CEME-TERRY
Collins buried now that Fred won’t save him again
Terry Collins had winning and Fred Wilpon to protect his job as Mets manager the past few years.
The winning disappeared, and all indications are the elder statesman of the organization will not be protecting Collins this time.
Collins’ contract expires after this season and the strong expectation is he will not be asked to stay, as has been reported several times by The Post. His last line of defense would be his staunchest defender throughout the years, Wilpon.
Even recently Wilpon had talked to Collins about ideas for next spring training to return the Mets to contention next year and what could be done to facilitate that.
But an executive familiar with the Mets’ thinking said “not this time” when asked if Wilpon would offer an eleventh-hour reprieve.
The feeling was that Collins simply had bled too much support, both in the front office and clubhouse. In fact, of the major powers in the front office, including Sandy Alderson and Jeff Wilpon, only Fred Wilpon had remained in the keep-Collins camp. But even Fred Wilpon has come to realize a change is needed, according to sources, after a season in which just about all imaginable has gone terribly wrong for the Mets.
The baseball operations department had never seen Collins as a quality strategist, but felt his work ethic and strong media skills were assets. Still, Collins’ tenure almost certainly would have ended before this year if he had not managed the Mets to the postseason in 2015 and ’16.
Fred Wilpon, according to a source, intervened last season to save Collins — who was on the brink of getting fired before the team rallied into contention and clinched a National League wildcard berth. And at various points this season, team brass also discussed firing Collins.
Even Alderson felt powerless to control Collins, who had full knowledge the elder Wilpon would back him, almost regardless of the circumstances. So from the perspective of the front office, Collins stopped taking direction, especially concerning warnings about the manner in which he was using his bullpen.
There is belief within the organization that Collins mismanaged Jeurys Familia, and that might have led directly to the All-Star closer needing surgery in May to remove a blood clot from his right shoulder. Collins had been warned not to use Familia in non-save situations or too frequently, but that advice went unheeded, from the perspective of team brass.
Players also complained to the front office that Collins stopped communicating with them and the manager was bad-mouthing them in the media.
Both Alderson and Jeff Wilpon declined comment on Collins.
Collins’ stay has overtones to what has occurred in Toronto and Boston. In both places, new heads of baseball operations were expected to change managers. But, as Collins did with the Mets, John Gibbons guided the Blue Jays to the playoffs in 2015-16, ending what had been the longest postseason drought in the majors.
John Farrell’s Red Sox won the AL East last year and are in the playoffs again this season.
It is hard to fire managers whose teams succeed, especially when, as with the Mets, there is no obvious successor. Plus, Collins had Fred Wilpon. There is an outside sense the elder Wilpon has ceded power and influence to his son. But while his day-to-day energies are not what they once were, he still fancies himself a baseball man and tends to like baseball lifers who will talk the game with him and people who have ties to his beloved Dodgers. Collins falls into both camps.
It did not help Collins that his most important lieutenants to keep clubhouse order were David Wright, who has missed all season, and Curtis Granderson, who was traded last month,
Collins’ supporters recognize that injuries have mounted this year and particularly hit the rotation, expected to be a strength, early and often. In addition, Collins has managed the most games in the history of the franchise and has mainly been viewed as offering a positive public face, though even that became strained when he and the front office offered differing messages on injury matters.
In the end if the Mets had overcome all that to make the playoffs again, Collins’ job security would be stronger — if not completely assured. But this horrid season has forced a greater level of reassessment and moved officials who had huge questions on the manager to aggressively push for change.
And all signs are that Fred Wilpon will not save his manager again.