Somber Minaya: 'I think we needed a change here'

The crowning achievement of Omar Minaya's tenure as the general manager of the Mets came in 2006, when his team won the National League East by 12 games and came within one timely hit of the World Series.

But it was all downhill from there for Minaya, whose six-year tenure with the Mets ended Monday when the team announced that he had been "relieved of his duties" with the organization.

The move hardly came as a surprise. With a $130-million payroll, the fourth-place Mets finished 18 games behind the Phillies and missed the postseason for a fourth consecutive year. Minaya, who has two years worth roughly $2.2 million left on his contract, was not fired, but he now will see if he fits with the new regime in a different role.

"I think that to be able to be the GM of the New York Mets for the past six years has been an unbelievable opportunity," he said, "something that anybody that grows up in New York would wish to do. It has been a dream. The only part of the dream that didn't happen was winning the World Series. That's what I hoped to do and I was not able to finish it. Hopefully, someone else will finish that."

Unlike Jerry Manuel, who left without speaking to reporters, Minaya held court in the middle of the Mets' clubhouse for what might have been his final time.

Minaya fumbled his share of impromptu news conferences as GM, but in speaking more from the heart, he seemed close to tears as he described his conversation with the Wilpons earlier that morning. "I think we needed a change here," Minaya said. "I think right now, the bottom line is we've had three years that we didn't finish the job. It's not only about this year. I've been in this town long enough to know that you're expected to win.

"They've given me the payroll to go out there and get the job done. I know the players have tried, the coaches have tried, everybody has tried. But the bottom line is, it wasn't done. I totally agree with them that a change was needed and I told them that I think it's the right decision."

Minaya always had been a favorite of principal owner Fred Wilpon, who planned to bring him back as the GM from the moment Minaya left for that same job with the Montreal Expos. But Minaya ultimately could not survive the contracts he gave Oliver Perez ($36 million) and Luis Castillo ($25 million) - two overpaid players who helped drag down the franchise.

As for the possibility of staying with the Mets, perhaps in more of a scouting role, Minaya didn't rule it out. Although he would like to remain in New York, it might be too difficult to do so in a diminished role, and Minaya described himself as "outside the organization" in talking Monday about the Mets. That was not easy for him to say.

"I'd like to tell Mets fans, thank you for their support," Minaya said. "Keep the faith. Keep on believing. It's going to happen."