Rachel Minaya, wife of Yankees executive Omar, found dead in their NJ home
Rachel Minaya, the wife of former Mets general manager and current Yankees executive Omar Minaya, was found dead in their New Jersey home on Saturday, according to a person briefed by the family.
Omar Minaya was not home at the time of his wife’s death.
According to the person who had been briefed by the family, suicide has been ruled out as the cause of death.
The Minayas have two adult sons, Justin and Teddy.
Justin is a forward with the Portland Trail Blazers and has been playing for their summer league team this month in Las Vegas.
According to a 2007 Sports Illustrated profile, Omar met Rachel in 1989 at a Manhattan hair salon.
Within a year, they got engaged during a trip to Italy.
Omar Minaya joined the Yankees at the start of 2023 as a senior adviser to general manager Brian Cashman after spending 2004-10 as the Mets’ general manager and 2017-20 as a special assistant to multiple GMs in Queens.
The 65-year-old previously served as GM of the Montreal Expos before the franchise moved to Washington and became the Nationals and also worked for the Texas Rangers in a scouting capacity and as vice president of baseball operations for the San Diego Padres from 2011-2015.
Known for his scouting acumen, Omar Minaya was hired as the Mets’ GM after the 2004 season and his tenure there included signing the likes of Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez, which helped the club reach the NLCS in 2006.
The Dominican Republic native who grew up in Queens also oversaw drafts that landed the Mets some homegrown talent that helped them reach the 2015 World Series, including Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey.
With the Yankees, Minaya has spent some time around the big-league club while making trips to their minor league affiliates and internationally to serve as another pair of eyes for Cashman.
He is one of three former GMs in the team’s front office, along with Brian Sabean and Jim Hendry.
In between stints with the Mets, Minaya spent 2011-15 in the Padres’ front office — which made him a valuable voice when the Yankees pulled off a trade with the Padres for Juan Soto in December.
He then spent three years as the senior adviser to Tony Clark, the executive director of the MLB Players Association before returning to Queens under Sandy Alderson.
Before joining the Yankees, Minaya also spent a year working for MLB as an amateur scouting consultant.
