MAY BE A METSY DIVORCE
Could get ugly if Terry’s not ready to step aside
He hardly is to blame for everything that has gone horribly wrong this season. Even if the organization is hoping he simply steps aside, thereby saving team brass from having to make the difficult decision of moving on and finding a new on-field voice and leader for a once-again wayward team.
Terry Collins’ likely ending tenure with the Mets sure is starting to sound like what Tom Coughlin went through with the Giants at the conclusion of the 2015 NFL season, isn’t it?
Coughlin didn’t make anything easy on the Giants, remember, making it clear in the ensuing months that his “resignation” from Big Blue really wasn’t his decision at all.
No, Coughlin and Collins are not entirely operating under the same circumstances here; the Giants’ beloved head coach won two Super Bowl titles for GM Jerry Reese and the Mara family, compared to Collins’ one loss in the 2015 World Series and another one-and-done trip to the NL wild-card game last October.
Like with Coughlin, however, it’s fair to question whether Mets ownership and the front office believe aspects of the managerial gig have passed Collins by, in a game consumed more by newfangled statistics than with old-school hunches for several years now.
The News’ Kristie Ackert reported on Friday, in fact, that the Mets already have been discussing options to become their next manager, and according to team sources, they “are keen on the idea of bringing in someone they consider more technologically savvy and more fluent in analytics and sabermetrics.”
If so, they should make a clean break, thank Collins for his fine leadership and varying successes and go bring back Bob Geren or Chip Hale or some name fans will be sure to embrace — like Robin Ventura, for instance.
Team sources indicated to The News that the Mets “expect” the 68-year-old Collins to retire when his contract expires next month after seven years at the helm, even though the manager has stated more than once that he’s yet to decide his own future.
That sounds to me as if the Mets, always far too wary of how their moves are perceived publicly, are looking for Collins to give them the easy out on this.
But what if he doesn’t want to go out on this sour note of a season? What if Collins goes in and asks for one more crack at managing a healthy roster?
If nothing else, it would force the Mets to make the tough call, just like the Giants with Coughlin, whose clock management at the end confounded as much as Collins’ bullpen decisions often do in Flushing.
When asked if he’s considered this might be his final home stand with the Mets before Friday’s game against Washington, Collins reiterated he hadn’t. “I was asked that the other day…and the answer’s no,” he said. “I’ve got enough on my plate trying to figure out this pitching and getting guys playing time. That’s where the focus is gonna be, and it’ll certainly be there for the next 10 days.”
Alderson, whose contract also is up at season’s end, is fully expected to return in 2018, according to News sources. He deferred questions about both his and Collins’ statuses — saying “I can’t tell you that there’s clarity” — until after Game 162.
“We’ve had very few of those conversations and as I’ve said before, that situation will be resolved very shortly after the end of the season,” Alderson said of Collins. “Beyond that, we’re just not getting into a public conversation about it.”
So while the Detroit Tigers announced Friday that manager Brad Ausmus will not be retained next season, Collins has been left to twist, to ride out the final meaningless slate, to await his fate, just as his predecessor Jerry Manuel was forced to do before he and then-GM Omar Minaya were expectedly axed at the end of the 2010 campaign.
If Collins isn’t in the plans next year, it might be nice to see him receive something of a victory lap for his service and loyalty to the organization over this final week — even if the wins this year have been sparse due to massive injuries and underperformance throughout much of the roster. Collins unmistakably has his managerial flaws, as well, a laundry list for some fans — and doubtlessly a few frontoffice types — who have kept a running tally for years. “I always look at what could have been done differently and always look for ways in which I personally could’ve affected the team differently,” Alderson said. “When you have a season as we’ve had, which has been very disappointing and certainly not met any of our expectations, you look back and try to identify those areas we could have done something differently or better. So I would never use injuries as an excuse for a season as disappointing as this one. We have to constantly look at other areas we may have fallen short, whether it’s offensively, defensively, the bullpen.”
It sounds as if the Mets already are looking forward, though, when it comes to their manager. The question is whether Collins makes it easy on them or forces them to push him out his office door. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened in New York in recent years.