FanHouse Fred Wilpon

The inaugural season of Citi Field in New York, one filled with injuries and losses, has been one that the Mets and their fans would like to end as soon as possible, so everybody can forget about it and move on.

But along with the seemingly bad luck, the new stadium seems to possess special powers.

Not only can it suck all the power out of David Wright's bat, it also picks up the tendencies of the life that inhabits it: much like the Mets roster, Citi Field is already falling apart.

With the New York Mets struggling through injuries all season and well out of the NL East race, it's no surprise that Mets fans aren't happy with the way 2009 has played out. Throw in some Tony Bernazard right crosses and general manager Omar Minaya has been feeling the heat.

So while there are plenty of Mets fans who wouldn't mind seeing Minaya gone after the 2009 season, Mets owner Fred Wilpon came out on Sunday and said that both Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel are going to be back with the team next season.

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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NEW YORK -- The Mets are certifiably nuts. Just when you think they've done most everything they can to invite mockery and derision, they readjust the clown nose and refill the water hose.

The team called a press conference Monday to announce the firing of Tony Bernazard, an executive whose personnel file had grown thick with reports of odd and inappropriate behavior. Most anywhere else -- even, dare we say, over at the Knicks' main office, which once housed people doing pratfalls into giant mounds of dung -- this would have been a fairly easy one-and-done. Take a few questions, tie it up in a bow, and vow to focus energy on the trading deadline, getting players healthy and making a run for a wild-card spot.

Manny Ramirez is still unsigned. The Dodgers are apparently unwilling to offer him anything greater than a two-year deal -- when did Ned Colletti get so stingy with his aging free agent fund? -- the Giants are merely flirting, and pretty much everyone else appears unwilling to make Manny an offer. That includes the Mets.

COO Fred Wilpon thinks ownership is interested in Ramirez, but that the "baseball people," meaning GM Omar Minaya, have essentially taken the option off the table. Weird.

The Mets have no reason to second-guess their decision to replace Willie Randolph. Since putting Jerry Manuel in charge, the Mets have been one of the hottest teams in baseball and are in sole possession of the first place in the NL East. That said, owner Fred Wilpon does regret the way Randolph was fired, in the dark of night just one game into a west coast road trip. From Bloomberg News:

``I know I screwed up,'' Wilpon told reporters at SportsNet New York's Manhattan studios. ``I should have said, `wait a second.'''

[...] Wilpon said he regrets not speaking up when Minaya told him the next day that he was going to fly to California and tell Randolph in person after the game. Because of the three-hour time difference, the announcement of Randolph's firing was left out of New York newspapers.

``I wasn't smart enough to say, `you are going to cut the New York press out?''' Wilpon said. ``I didn't even think of it.''

This won't make Randolph feel any better -- in other words, all Wilpon is saying is that he regrets not being able to tell the world sooner that he canned his manager. But reading between the lines -- which is always dangerous but so, so fun -- am I the only one who thinks it's interesting that Wilpon is pinning all of the blame on Minaya? It's one thing to say, "I know I screwed up," and it's another thing to say, "I know I screwed up by not reining in my GM." It wasn't all the long ago that Minaya was on the hot seat -- is this Wilpon's way of telling Minaya not to get too comfortable?