Mets' Minaya Digging Own Grave

This was supposed to be the day that the Mets moved past the Tony Bernazard fiasco and marched boldly forward without him.

Mets GM Omar Minaya should have just gone into his press conference at Citi Field and made a brief statement.

Something to the effect of: We have investigated the reports of Tony Bernazard’s improper behavior in the minor leagues and after conducting that investigation I decided it would be best for the organization to let Tony go.

Something short and sweet like that would’ve enabled the Mets to move past this embarrassing chapter in their increasingly tumultuous history.

Instead, Minaya rambled along and decided to question the credibility of Daily News reporter Adam Rubin, who covers the Mets for the paper and broke the Bernazard stories.

It looks like Minaya wanted to exact revenge on Rubin for bringing to light the embarrassing stories about his friend Bernazard.

“You got to understand this: Adam for the past couple of years has lobbied for a player development position. He has lobbied myself, he has lobbied Tony,” Minaya said.

Rubin was sitting at the back of the press conference and looked shocked by what Minaya was suggesting.

“Is what your alleging that I tried to tear Tony down so I could take his job?” Rubin asked. “Is that what you’re saying?

“That’s despicable to say that.”

“No,  no, I’m not saying that,” Minaya said. “I am saying, that in the past, you have lobbied for a job.”

“Over the years he said a number of times that he would like … he asked me personally … to work in the front office,” Minaya said according to The Associated Press, “in my front office. Not only me, but he’s asked others.”

Rubin ended up giving his own press conference to his colleagues, a bizarre scene for sure.

“I was flabbergasted,” Rubin said. “When he first mentioned my name, I thought he was paying a compliment, an uncomfortable compliment for him. This was absolutely startling.

“I never asked Omar directly for a job,” he added, according to the Associated Press. “I don’t know how I’m going to cover the team now. I’m absolutely floored. I asked, ‘How do you get a job in baseball.’ That’s it.”

Minaya later backtracked — somewhat — during another press conference, saying it “was not the proper forum to raise those issues.”

He said he was sorry for making the comments at the press conference, but stood by the content of the message.

If Rubin specifically asked the Mets for a job in their organization, then that is a clear conflict of interest and he should be removed from the beat.

If he just asked generally about how to get a job in baseball, that is a gray area but clearly not as much of a problem.

Mets COO Jeff Wilpon confirmed that he had spoken with Rubin about him potentially working in baseball.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” Wilpon said. “I believe Adam was just doing what anybody else does. I probably get a call a week from someone asking for career advice.”

The bottom line is that the stories Rubin wrote about Bernazard were true, so how can Minaya call him out with a straight face?

And why would a guy looking for a job with the Mets write stories that made them look so unorganized?

Either way, it will be difficult for Rubin to cover the team now.

Rubin may be able to cover the players and the games, but how can he cover the GM?

His paper is standing by him for now.

“This was a well-reported, well-researched, exclusive story, and it’s a shame that the Mets deemed fit to cast aspersions on our reporter instead of dealing with the issues at hand,” Daily News editor in chief Martin Dunn said in a statement.

“We stand by Adam 1,000 percent.”

As for Minaya, if he went out there rogue style and damaged Rubin’s credibility, he should be fired.

If he didn’t and was pursuing a party line aimed at exacting revenge on Rubin, then the Mets, as Ricky Ricardo might have said, have some ‘splaining to do.

Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter.