Omar Minaya

Omar Anthony Minaya

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 185 lb.
• High School Newtown High School (Elmhurst, NY)

• Born November 10, 1958 in D.R.

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Dave Winfield (left) with Omar Minaya in Ghana

Omar Minaya was assistant GM of the New York Mets from 1998 to 2001. He became the first Hispanic General Manager in MLB history when he assumed that role with the Montreal Expos from 2002 to 2004, before returning to the Mets as GM in September 2004.

Born in the Dominican Republic, Omar moved to Queens, NY when he was young. Minaya was drafted in the 14th round of the 1978 amateur draft by the Oakland Athletics. He played 32 games for the Bend Timber Hawks of the Northwest League in 1978, hitting .208/.330/.302. After not playing the next two seasons, he hit .148/~.282/.222 in 25 games for the 1981 Wausau Timbers, in the Seattle Mariners organization, scoring 11 runs and driving in 9 despite just 8 hits. He fielded .914 in the outfield. In 1984, Omar batted .239/.434/.552 in 56 games in Italy. He stole 40 bases in 49 tries and manned center field. He later was a scout for the Texas Rangers.

In December of 2011, after a year working as an analyst for mlb.com, he was hired by the San Diego Padres as senior vice-president of baseball operations. He served as interim General Manager in 2014, following the firing of Josh Byrnes. From 2015 to 2017, he worked with the Major League Baseball Players Association, then in December of 2017 returned to the Mets as an assistant to GM Sandy Alderson, who had replaced him back in 2010. He stayed on when Brodie Van Wagenen replaced Alderson before the 2019 season, but he was fired alongside Van Wagenen when the Mets' sale to Steven Cohen was finalized on November 6, 2020. He returned to baseball in 2023 as a senior advisor for baseball operations with the New York Yankees.

His son Justin Minaya has played in the NBA.

Preceded by Jim Beattie

Montreal Expos General Manager 2002-2004

Succeeded by Jim Bowden

Preceded by Jim Duquette

New York Mets General Manager 2004-2010

Succeeded by Sandy Alderson

Record as a General Manager

Draft Picks

Expos 1st Round Picks

• 2002: 5th overall P Clint Everts - Cypress Falls High School
• 2003: 20th overall P Chad Cordero - California State University, Fullerton
• 2004: 13th overall P Bill Bray - College of William and Mary

Mets 1st Round Picks

• 2005: 9th overall P Mike Pelfrey - Wichita State University
• 2006: No Pick (Lost for signing Billy Wagner)
• 2007: No Pick (Lost for signing Moises Alou)

Significant Trades

Expos

• March 24, 2002 traded Jason Bay and Jimmy Serrano to the New York Mets for Lou Collier
• June 27, 2002 traded Grady Sizemore, Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee and Lee Stevens to the Cleveland Indians for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew
• July 11, 2002 traded Carl Pavano, Graeme Lloyd, Mike Mordecai, Justin Wayne and Don Levinski to the Florida Marlins for Cliff Floyd, Wilton Guerrero and Claudio Vargas
• July 30, 2002 traded Cliff Floyd to the Boston Red Sox for Seung Song and Sun-Woo Kim
• January 15, 2003 traded Bartolo Colon and Jorge Nunez to the Chicago White Sox for Orlando Hernandez, Rocky Biddle and Jeff Liefer
• March 24, 2003 traded Matt Blank and Jim Brower to the San Francisco Giants for Livan Hernandez and Edwards Guzman
• December 16, 2003 traded Javier Vazquez to the New York Yankees for Nick Johnson, Randy Choate and Juan Rivera
• January 5, 2004 traded Scott Stewart to the Cleveland Indians for Ryan Church and Maicer Izturis
• April 3, 2004 traded Chris Young and Josh McKinley to the Texas Rangers for Einar Diaz and Justin Echols
• July 31, 2004 traded Orlando Cabrera to the Chicago Cubs for Brendan Harris, Francis Beltran and Alex Gonzalez

Mets

• November 24, 2005 traded Mike Jacobs, Yusmeiro Petit and Grant Psomas to the Florida Marlins for Carlos Delgado
• December 5, 2005 traded Dante Brinkley and Gaby Hernandez to the Florida Marlins for Paul LoDuca
• January 22, 2006 traded Kris Benson to the Baltimore Orioles for Jorge Julio and John Maine
• May 24, 2006 traded Jorge Julio to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Orlando Hernandez
• June 9, 2006 traded Kazuo Matsui to the Colorado Rockies for Eli Marrero
• July 31, 2006 traded Xavier Nady to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Roberto Hernández and Oliver Perez
• December 6, 2006 traded Brian Bannister to the Kansas City Royals for Ambiorix Burgos
• July 30, 2007 traded Drew Butera and Dustin Martin to the Minnesota Twins for Luis Castillo
• February 2, 2008 traded Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey, Deolis Guerra and Philip Humber to the Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana

Significant Signings

Expos

• January 6, 2004 signed Tony Batista as a Free Agent from the Baltimore Orioles

Mets

• December 17, 2004 signed Pedro Martinez as a free agent from the Boston Red Sox
• January 13, 2005 signed Carlos Beltran as a free agent from the Houston Astros
• November 29, 2005 signed Billy Wagner as a free agent from the Philadelphia Phillies
• November 20, 2006 signed Moises Alou as a free agent from the San Francisco Giants

Further Reading

• Bryan Hoch: "Yanks bring on Minaya as senior advisor to baseball ops", mlb.com, January 5, 2023. [1]

External Links

Wikipedia entry about Minaya