1
2011
Collins Joshes With Us… Jose Thole?
An article by 
Ha ha ha… Was Terry Collins joking with us on April Fools Day this morning?
Here’s something that found it’s way into my in-box this morning with my Flushing Flash subscription.
April 1, 2011
Dear Mets Fans:
With our 2011 opener tonight in Florida, I want to make this pledge to Mets fans — our team will play the game the right way.
We will always hustle on the bases, run balls down in the outfield and never take anything for granted, no matter the score of the game.
We had a great Spring Training. From day one my message has been look ahead, not backward, and not to worry about what the people outside the clubhouse are saying. If we pitch and play defense like I know we can, we will surprise a lot of people, a lot of people.
I stack our lineup against anyone else’s in the league. Getting Carlos Beltran back and hitting cleanup is really big. The way Carlos handled his move to right field was one of the classiest things I have ever seen. Angel Pagan is coming off a great season. While we had a little setback this week with Jason Bay — who was swinging the bat well — going on the Disabled List, he shouldn’t be out too long. We believe with the three of them on the field, we have one of the top outfields in baseball.
Our infield is anchored by the two All-Stars on the left side: David Wright at third and Jose Reyes at short. I think David will add on to his numbers from last year and Jose is ready to have a tremendous season. He is one of the most dynamic players in the game. Ike Davis will continue to develop at first base and Jose Thole is one of the fine young catchers in the game. Brad Emaus, a Rule Five pick, got better and better as the spring went on and won the second base job.
On the mound, sure we are going to miss Johan Santana until he comes back, hopefully in mid-year. But this spring, I think we established a solid rotation with Mike Pelfrey, followed by R.A. Dickey and Jonathon Niese. Chris Young and Chris Capuano proved that they are healthy and they really strengthen us on the back end.
We remade our bullpen and we think we have quality arms who throw strikes to get to closer Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod has just had a fantastic spring and I never have seen him throwing better. People like Bobby Parnell, D.J. Carrasco, Taylor Buchholz, Blaine Boyer, Tim Byrdak and Pedro Beato, another Rule V selection who is from Queens, will give us a solid pen.
I believe we have fortified our bench with the additions of Scott Hairston, Willie Harris, Ronny Paulino (who will begin the year on the Disabled List), and Chin-lung Hu along with Daniel Murphy.
It’s been 12 years since I have started a season as a major league manager. I can’t tell you how proud I am to be leading the New York Mets and am very excited about the season ahead.
Thanks for your support and see you at Citi Field.
Sincerely,
Terry Collins
Did you catch that?
Happy April Fools Day to you too Terry!
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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To paraphrase Lou Brown from “Major League”…
“He may hit like Jose, but he runs like shit.”
lol great line
I think it has less to do with April Fools and more to do with opening day. As far as the letter, which I also recieved but deleted before reading it (just like I do with all of the mets emails I get), after reading it on here, it sounds very sincere, legit, and more importantly, bullshit FREE!
More of a statement of facts rather than Collin’s true opinion, he certainly has put his nuts on the line with the following comments…
“I want to make this pledge to Mets fans — our team will play the game the right way.
We will always hustle on the bases, run balls down in the outfield and never take anything for granted, no matter the score of the game.”
Because if the Mets go out there and serve up a pile of crap effort and half-assing, well the media, and the fans will bring this little letter back up and shove it in Collin’s face.
It is time for a HARD-ASS manager who doesn’t take crap, and handles the club. This team has never been the type of team to manage themselves like a Torre team, they need a manager who is going to cram fundamentals and attitude and teamwork down these players throats and inspire them through example. Not merely assume that since they are pros that they should know how to handle themselves and asssume that they will give 100% effort like Jerry Manuel did.
This team needs a Bill Parcel of a coach, you love him, and you hate him, but you ALWAYS respected him!
Scotty, I pretty much agree with you. To me the line that meant the most was the one you quoted “our team will play the game the right way.”
Terry is off to a great start with the letter, lets hope it transalates into some wins!
Couldn’t agree more. A managers job is not only to fill out a lineup card, but also put a player in his place when he’s not producing, or not concentrating out on the field. From what he says, it seems like Collins is that type of manager.
Totally agree scotty. The tone of this is much more different than the messages from the past. I sense the urgency to perform better in his words and it rings true. I also usually delete these without reading them too, but I actually read mine today and re-read it here again because it was worth the second look. I’m feeling good. Lets Go Mets!