Omar Minaya

Omar Teodoro Antonio Minaya y Sánchez (born November 10, 1958) is the current, Sr. VP of Baseball Operations for the San Diego Padres. He previously served as General Manager for the Montreal Expos and New York Mets.

Early life

Born in the Dominican Republic, he moved to Elmhurst, in Queens, New York City at the age of eight and grew up in Corona. Minaya starred as a baseball player at Newtown High School in Elmhurst.

Playing career

Minaya was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 14th Round (342nd overall) of the 1978 Major League Baseball Draft. He had a short-lived career in the minor leagues as well as stints in leagues in both the Dominican Republic and Italy.

Front-office career

After injuries ended his playing career, Minaya joined the Texas Rangers' scouting team in 1985, where he helped in the signing of players such as Sammy Sosa and Juan González.

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 2002 to accept the general manager position with the Montréal Expos. He returned to the Mets as general manager following the 2004 season.

Minaya

Minaya is a municipality in Albacete, Castile-La Mancha, Spain.