Mets VP Bernazard Fired for Recent Tirades

A couple of reminders to all you baseball vice presidents out there: It's not a good idea to challenge one of your entire minor league teams to a fight, and it's certainly not a good idea to lash out at your team's All-Star closer.

Just days after news broke that Mets VP of player development Tony Bernazard went off on a verbal and near-physical tirade on the Double-A Binghamton Mets following a recent loss, the club's general manager Omar Minaya announced the dismissal of the six-year VP.

"It reflects upon my watch," Minaya said in a news conference Monday. "And I take full responsibility."

Word also got out that the 52-year-old former major leaguer Bernazard got into verbal confrontation with closer Francisco Rodriguez just one week before Monday's firing.

"Yeah [it happened]. but I'm not going to talk about that,'' Rodriguez said Wednesday, according to the Post. "Not going to get into it."