Mets COO Wilpon: Omar Minaya Was Wrong but Will Remain the GM

NEW YORK -- Omar Minaya erred in his handling of Monday's Mets news conference, team COO Jeff Wilpon said Tuesday, and Minaya owes an apology to Daily News writer Adam Rubin. But, Wilpon said, Minaya is safe as the team's general manager.

In announcing the firing of Tony Bernazard, the Mets' controversial vice president of player development, Minaya said that Rubin had "lobbied" the Mets for a front-office job -- intimating that Rubin's stories, which helped bring down Bernazard, were part of an agenda.

"Omar's our general manager," Wilpon said. "Omar's going to be our general manager.

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"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."

Minaya (whose contract runs through 2012 with team options for 2013-14) was not made available for interviews Tuesday. Wilpon said Minaya apologized to him and would apologize publicly to Rubin but was "visibly shaken" and needed a day to collect himself after Monday's events.

"I know he's told me he's remorseful about what he's said and what was done," Wilpon said. "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.

"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 said ownership had no idea that Minaya would drag Rubin into the matter.

"I don't think a lot of us could believe it was happening when it was happening," Wilpon said of the news conference, which was televised live in New York. "He was just very angry and got out of his usual mode of dealing with the media."

As for the season as a whole -- the injury-riddled Mets are 47-51, 10 1/2 games out in the NL East and 6 1/2 out of the wild card -- Wilpon expressed frustration.

"We need to do better," he said. "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."