Brian Moritz of Press-Connects wrote a new article that sheds some more light on the alleged incident involving Tony Bernazard and what transpired in the clubhouse of the B-Mets.
The Double-A squad spent the day trying to downplay a story in the New York Daily News that said Tony Bernazard, the Mets’ vice president for player development, ripped his shirt off and challenged the players to a fight during a post-game tirade in the team’s NYSEG Stadium clubhouse July 1.
“I think it’s been blown out of proportion,” B-Mets manager Mako Oliveras said after his team’s 9-3 loss to the Connecticut Defenders. “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. That’s it. I’m telling you, it’s been blown out of proportion.”
In the original story reported by the Daily News, it said that Bernazard singled out the team’s shortstop Jose Coronado and called him a derogatory name referring to the female anatomy. But Brian Moritz reports a different story.
“No, he didn’t call me a name or ask me to fight,” Coronado said.
Brian also includes a quote from catcher Josh Thole, who believes the entire story has been totally overblown.
“This has been taken way too far,” B-Mets catcher Josh Thole said. “It’s uncalled for as far as you guys (the media) blowing this out of proportion, so I don’t think anything more should be said about it.”
Earlier today, I wrote a lengthy piece on why Omar needs to go.
Imagine if Omar Minaya had addressed this situation as soon as he first got a whiff of it?
Maybe the entire story has been overblown…
However, it could have been avoided and it may have never gotten to the press if Omar had simply picked up the phone, find out exactly what happened, and straightened out anything that needed to be corrected or addressed.
Instead, the news went in one ear and out the other, and only now does Omar decide he has to investigate.
