Omar Minaya's absence from Thursday's conference call regarding Carlos Beltran certainly was another sign that ownership no longer trusts him to be their front man, that he's a lame-duck GM whose powers have been significantly reduced. The GM took another hit last night when Beltran released a statement proclaiming innocence, saying he had spoken to Minaya a day before his surgery, at which time the GM offered him no indication the club was against it. This only adds to the confusion about what the Mets knew and didn't know, and why they wanted to go public with their anger about it.