After injuries ended his playing career, Minaya joined the
Texas Rangers' scouting team in , where he helped in the signing of players such as
Sammy Sosa,
Juan González, and
Ivan Rodriguez.
New York Mets In the mid-1990s, Minaya left Texas and returned home to join the staff of the
New York Mets, working his way to assistant general manager behind
Steve Phillips and being partly responsible for that team's late-1990s success. Minaya became the first Hispanic to hold a general manager position in
Major League Baseball when he left the Mets in early to accept the general manager position with the
Montreal Expos.
Montreal Expos In 2002, Minaya was named vice president and general manager of the
Montreal Expos, which had been taken over by Major League Baseball. This unusual ownership arrangement was reached after an attempt at
contracting the Expos failed, while MLB set up a three way deal in which
John W. Henry, the owner of the
Florida Marlins, was allowed to purchase the
Boston Red Sox, while the Expos' owner,
Jeffrey Loria, was permitted to sell the Montreal club and purchase the
Florida Marlins instead. When Minaya arrived, there were only six other employees in baseball operations; those who hadn't followed Loria to Miami had gone elsewhere. as it included the AL
Cy Young Award winner in Lee and future All-Stars Brandon Phillips and Grady Sizemore. Minaya also dealt away a number of other young players, all of whom went on to enjoy success upon reaching the major league level. These included: •
Jason Bay (2004 Rookie of the Year, All-Star in 2005, 2006, & 2009, Top 25 in MVP Voting 2005 & 2006) •
Carl Pavano (2004 All-Star and Cy Young Award candidate) •
Chris Young (2007 All-Star)
New York Mets (second stint) After the Mets continued to struggle at the conclusion of the 2004 season, Mets owner
Fred Wilpon asked Minaya to become the team's general manager. In Minaya's first offseason he made two significant free agent signings, adding pitcher
Pedro Martínez and outfielder
Carlos Beltrán. Signing Martinez helped raise the awareness of the Mets in Latin America, leading Minaya to remark that Martinez was "a guy that makes the brand." Under new manager
Willie Randolph, the Mets improved from 71 wins in 2004 to 83 wins in , staying in the hunt for the postseason until the last week of the season. Minaya's work in the 2005 offseason would further shape the franchise, adding
closer Billy Wagner,
first baseman Carlos Delgado and veteran
catcher Paul Lo Duca. He also strengthened the bench by adding
utility infielder José Valentín,
first baseman Julio Franco and
outfielder Endy Chávez.
Bullpen acquisitions included
Chad Bradford,
Jorge Julio, and
Duaner Sánchez. Despite the veteran additions, Minaya was able to limit payroll by trading
Mike Cameron to the
San Diego Padres for
Xavier Nady and
Kris Benson to the
Baltimore Orioles for
Jorge Julio and
John Maine. In 2006 the Mets won the National League East by 12 games, finishing first with a National-League-best and Major League-tied 97 wins. During the season, Minaya fortified the team by making additional trades, acquiring
Orlando Hernández (for Jorge Julio) and
Óliver Pérez and
Roberto Hernández (for Xavier Nady) and trading away second baseman
Kazuo Matsui. Minaya and the Mets were featured in the
Sports Illustrated cover story for the June 18, 2007 issue. The article focused on Minaya's upbringing in the Dominican Republic and Queens, as well as his brief minor league playing career, his two years playing professional baseball in
Tuscany, and time as an international scout in the Rangers' organization. The Mets signed
Moisés Alou to multiple lucrative contracts, but Alou was plagued with injuries during his Mets career. Minaya also traded away several young pitchers many fans believed could have helped the Mets avert their historic breakdown at the end of the
2007 season. In November 2006, Minaya sent
Heath Bell and
Royce Ring to the Padres for
Ben Johnson and
Jon Adkins. A few days later, he sent hard-throwing relievers
Henry Owens and
Matt Lindstrom to the
Florida Marlins for lefties
Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick. The following month, he traded starting pitcher
Brian Bannister (son of former major league pitcher
Floyd Bannister) to the
Kansas City Royals for a live bullpen arm in
Ambiorix Burgos. Some of the young pitchers dealt away by Minaya, most notably Bell, thrived with their new teams, while the Mets netted little on those deals. Minaya's biggest acquisition came on January 29, 2008, when he reached a tentative deal with the
Minnesota Twins to send
Carlos Gómez,
Philip Humber,
Kevin Mulvey, and
Deolis Guerra to the Twins for ace pitcher
Johan Santana. The trade became official after Santana was signed to a contract extension and passed a physical. Gómez was the only one of these four players to have a significant major league career, primarily with the Brewers, after just two years with the Twins. The next off-season, Minaya needed to address the bullpen. On December 9, he signed closer
Francisco Rodríguez to a three-year deal. Rodriguez had been coming off a major league record of 62 saves in the
2008 season. Three days later, Minaya acquired
J. J. Putz from the Mariners in a three-team deal. On January 5, 2010, Minaya signed outfielder
Jason Bay to a four-year deal. (As Expos general manager, Minaya traded Bay to the Mets in 2002.) He was fired from the New York Mets organization on October 4, 2010, along with Manager
Jerry Manuel.
Willie Randolph firing Minaya was subject to intense scrutiny and criticism from many in
Major League Baseball and by the New York City media for his handling of the firing of
Willie Randolph as the Mets manager. Many members of the media and fans criticized the timing of the decision, a day into a west coast road trip, and some referred to the late night episode as the Mets' "Midnight Massacre." He fired Randolph in Randolph's hotel room in
California after Randolph finished managing the first game of the Mets series with the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a game which they won, 9-6. Minaya also fired pitching coach
Rick Peterson and first base coach
Tom Nieto. Randolph was removed from his position with no media present and the decision came to light through a press release from Minaya at 3:12am EDT (12:12am PDT); as such, many of the Mets team members were unaware that this had transpired and, upon being informed (not by Mets management, but by various team reporters and commentators) expressed shock and disbelief. Randolph's job was in question for the two to three weeks prior to the decision being made, and the uncertainty of Randolph's job had been more at the forefront of the questions surrounding the team than the actual baseball they had been playing.
Jerry Manuel, Randolph's bench coach, was appointed the interim manager of the Mets. Coaches
Ken Oberkfell (new first base coach),
Dan Warthen (new pitching coach), and
Luis Aguayo (new third base coach) also joined the team after this decision (
Sandy Alomar Sr. became Manuel's bench coach). During his 5pm EST press conference from California, Minaya confirmed that Manuel would remain as the Mets manager during the remainder of the 2008 season. On October 3, 2008, it was reported Manuel had agreed to a two-year deal to remain Mets manager, with a club option for a third year.
Tony Bernazard firing On July 27, 2009, the Mets organization issued a statement announcing the firing of Vice President of Development
Tony Bernazard by Minaya saying, in part, "I spoke with Tony [Bernazard] this morning and informed him of my decision to terminate his employment with the Mets", confirming an earlier report. At the press conference announcing the firing, Minaya angrily challenged the accuracy of past news reports, claiming
New York Daily News reporter Adam Rubin, who initially broke the story about Bernazard challenging
Binghamton Mets players to a fight, was angling for a position in the Mets organization. This led to a heated exchange of words between the two, with Rubin calling Minaya "despicable." Shortly after the press conference, Minaya said that he stood by his comments about Rubin but acknowledged it "was not the proper forum to raise those issues." Three days later, Minaya personally apologized to Rubin for his remarks.
San Diego Padres On December 2, 2011, Minaya was hired by the San Diego Padres as senior vice president of baseball operations. Minaya left the position in January 2015 joining the
Major League Baseball Players Association as a senior adviser to executive director
Tony Clark.
New York Mets (third stint) On December 22, 2017, Minaya was hired by the
New York Mets as a special assistant to general manager
Sandy Alderson. After Sandy Alderson took a leave of absence from the Mets in July 2018 due to a recurrence of cancer. Alderson was informally succeeded on an interim basis by
John Ricco, Minaya, and
J. P. Ricciardi. After
Steve Cohen purchased the team on November 6, 2020, Minaya - along with much of the front office - was dismissed. Minaya was rehired once again by the Mets in January 2021 in an ambassadorship role while also helping to reach out to the Latino community. On February 2, 2022, Minaya was hired by
Major League Baseball to serve as a consultant for amateur scouting initiatives.
New York Yankees On January 5, 2023, Minaya was hired by the
New York Yankees as a senior advisor to baseball operations. ==Personal life==