Adam Rubin announced earlier this week on Twitter that he will no longer be covering the New York Mets for ESPN.com. Instead, he is leaving journalism to work in public relations.

With Rubin no longer on the job, it’s going to be a lot less noisy – and a lot less newsy – at Citi Field.

Trust me, speaking as someone who has been writing daily about the Mets for 14 years, no one hustled harder and went further to get next-level information about the Mets than Rubin.

His need to be first and do it with depth and context is an art and science that future reporters should look to when studying the craft…

According to people who work in local sports media, under pressure from parent company Disney, ESPN.com is changing their approach to local team coverage in an effort to cut costs. Instead of paying multiple reporters in every market to fly across the country, they’ll be offering less compensation to homebound reporters who will be charged with covering multiple local teams, sports and stories. And, in markets where there is not much news or interest, they’re expected to rely on the Associated Press.

The fact is, he and I didn’t always get along, even though our relationship started out well. I say this only to underscore my respect for his work.

Adam joined the team’s beat a year before I created MetsBlog.com in 2003. He and I had common friends, including MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo. He, along with Mayo, Bob Klapisch (Bergen Record), Peter Abraham (Journal News) and David Lennon (Newsday), helped point me in the right direction when I had questions about protocol and information being reported.

In time, MetsBlog grew in readership and influence. Rubin departed print for ESPN.com around the same time I partnered with SNY in 2007, at which point he and I seemingly became rivals – even though we do very different things and provide two different services to Mets fans. Nevertheless, despite several awkward conversations over the years, snubs at the ballpark and a consistent one-upmanship, my respect for Adam’s work and his dedication to journalism never faded.

He and I sat next to one another during the State of the Mets panel at this past January’s Queens Baseball Convention. I wish I had known he was leaving the beat, so I could say thank you for his hard work, passion for journalism and dedication to providing information and being available to Mets fans.

I wish him well, and hope we cross paths again one day…