In a must-read report for the Daily News, Adam Rubin says Mets VP Tony Bernazard removed his shirt and challenged the Double-A players to a fight during a recent ‘postgame tirade.’
According to Rubin, “alleged underage drinking on the team apparently was one motivation for the eruption,” all of which he confirmed through ‘multiples sources,’ and ‘insiders.’
Earlier this week, also in the Daily News, Rubin said Bernazard was recently seen in the stands going into a profanity-laced tirade directed at the team’s manager of baseball operations, “which left witnesses in the section behind home plate aghast.”
Meanwhile, also in the Daily News, columnist John Harper joins in, pointing out that Bernazard is notorious for his alleged influence in the firing of Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson, adding, “Scouts and executives from other organizations have whispered in recent years about Bernazard's bullying style of leadership.”
…frankly, if i had a dime for every person who has told me the Mets currently have Three GMs, i could retire… i have heard from agents and other baseball people around the league that, basically, at this point, Jeff Wilpon and Bernazard have a closer relationship than Bernazard and minaya or minaya and wilpon… yet, minaya is supposed to be in charge of all baseball operations… so much for full autonomy, i guess… how did the Mets get to this point again… i mean, it seems like we keep having this same conversation every five to 10 years…
This morning on WFAN, morning host Craig Carton has been calling for Bernazard to be fired, repeatedly calling him a ‘tool,’ and a ‘clown.’
In a poll from Rubin’s report, 71 percent of voters said Bernazard should be fired for his antics in Binghamton.
That said, yesterday, on WFAN, Jon Heyman was asked about recent reports of Bernazard’s behavior, to which he said:
“Well, you know what, it seems to be all in one newspaper, though… You know, there are a lot of personalities that go around, the papers like one guy who's helping them, they don’t like another guy for whatever reason… I mean, sides are taken and people are made to look bad.”
…basically, and i don’t mean to put words in his mouth, but, what i’m hearing in this statement from heyman is: the Daily News has an axe to grind with Bernazard, for whatever reason, and are using the power of the press to tarnish him and force him out… by the way, Bernazard oversees the Mets farm system, and the Daily News does an amazing and honest job of covering the farm system… and, from what i can tell, the Mets take public perception of their farm system very seriously…
For what it’s worth, the Mets Double-A and Triple-A teams are a combined 71-116, while the team’s farm system was ranked middle-of-the-pack in all of baseball heading in to this season.
…here’s the thing, though, in the middle of a baseball season, when the focus should be on field, why are we even discussing the team’s VP, a guy who is supposed to work below the GM…
…actually, how many fans even know who their team’s Assistant GM or VP is… yet, you and i do… why… i have written Bernazard in six posts this season… for pete’s sake, i have a whole category on this blog dedicated to him… why…
Last week, on Baseball Digest Live, Mark Healy spent an entire 90 minute radio show focused on Bernazard’s role on the Mets, during which much of what the Daily News is reporting had been discussed.
The Daily News headline was a scroll in Time’s Square for everyone to see, according to this photo from Robert K.
…all of this makes me very uncomfortable and concerned about the direction of this organization… i realize, now, in the wake of so many injuries, losing was likely, regardless of GMs, power-struggles and front-office chaos… one may have nothing to do with the other… then again, it might… in either case, be it fact or fiction, here we are again, five years later having the same conversation we had five years before that, talking about undermining authority, leadership, split autonomy, weak farm systems, and a general sense of disarray, all while the team across town is marching towards yet another post-season appearance…
…man, October 2006 seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it…