Beleaguered Mets GM Omar Minaya met the press before the first game of yesterday’s day-night doubleheader, with attacks and accusations against Adam Rubin now replaced by contrition and apology to the Daily News reporter. But the apology was forced and half-baked, never addressing the crux of the matter.
Minaya met with Rubin on Wednesday, and apologized for publicly accusing the reporter of “lobbying” for a job with the club on Monday and insinuating he’d attempted to get VP of player development Tony Bernazard fired in order to take his job. But Minaya never once retracted his statement.
“I admit to making a mistake, in bringing up the things that I did. I should’ve talked to Adam separately; I did not do that. I take full responsibility for that,” Minaya said. “I also want to apologize to the ownership group. I want to apologize to Mets fans, because the fact of the matter is this has been a distraction. I was wrong in saying those things.”
But Minaya was playing a semantic game, something he clearly is not comfortable doing or particularly good at. He repeatedly admitted he was wrong to attack Rubin in that public forum, but never once acknowledged that his recriminations were flat-out untrue.
On five separate occasions, Minaya was pressed on whether he apologized because he knew the implication of Rubin attempting to supplant Bernazard was false, or if he was simply chagrined because he believed them but shouldn’t have blurted them out on-camera at Bernazard’s firing.
Minaya, only slightly less uncomfortable than he had been in Monday’s bizarre press conference, awkwardly tried to dance around the question every time.
“I should’ve never said those things. And I told Adam I apologized,” Minaya said. “I’m prepared to say in talking to Adam, for me to say those things, those things were not right. My point of view is: I should not have said that, and I was wrong in saying that.”
When asked if he was wrong for even thinking it, much less saying it, Minaya allowed, “In conversations with Adam . . . I said my thoughts [in that press conference], and for me to think those things, those thoughts were wrong.”
In a statement, Rubin said Minaya showed sincere remorse in their meeting and he accepted the GM’s apology.
Minaya admitted that it’s been a distraction, but said he’d been conducting his job as usual. He said he hadn’t offered to quit and wasn’t worrying about his job.
Minaya said he turned down a couple of deals for big-name players Wednesday and had an assistant call a team moments before he met the media yesterday.