Yesterday the New York Mets fired their VP of player development for being a psycho—then tried to insinuate that a Daily News beat writer sabotaged the guy in order to steal his job. Today the reporter responds: No, liar.

Mets GM Omar Minaya said in the press conference yesterday that NYDN writer Adam Rubin (pictured)—who wrote the stories about Mets exec Tony Bernazard that got him fired—had ulterior motives. "Adam has lobbied for the player development position," Minaya said. "I scuffled with it early on. I had to think about that."

Bullshit! Says Adam Rubin.

What I have done, and what Mets COO Jeff Wilpon acknowledged later yesterday, is ask Wilpon for "career advice." My question: Is it even remotely feasible for a baseball writer to get into an administrative job with a team - any team - down the road and what would I need for that to be achieved?

This story's interesting insofar as it raises the issue of the appropriate ways for reporters to talk to sources about possibly switching careers, while still covering those sources. But let's be honest—it happens, it's always happened, and come on, you expect people to be reporters forever? Not if you could get a gig working for a baseball team! Come on! Seriously. You can be sure plenty of other reporters have had far cozier career conversations with sources than Rubin did, so don't expect anyone to come down on him too hard.

Bernazard was fired for doing things like challenging players to fights and calling them "pussy" so Rubin should probably worry more about seeing him around the ballpark than anything else.
[NYDN. Pic via]