TERRY’S AMAZIN’ ERA OVER
Collins booted to front office
PHILADELPHIA — After months of speculation about his future, Terry Collins’ tenure as the Mets manager ended quickly. Minutes after the Mets lost to the Phillies Sunday, Collins announced he was stepping down but would remain in an undefined role with the organization.
“This has been a tremendous run, had a great time, it’s been a wonderful experience,” Collins said. “I owe the Wilpons, (owner) Fred, (COO) Jeff, and Saul (Katz) — Jeff Wilpon brought me here and I thank him. We shared a lot of things. Unless you sit in this chair you don’t know what goes on behind the scenes and Jeff Wilpon has been behind me from day one and I thank him for that.
“I think the world of Fred. We have dinner together, we talk baseball together, we love it. Sandy (Alderson) I owe so much to, to give me another chance. We had a good run. This was one of those years you want to forget and I will tomorrow and look forward to opportunities ahead.”
Alderson said it was time for a change of leadership with the team, but acknowledged that Collins had taken the organization a long way in seven years.
“He took us from a situation where there were real questions about the organization, about the team and took us to the apex of a World Series,” the Mets GM said. “And for that together with the two playoff appearances we will all be tremendously grateful.”
Alderson said that the Mets will begin the process of looking for Collins’ replacement soon. Among those mentioned have been hitting coach Kevin Long, whose contract is up at the end of the season, former Mets bench coach Bob Geren, who is currently in that position with the Dodgers, former Mets player and current White Sox bench coach Joe McEwing, former Met and current Astros bench coach Alex Cora and former Met and former White Sox manager Robin Ventura.
“We will start in earnest over the next few days. Certainly don’t want to waste any time,” Alderson said. “When Terry raised this, obviously we were thinking about it. We will now do so in a more formal structured way.”
Collins said the emotional toll of this season weighed on him, which made the move easier. He and Alderson discussed his exit on the last road trip.
Collins’ contract was up after seven seasons and the Mets had decided not to extend a deal to him months ago. The Mets were pushing the idea that the 68-year-old would retire quietly after the season, but Collins wanted to be clear he was not retiring just yet.
He came to Philadelphia knowing he would step down rather than drag out the situation. In further discussions with Alderson and ownership, he was pleased they wanted him to stay in some sort of role.
That could mitigate some of the messiness surrounding his exit.
But before that polite exit from the dugout could be organized came reports of anonymous allegations from the front office and players that those close to Collins felt were an attempt to smear him on the way out. Stories citing players said that Collins lost the clubhouse, letting the players run amok, that he mishandled young players and abused his bullpen. The front office alleged he did not follow its specific indications for bullpen use. They even alleged that he contributed to the blood clot that forced Jeurys Familia to have surgery and miss over three months.
Friends of Collins said he was hurt and crestfallen by those anonymous allegations. Mets captain David Wright, whose absence this season because of injury was a big part of the clubhouse disarray, blasted his teammates who anonymously “kicked” Collins “on his way out the door” as cowardly.
Collins finished 551-582 as the Mets’ longest tenured manager. He is one of two who have taken the Mets to back-to-back playoffs.
Collins has been Alderson’s only manager. They took over as ownership was going through the Bernie Madoff scandal. This season, the Mets were undone by injuries to Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Matt Harvey, Yoenis S Cespedes, Michael Conforto and Wright. unday afternoon, Collins informed his players that he would step down. He hugged Phillies manager Pete Mackanin, who was also managing his last game, when he brought the lineup card out to home plate. As he walked back to the dugout, Mets’ players lined up and applauded the 68-year-old Collins.
“It was an emotional moment,” Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “It was heartfelt.”