far from racist, so we wont be seeing an all-Hispanic team anytime soon, but given that his roots, expertise and vast number of peers are Latino, how can it truly be avoided? Omar is going to go with what he knows best, and at this point in time, Latinos are what he knows best.

Upon being named the GM, the first managerial candidates we heard about are Carlos Tosca and Rudy Jaramillo. Eventually Randolph was hired, but many are still skeptical that it was truly the decision of Minaya acting autonomously. Would he have preferred Jaramillo? Rudy still might sign on as the batting coach (after the New Year and his contract expiration).

Then we started to hear the off-season rumors: Piazza, Floyd, Leiter, Phillips out, with names like Sosa, Guillen, Ramirez, Beltran, Delgado, Martinez, Sexson, Cabrera and Soriano potentially in. Has anyone else noticed that just about every player Minaya has been interested in speaks English as a second language? Mets fans keep wondering why names like Sosa and Soriano are constantly topic of discussion for Minaya, but given the connection, perhaps it's not so odd.

It does not stop with the players either. Right now Jaramillo, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Manny Acta are the key names for coaching positions. Even the recently hired assistant Tony Bernazard is a native of Puerto Rico.

The good news is that all of this is a good thing. Whether Minaya is sticking to players and personnel he knows best, or just playing favorites, it does not matter. The amount of Latin American talent in Major League Baseball is enormous these days and at an all time high. In addition to the players, coaches and scouts, there is also an enormous resource in the Latin American fan base in New York City. The Dominican population alone is sizeable.

Right now the Mets have very little to offer free agents outside of money. New York is an amazing city, but we have seen that there are as many free agents that want to come to NY (Floyd, Cameron) as there are who do not (Hampton, Gonzalez). If the Mets were to truly expand their Latino presence, would it allow them to lure in even more Latin American talent and fans going forward? I think it just might.

Recently Dominican Yankee fans were outraged when DR-native Alfonso Soriano wasn sent packing to Texas in exchange for Alex Rodriguez. To make matters worse, when asked recently if he considered himself an American or a Dominican, A-Rod quickly responded with "American", which sent a shockwave through the New York Dominican community. Many Dominican Yankee fans have started rooting for the Red Sox. Why? They have more Dominican players.

Although it would be difficult to quantify, I would be curious to know what source of available revenue is out there in the Latino New York fan base should the Mets follow such a track. I grabbed this from an old web page:

In 1999 they had been in most of the big events of tropical music in the United States, as there are, the Festival del Merengue '99, in the theatre United Palace; "Homenaje a Sammy Sosa" in the Mets Shea Stadium in New York and at "Descarga Tropical" in Flushing Medow Park, where they shared the stage with artists as Fernando Villalona, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Victor Manuelle among them.

Sosa is already a hero in the Flushing area, on the level of Babe Ruth in some parts. One would have to wonder how much of his salary would be covered by the loyal Dominicans watching the Mets on TV and at the park. It gives a whole new meaning to Merengue Night at Shea.

If the Mets were to establish themselves as a culturally diverse powerhouse in 2005, where Latino players can become instant heroes, would it help woo such free agents in the future? Would Vlad Guerrero have signed with the Mets with Omar at the helm?