Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
I've had this discussion for a long time. There are 'good work people' and there are 'good people.' Working in sports, you meet a lot of 'good work people' – people who are good at their jobs and succeed no matter who they step on – but finding 'good people' – you know the type of person I'd trust to watch my daughter for an afternoon - is often a tougher task.
In his press conference to announce the firing of executive Tony Bernazard, Minaya tried to explain that, while Bernazard may not have been well liked – a good person, if you will – he was a good baseball person.
"Look, was Tony the most liked person in the world? No he was not. We know that. There's a lot of people that are not, sometimes, well liked, and, you know, they have been good baseball people. But, you know, I could tell you – was he the most liked person in the world? No. Was he a good baseball person? Yes."
That's a pretty ironic statement coming from Minaya, who earlier in the press conference called out New York Daily News reporter Adam Rubin for wanting a job in the Mets player personnel department, an accusation that Minaya stated caused him to "kind of tell myself, 'Wow, these things are coming out.'"
Wow indeed. A beat reporter uncovered a story that led to an internal investigation that led to an employee being fired. Oh, and the GM admitted in the press conference announcing said termination that the fired employee was not well liked. But Minaya took the opportunity to, what, try and turn the media against one of its own? Minaya all but accused Rubin of trying to steal Bernazard's job with his reporting, an allegation that Rubin – who was in the room during this press conference – asked Minaya to clarify. Minaya replied (transcription via Deadspin via Amazin' Avenue):
“I said, because, when the reports came out a lot of these things were cross... I said 'Who's writing these reports?' and I said well okay who's writing the reports and in the back of my mind, Adam, you have told me you have told other people in the front office that you want to work for player development in the front office.”At what point in the video can you see Minaya's face drop, realizing his plan to discredit Rubin's reporting, after Bernazard was already fired, wasn't going to play in that room full of reporters?
Did Minaya deflect some of the attention away from the giant mess he's created in Queens? Sure, a little. Following the press conference, Rubin was the man surrounded by cameras and microphones. In his follow up blog entry, Rubin is faced with defending his credibility as a reporter, writing:
“I want to get something straight.“Everything I wrote about Tony Bernazard - bombshell stories that appeared in the pages of the Daily News over the last week - is accurate. My reporting was solid, met the journalistic standards of sourcing and beyond and was untainted by any personal agenda on my part.
“The Mets fired Bernazard Monday, after conducting an investigation that presumably reflected the damning information contained in my stories.”
With his moves to try and make the Mets a contender in the last few years, Minaya has shown he's not exactly what one might call a 'good baseball person.' From a GM perspective, you're probably not doing the best job when one of the NY tabloids calls you Mr. Mess.
Yesterday, by calling out Rubin in front of a room of his peers, and with the watchful eye of television – and the internet and everyone on the American sports landscape – Minaya showed he's not a very good person either.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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And this surprises us?
by Over43 on Jul 28, 2009 1:41 PM EDT reply actions
Remember, this was also a guy who took his manager out to the west coast for one game and then promptly fired him at 3am EST. And to think, his 3-year contract extension doesn’t kick in until AFTER this season. Yeesh!
by PhillyPSU on Jul 28, 2009 1:52 PM EDT reply actions
If the Wilpons can’t find it in themselves to get rid of this guy now, then they have no business owning the MEts. This guy obviously does not know how to run an organization. If the evaluations of the minor league teams are anywhere near accurate, he has set the organization behind 2-3 years. Factor in all of the insuance money he has thrown at flops and injured prone has-beens. The fans deserve better!
by weathersusa on Jul 28, 2009 3:42 PM EDT reply actions
Day in and Day out, the New York Daily News is, essentially, the National Enquirer of Baseball coverage. Bill Madden, an unrepentant bigot who has patterned his work on the disgraced former News columnist Dick Young and made it his personal crusade to attack minorities and immigrants throughout the game. Young was the first Sportswriter who felt it was his province to enter the personal lives of the players and make that relevant for coverage and the News staff is of the belief that the players ANSWER to them for their lives, not just their games! Not only that, they adjust coverage of individuals based upon how those players treat THEM, instead of keeping a journalistic separation from the subject (Ethics 101, first week, first year of J-School).The News ‘Star’ Mike Lupica, who devotes better than 50% of his column inches to the sex lives of athletes, another 20% to their bloodstreams and the remainder to their finances. The game? Unknown by anyone working for the News. Lupica fancies himself a quintessential New Yorker, but grew up near Syrcuse and lives in Connecticut, so when it comes to understanding the likes of Manny Ramirez? Not going to happen.The list goes on and on, John Harper, Jim Rich, Mitch Lawrence (the NBA lead, who hasn’t gotten an NBA story correct in a decade), Gary Myers (the NFL lead who, Lupica-like, devotes himself to the crusade against Terrell Owens, Chad OchoCinco and other rich, minority athletes who offend his ‘good ole boy’ sensibilities) and is essentially in the tank for Parcells, his hero.The News has campaigned in recent years for Jorge Posada to be benched by the Yankees so his 2007 contract year would not be enabled (he wasn’t and his 2007 was one of the finest by any MLB catcher ever, signed a new deal and is now slugging .525 three years later…), Barry Bonds to be indicted, Roger Clemens to be indicted, Alex Rodriguez was taken to task for sunning himself, shirtless in Central Park (horrors!) and the wife of a Mets pitcher was excoriated for wearing a hottie outfit to a Christmas party (say it isn’t so!!!).None of these writers are actually sophisticated, urban New Yorkers, they are from suburban communities and mid-level schools and are the types of people who ACTUAL New Yorkers ignore from word two.As for Adam Rubin, he ADMITS in his rebuttal that he has sought out conversations relating to ‘opportunities in front office work in MLB’, that is NOT HIS JOB and doing so, by definition, should preclude him from covering the teams. Again, Ethics 101. At the news, ethics has the same relevance that it did in the Bush administration – and is seen as a hinderance to the ‘real’ job’In fact, the ONLY job for a Sportswriter is to cover the G-A-M-E. NOT inject themselves into the story, which happens at the New York Daily News 365 issues every year. The idiot who wrote this piece and the jackasses who commented are only too much evidence that the problem and misconceptions run far deeper than the News. What a pity.
by vagabondguru on Jul 28, 2009 6:48 PM EDT reply actions
Big Mets fan down in NC. I don’t like what I’ve seen this year. It all boils down to who had a hand in bringing in all the players we have now. Which player(s)
by jp@1964 on Jul 28, 2009 7:49 PM EDT reply actions
Big Mets fan down in NC. I don’t like what I’ve seen this year. It all boils down to who had a hand in bringing in all the players we have now. Which player(s) can step up to the plate. There’s been no leaders to this point and it starts with management.
by jp@1964 on Jul 28, 2009 7:51 PM EDT reply actions
I dont see anything wrong with what Minaya did at all. If this writer was looking for a job with the Mets that is motivation to write a story discrediting the person in the job already is it not? Your telling me its ridicoulis to make that assumption Dan Levy? Dont act like its impossible for a writer to do something like that because Im sure its been done before.
It was not smart for Minaya to say anything about it he should have kept it in the back of his head but really I think this is just media backlash toward someone who attacked one of their own.
by astrotown on Jul 28, 2009 8:40 PM EDT reply actions
Not only is Minaya a bad person, he’s a terrible GM. Met fans deserver better.
by Hippi-Kat on Jul 28, 2009 8:41 PM EDT reply actions
Once again, the reporter becomes the story, and a TSN blogger defends it. Unbelieveable.
And the reporter has the stupidity to get upset when he’s called out in public? What, did the reporter in question think something like this wasn’t going to come up? News flash, reporters and players get upset when things get leaked. They don’t go after the leaker, per se, but they do hold the reporter accountable. It’s only human nature.
by fan82 on Jul 28, 2009 8:51 PM EDT reply actions
Omar Minya is an inept administrator, who can barely string concise sentences together on a good day. The very fact that Jeff Wilpon would let him go out there alone without at least vetting his statement on Bernazard is peculiar and as we can see became a media nightmare.We can’t fire the Wilpons, but Omar needs to go.
by flushing41 on Jul 28, 2009 10:35 PM EDT reply actions
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