San Diego Padres Appoint Omar Minaya as Vice-President of Baseball Operations

Former New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya is back in Baseball after agreeing to be San Diego Padres senior vice president of baseball operations.

Minaya will work closely with general manager Josh Byrnes in evaluating talent.

Minaya said his discussions with the Padres began more than a year ago, medicine but it wasn’t until Byrnes was installed as general maanger last month, allergy following Jed Hoyer’s defection to the Cubs, stomach that the pieces fell into place.

“It’s going to be a scouting and development situation, and a lot of fun,” Minaya told the New York Post.

The move will allow the Mets to deduct Minaya’s new salary from the roughly $1.1 million they owe him for 2012. Minaya was fired following the 2010 season with two years remaining on his contract.

“On behalf of everybody at the Mets, we congratulate Omar and wish him all the best in his new position with the Padres,” Mets COO Jeff Wilpon said in a statement.

Under Minaya, the Mets came within a game of the World Series in 2006 before missing the playoffs on the final day of the regular season in successive years.

In Minaya’s final two seasons, the Mets finished fourth. But Minaya departed sure he would get another opportunity in baseball.

“There are a lot of good young players with the Mets, and I never [worried],” Minaya said of his job prospects. “As a whole in the industry, I was in conversations with different GMs throughout the year, and I never worried about that.”