Quote: B-Mets say Bernazard Story Blown out of Proportion
In case you missed it, yesterday, in a report for the Daily News, Adam Rubin said Mets VP Tony Bernazard removed his shirt and challenged Double-A players to a fight during a recent ‘postgame tirade.’
This led to a day’s worth of blog posts, talk radio chatter, and a pre-game press conference from Omar Minaya, during which he said the team will simply investigate Bernazard’s behavior.
…in fact, omar said Investigate roughly 12 times, which led Tirico Suave to post this video clip, spoofing minaya as Inspector Gadget…
However, in a report for the Press & Sun Bulletin, Brian Moritz quotes Binghamton Mets coach Mako Oliveras as saying:
“I think it’s been blown out of proportion. Tony was trying to pump the players up, he took his shirt off but he had a T-shirt on underneath. To me, he never threatened anybody or asked anybody to fight. Before he started the meeting, he took his shirt off. I’m telling you, it’s been blown out of proportion.”
Moritz also quotes B-Mets C Josh Thole, as well as SS Jose Coronado, who says Bernazard never called him names or asked him to fight, as the Daily News report indicated.
That said, this morning on WFAN, host Craig Carton pointed out that if the Mets do not fire Bernazard today, they a) set up a stand-off between Bernazard and Minaya, b) it signals to the rest of the organization that this type of behavior is acceptable, and c) it signals to players, major league and minor league alike, that Bernazard is untouchable.
In the Daily News, Bill Madden writes, “There’s no need for any investigation here. Fire the guy and fire him now… It very well may be that Minaya is out anyway at the end of the season. But if he doesn’t fire Bernazard now, doesn’t rid the organization of this punk, he’d better be watching his back.”
Yesterday, on 1050 ESPN Radio, former Mets GM Steve Phillips said, in his experience, yelling at minor league players is not a ‘fireable offense.’
…i don’t know… maybe it is… maybe it isn’t… i’m a writer, not an expert in management or human resources… what i do know is Mets fans are pissed, frustrated, and depressed about poor play, a lack of direction and high ticket prices, and basically we are looking for someone to pay for our anger, and, thanks to the Daily News, bernazard is the man of the moment… call it justified, dismiss it is a mob mentality, whatever… but, people are hot, and it is what it is…
…to me, all i keep thinking about from yesterday is how this was all handled in the media… it never stops amazing me how poor the Mets are at controlling a message… which would not be such a problem if they were not constantly in the position to do so… maybe it’s a chicken-and-an-egg thing… who knows… but, yesterday, minaya was not the man for that communications job… i sometimes think the Mets should have an official team spokesperson, like a press secretary, who can issue talking points and spin stories to the team’s favor, or at least act as a filter between reporters and the GM… for instance, because minaya is so inept at communicating to reporters, and because he looks like he’s lying to their face, and because he only gave to them what the team issues in a press release a few hours earlier, after making them wait for hours to speak with him, reporters had no choice but to flock to players before yesterday’s game, and get more information for their stories, which must irritate the players, and only fuels the story to go on…
