Mets Dishing Out Apologies, Wilpon Not Happy

An article by Joe D    6 Comments

Mets COO Jeff Wilpon met with reporters shortly before the start of last night’s game and offered his apologies for what transpired during Omar Minaya’s press conference on Monday.

“After some reflection, I thought it was important to come out and talk to everybody. We’re very sorry about what happened. It was the wrong forum. The wrong time. The wrong situation for Omar to express himself in that way. It hurt the organization. Omar admitted he hurt the organization. And he feels bad about that. And we’ll overcome. It didn’t go to our values. He didn’t do the right thing.”"

Wilpon offered a personal apology to Adam Rubin and said he did nothing wrong. He said that he was going to call Rubin personally to apologize and that Minaya would as well. Wilpon also was asked if Minaya would be punished in some way.

“Omar’s our general manager. Omar’s going to be our general manager. The collateral damage it caused and the collateral damage it caused my father [CEO Fred Wilpon] and my uncle [team president Saul Katz], the organization as a whole, he feels bad for. I think that’s more punishment than anybody could ever put on him. I know he’s told me he’s remorseful about what he’s said and what was done. I can only apologize from the organization standpoint. Omar made a mistake, and he admitted to me he made a mistake, and he’s apologetic for his mistake.”

He then made it clear that neither he or anyone else from the executive group had and prior knowledge that Minaya was going to attack Rubin.

“I don’t think a lot of us could believe it was happening when it was happening. He was just very angry and got out of his usual mode of dealing with the media. It’s taken a toll on him in a very big way. He’s feeling the effects of what he did….I think he really understands he made a very large mistake. He’s apologized to ownership. He’s apologized to a bunch of the staff. He understands he’s put us in a bad spot here.”

I guess it won’t be long until Omar Minaya faces the camera again and offers his own apologies. I’ve never seen anything so bizarre before, and I only hope that this does not prevent Minaya from doing his job and performing his duties. With the trading deadline only two days away, Minaya spent the entire day at home and was in complete shutdown mode. He was told not to make any interviews or appearances.

As for Adam Rubin, the Daily News accepted the apology, continues to strongly back Rubin, and announced that he would still continue to be the Mets beat writer.

Daily News deputy publisher and editor-in-chief Martin Dunn, who supported Rubin “1,000%” on Monday, issued a statement following Wilpon’s mea culpa. “The Daily News accepts the Mets’ apology and Adam Rubin will continue to be our beat reporter covering the team,” Dunn said.

Finally, as for the Mets season and the direction that they are going in, Wilpon had this to say.

“We need to do better. Ownership is not happy with the direction right now. Obviously we have to play better on the field. We need to get the guys back. And once that happens we’ll see how well this team can do. But it is disappointing.”

So there you have it. This is what a billion dollar organization looks like when it’s groveling.