Omar Minaya to Serve as Adviser to Baseball Operations for New York Yankees

Omar Minaya is heading to the New York Yankees corporate office…

The 64-year-old Dominican baseball executive, a former New York Mets general manager, is joining the team as an adviser to baseball operations.

Omar MinayaThe move to hire Minaya comes two days after the Yankees brought former San Francisco Giants general manager Brian Sabean into the front office as an executive assistant to general manager Brian Cashman.

Minaya is a native of Queens and started scouting after the conclusion of his minor league career.

He worked for the Texas Rangers before moving to the Mets, the Montreal Expos, back to the Mets, and the San Diego Padres before returning to the Mets for a third time.

He was the general manager of the Expos from 2002 through 2004 and the Mets from 2005 through 2010.

The veteran baseball executive most recently worked with Major League Baseball as a consultant for domestic and international amateur scouting initiatives. Among his most notable accomplishments was helping discover Sammy Sosa and Ivan Rodriguez as a scout for the Rangers.

The Yankees’ front office has received criticism in recent years for leaning too hard on analytics, and adding Sabean and Minaya brings in two executives with successful scouting backgrounds.

Pagán & the San Francisco Giants Agree to Four-Year, $40M Deal

It looks like free-agent center fielder Ángel Pagán is staying put in the Bay Area…

The 31-year-old Puerto Rican professional baseball player is thisclose to sealing a $40 million, four-year deal with the San Francisco Giants.

Angel Pagan

Bobby Evans, the team’s vice president of baseball operations, said the pact with Pagán was “very close” to being finalized and that the leadoff hitter would be subject to a physical to finalize his return to the reigning World Series champions.

Retaining Pagán was among the top priorities for the team’s general manager Brian Sabean this offseason, along with keeping recently re-signed left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt and second baseman Marco Scutaro.

Pagán batted .288 with eight home runs, 56 RBIs and a San Francisco-best 15 triples in his first season with the Giants. Pagán said late in the season and again after the World Series parade that he hoped to return, but wanted to test free agency and sought some job security in the form of a multiyear deal.

Whether NL championship series MVP Scutaro returns is still a question. He very well could have a new suitor in the mix after the New York Yankees said Monday that third baseman Alex Rodriguez will have surgery on his left hip and could be lost until the 2013 All-Star break.

Sabean said he likely wouldn’t address his bullpen until after first negotiating with the representatives for Pagán and Scutaro.

The 37-year-old Venezuelan Scutaro hit .362 with three homers and 44 RBIs in 61 games with the Giants after he was acquired in a trade with the Colorado Rockies.