Does Rubin have a problem?

[didntdoit19]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4359215

The news conference took a bizarre turn when Minaya said that Rubin, who wrote the initial story about Bernazard's confrontation in Binghamton, had lobbied in the past to get a personnel job with the Mets.

Rubin told Minaya he was "despicable" for implying that Rubin wrote a story to get Bernazard fired so he could get a job with the Mets.

In an interview with reporters after the news conference, Rubin said he had never asked Minaya directly for a job in baseball.

"I don't know how I'm going to cover the team now," Rubin said.

So, how does he cover the Mets now?

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

Rubin's problem is that Omar Minaya is a thin-skinned asshole who chose to behave unprofessionally in a press conference.

I agree, though, that it will probably make for an awkward environment on the beat.

 

[spaceman]

That's why a reporter should trust no one.

 

[tommyp]

I can't see Rubin as the Mets' beat reporter for much longer, nor do I see anyone ever believing anything that comes out of Omar's mouth again.

 

[broadway joe]

Here's a related question: Is there anything unprofessional or inappropriate about a beat writer asking one of the owners for advice on how to get a front office job?

 

[Armchair_QB]

Rubin's problem is that Omar Minaya is a thin-skinned asshole who chose to behave unprofessionally in a press conference.

I agree, though, that it will probably make for an awkward environment on the bat.

Well, at least until Omar gets canned.

 

[Den1983]

Here's a related question: Is there anything unprofessional or inappropriate about a beat writer asking one of the owners for advice on how to get a front office job?

I think it's inappropriate, soliciting career advice from the people you cover.

 

[playthrough]

Here's a related question: Is there anything unprofessional or inappropriate about a beat writer asking one of the owners for advice on how to get a front office job?

I'd call it dangerous if you're in a competitive situation like NYC. If an owner thinks you're looking for a way out, would he be as fair with you as other reporters?

If you have a decent relationship with another owner across the country, perhaps asking him would be better. Or maybe you just can't go there at all. At any rate, pretty interesting discussion.

 

[broadway joe]

Here's a related question: Is there anything unprofessional or inappropriate about a beat writer asking one of the owners for advice on how to get a front office job?

I'd call it dangerous if you're in a competitive situation like NYC. If an owner thinks you're looking for a way out, would he be as fair with you as other reporters?

If you have a decent relationship with another owner across the country, perhaps asking him would be better. Or maybe you just can't go there at all. At any rate, pretty interesting discussion.

The owner might also think that if he tells the reporter he'll talk him up around the league for a front office job, he'll be able to expect favorable coverage in return. The more I think about it, even if the situation didn't go any farther than Rubin admitted, he probably still has to be yanked from the beat.

 

[dooley_womack1]

That's why a reporter should trust no one.

The new beat reporter for the NYDN:

 

[Joe Williams]

Here's a related question: Is there anything unprofessional or inappropriate about a beat writer asking one of the owners for advice on how to get a front office job?

I'd call it dangerous if you're in a competitive situation like NYC. If an owner thinks you're looking for a way out, would he be as fair with you as other reporters?

If you have a decent relationship with another owner across the country, perhaps asking him would be better. Or maybe you just can't go there at all. At any rate, pretty interesting discussion.

The owner might also think that if he tells the reporter he'll talk him up around the league for a front office job, he'll be able to expect favorable coverage in return. The more I think about it, even if the situation didn't go any farther than Rubin admitted, he probably still has to be yanked from the beat.

WFW. They are not our friends, they are not our mentors.

Hell, I wouldn't trust someone from the team I covered if they offered me a swell job at double my current money. You quit your paper, they lay you off a month later, just to get you off the beat. Frankly, if the folks I covered liked my work so much, I would feel I wasn't fully doing my job in terms of tough coverage.

This is, of course, one of the growing problems with newspapers nowadays. We still have to "have their backs" by upholding standards and ethics, even when so many clearly do not have our backs in terms of employment, pay and so on.

But I'd say, better to wait for the layoff or buyout before you sniff around the folks you cover for a job.

 

[As The Crow Flies]

I agree that Rubin was in a fuzzy area here, but Minaya is the one who's looking like the complete ass grasping at straws. And that's pretty hard to do when it's a journalist/general manager who are at odds. Rubin, just like all beat writers, spends A LOT of time around these people. If he asked some of them what it might take to get into the player development side of baseball one day, I don't have a huge problem with that. Obviously, if he was lobbying for a job with the Mets that wouldn't be right. But could Minaya really think that Rubin thought he was going to leap from beat writer into Bernazard's old job and that would slant his coverage of this incident? That's just absurd. Even Minaya knows that. This was just a vindictive attempt at trying to even the score.

 

[21]

This certainly isn't the first time a beat writer has had a public ordeal with a GM or other exec.

Unless you're worried that the readers will think the coverage will now be biased against the Mets, I'm not sure you have to take Rubin off the beat.

 

[OceanLottery]

At first I thought he was going to get canned, but after hearing him, I think Omar took a little creative license with what he was told Adam Rubin was talking to Mets personnel about.

Rubin appeared on SNY -- a network that the Mets partially own -- after all this went down and said that he'd never spoken with Omar Minaya directly about any jobs with the team.

He then said that Mets boss Jeff Wilpon asked him if he were interested in working for SNY and wanted to set up a meeting but Rubin declined. For what it's worth, SNY has a stable of writers appearing on its shows, and has a show called "Daily News Live", so maybe Wilpon was asking him about something along those lines.

He also said that years ago he asked a couple of people involved with the Mets "How do you get involved in baseball?" and likened it to people in baseball asking him, "How did you get involved in journalism?" Said they never spoke about a specific job.

He didn't cover the game tonight, and I would think that he'd probably have a hard time covering the team the rest of the year. I wonder if they'd just do a straight switch with him on the Mets and Feinsand on the Yanks.

Pretty good headline on a Bondy column that jumps from the News' homepage: Cheap Shot Heard 'Round The World.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/07/27/2009-07-27_bondy_cheap_shot.html

 

[shockey]

minaya exposed himself as a grade-a, thin-skinned **** and an idiot to boot. two hours after the presser he and and jeff wilpon entered the press box so omar could apologize. sorry, too late. i'd say omar is a goner but who knows? it's the mets, after all. ::)

rubin had left the building by that point:

http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2009/07/ny_mets_gm_omar_minaya_apologe.html

 

[JBHawkEye]

I don't think I would have been able to accept an apology.

 

[Karl Hungus]

Watching the presser on SportsCenter. Rubin comes off as surprisingly cool and calm about the whole thing, and Omar seems almost nervous and tentative when he goes after him. His hands are shaking. He shows signs of someone making baseless accusations to deflect criticism.

 

[shockey]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/07/27/2009-07-27_bondy_cheap_shot.html

well done, filip!

 

[gingerbread]

Wally Matthews isn't shy:
http://newsday.com/columnists/wallace-matthews/dumb-and-dumber-steal-mets-show-again-1.1330844

 

[As The Crow Flies]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/07/27/2009-07-27_bondy_cheap_shot.html

well done, filip!

Indeed.