Omar Minaya Calls Out Adam Rubin

In the wake of the Tony Bernazard firing, Omar Minaya decided to move on stir up controversy by accusing Daily News journalist Adam Rubin of lobbying for a position with the Mets in their player development program.

All I can say is that I was stunned.

First off, I want to say that Rubin does a fantastic job covering not only the Mets, but their farm system as well for both the Daily News and Baseball America. I find him to be one of the most, if not the most, respectable journalists in New York. This is why I find Minaya’s accusation not only unnecessary, but insulting.

For Minaya to say that he had to “consider the source” when he read the Bernazard/Binghamton Mets story, it certainly raised an eyebrow. He explained this with the reason I mentioned above, that being Rubin’s alleged “lobbying” for a job in player development.

Minaya went on say that after he did consider the source, it had zero effect on the firing of Bernazard. There are a few missing pieces to this story, so let’s take a look.

If Rubin’s alleged lobbying for a job with the Mets didn’t have an impact on Minaya’s decision to fire Bernazard, then why bring it up at all?

It doesn’t make any sense to even mention Adam’s name in the press conference. I don’t know for sure if it was a slip of the tongue or a personal attack on Rubin, but it seemed intentional. Does Minaya feel that Rubin has unfairly portrayed him in the media?

No matter what the case, Minaya should not have brought his name up.

A big problem I found with the news conference is this: if Minaya says that Rubin’s story is different than what human resources reported, why didn’t anyone ask him what those differences were? How come that wasn’t approached?

Forgive me if I missed that question, but I didn’t hear anything concerning that. I would like to know what the differences were, because Rubin has talked to a scout who verified the story.

There is one final problem I find with this ridiculous accusation. Let’s do what Omar did and “consider the source”.

Adam Rubin attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, an extremely difficult (Ivy League) school to get in to. He must be a pretty intelligent guy to say the least. Do you think he would really try and overthrow Tony Bernazard by fabricating stories in the newspaper so that one day he could possibly take a similar position with the Mets?

Of course Omar did what he had to do, which is deny this. But once again I ask, why bring it up at all?

Furthermore, had he actually approached Jeff Wilpon about a specific position with the team (Rubin denied it), it really does not need to be brought up at this press conference. It just has no place.

Omar Minaya clearly wanted to deflect attention away from Tony Bernazard and the mess that he created. He accomplished that, but at the expense of a fine reporter.

There was absolutely no reason to call out Adam Rubin at this press conference, and it is just another sign that the front office and ownership of the Mets do not understand public relations in addition to baseball.

Afterwards Rubin said, “I don’t know how I’m going to cover the team now.” Does he even want to? Maybe he should stick around to write about the downfall of Omar Minaya, because this press conference looks like the beginning of the end for him.