27
2012
Is Collins Making The Same Mistakes He Did In The Past?
An article by 
In what has become a very public showing, –or lack there of– Terry Collins has expressed his discontent with Ruben Tejada’s not reporting to camp early on multiple occasions. Wasn’t this the same issue in LA and Houston? Did his players not petition against him in Anaheim for reasons just like this? It seems to me like this whole incident was a regression for Collins back to an old habit.
In his former jobs with the Astros and Angels, Collins had issues with making his problems with his players public rather than handling it directly. I saw this whole debacle with Tejada as doing just that. TC needed to keep his problem with Tejada to himself, to an extent, until he had a chance to speak with him first.
I am not arguing that Tejada was right in ignoring his manager, because I agree with Collins that he should have reported early. What I am arguing is how Collins handled it was fairly poor. He expressed to the media at least three times his disappointment in Tejada; you don’t do that. This should have been a private conversation between the two, not a media frenzy.
“I am a little surprised, a lot of it is just selfishness on my part. I take great pride in the game itself, and respecting the game. I wish everybody had the same respect for it to want to get started as early as possible.”
It is one thing to express that you weren’t happy with his not showing up early, but then to indirectly question his respect for the game is too far.
What was good was that Collins met with Tejada personally to put it to bed, but that is how it should have been handled from the get-go, not after talking about it to the press.
Hopefully Collins can continue to perform at the extraordinary level he has so far. I personally think he is a very good manager and so long as he continues to suppresses these minor, yet significant flaws in his communication with players, he will be a staple with the Mets for many years to come.
About the Author: Clayton Collier
Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com
27 Comments + Add Comment
Recent Comments
- oleosmirf: on Mets and Braves Suspended After Eight Tied 5-5, Will Resume Play Saturday: Just because they all seem to dislike...
- oleosmirf: on Scout Says No Way Flores Can Play Any Position But First Base: I watched Flores play 2B in spring...
- Hawk: on Mets and Braves Suspended After Eight Tied 5-5, Will Resume Play Saturday: Please send Tejada down with Ike.
- Dave Willins: on Mets and Braves Suspended After Eight Tied 5-5, Will Resume Play Saturday: Enough of TC bungling already. Let's please...
- Heybatter: on Mets and Braves Suspended After Eight Tied 5-5, Will Resume Play Saturday: Rice will have to......Edgin pitched one inning...
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5394 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1269 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
I agree Clayton!
I was fine with him saying something about it but then he wouldn’t let it go!
He made it the big story it shouldn’t have been!
Once would have been more than sufficient.
If you bitch about ireelevant things then the players will ignore him when he really DOES have a good gripe to bitch about.
Terry had it good last year, Players were busy trying to impress him and get on the good side of the Manager, they responded to his enthusiasm and UPPITY nature but his act will wear thin as time goes on.
Think of all the greatest managers in the game and ask youself would they have made as big an issue over the lateness as Collins did? He basically told anyone with a notepad about how upset he was and for an entire weekend!!
Would Bobby Cox?
Would Earl Weaver?
Would Davey Johnson?
Would Gil Hodges?
They might mention it once but then any complaining would be saved for the face to face when they eventually got there!
Anyone who has ever managed a large crew knows that you can impress your will and show them who is boss the first year all you want.
But after awhile if you don’t calm down and let them do thier jobs and only insert yourself when it is really important at some point they will tune you out or worse do nothing unless you tell them to!
My fear is Terry,s motor will start to wear on this team and he will eventually lose them, especially if the losing starts to mount!
I think that the players look for consistency with a manager above all else. If he is firm but good to each player, based on individual personalities, etc., then he’ll be fine.
I agree that keeping these interpersonal issues to a press minimum makes the most sense.
What gets me Russel is that if he wanted Tejada here in January why didn’t he just pick up a phone and talk to the guy!
Tejada said he had no idea Terry wanted him in early and instead of telling the press a phone call would have been better and helped form a better bond in the long run!
As for Tejada’s side of it the guy lives in Panama, thats where his family is, He spends the entire baseball season away from that family and I can understand why he would pass on leaving them for two more months than he had to and work out in Panama with his own trainer.
Sure Murphy could use the work but He could have easily went down to Panama to work out with Tejada since he was the one who needed it!
It’s really much ado about nothing and my worry is when Terry has a good reason to bitch about something at some point they will treat that bitching as Standard fare not worthy of attention because it’s the same act you saw for not showing up on your days off!
Oh, for the most part I agree, but the Mets’ claim was that Tejada basically was unreachable in Panama, and that may have had Collins freaked out. Dunno, really.
lol I’m not sure either what the real situation is…I’m sure they have phone service in Panama though!
And if they couldn’t reach him then how the hell did they tell him his Visa was ready?
It’s really much ado bout nothin, Teryr is right to be upset just that a side mention and face to face talk with Tejada when he got here was better than what happened.
Managing in the press is an effective method provided it isn’t overused. Once it is it loses all it’s effectiveness.
Thankfully this will all be history by the end of the week.
I just happen to like Terry’s work so far, they responded well to him last season and I would hate to see him ruin it by forgetting just how bad the press is in NYC!
I think of Gil Hodges who was probably the best manager and most respected of any manager the Mets have ever had. Even more than Davey!
He rarely spoke and rarely HAD to!
I remember a story Seaver told once about him. He was pitching in the bottom of the 9th with a one run lead. Seaver decided to walk the next batter because he thought he had a better chance to get the next guy.
Hodges comes out to the mound and says what the hell are you doing? Seaver makes his case and Hodges goes back to the dugout without saying a word!
Seaver strikes out the next guy to end the game!
So Seaver goes to see Hodges in his office and asks him “You didn’t agree with my decision?”
Hodges said “If I knew you were going to strikeout the next guy I would have bothered to come out there!”
Thats why he was so respected. He would let you know when he was unhappy but trusted his players to get the job done and create their own fate!
He let them play! And never once can I remember him going to the press on anything! He wanted to embarass you he would do it to your face in a game in front of the fans like he did with Cleon Jones!
LOL
Thats a hell of a lot better than doing it in the press!
As Russell pointed out, consistency is the key.
I’ve commented previously I’ve liked what TC has brought to the table so far. However, I can see the situation where his intensity starts to wear a little thin if they’re playing bad baseball. Not necessarily losing but losing due to playing bad baseball.
But what do I know? He might be the best thing for that relatively young ball club.
Consistency is important but so is fairness!
If your consistency railing against players for minor things then you don’t get everyone’s attention when you rail against the MAJOR things!
Yelling is only affective when it is outside the norm. If your only yelling then people tune you out!
So being consistent is one thing, but Dynamics are also key!
I’ll go along with that.
The only time a manager should really be doing that yelling-in-your-face type thing is if the player/team is playing bad baseball. Not paying attention on the base paths, missing the cut off man, making an over abundance of errors, not knowing how many outs there are, etc.
should clarify before the guy who argue for the sake of arguing get here! LOL
Collins wasn’t really yelling in this case just that using the press and yelling are both things that only work when they are the exception not the rule!
When a guy makes a bonehead mistake he should know better because any A bAll guy knows you simply don’t do that is one thing.
Not showing up on your day off is not really the thing you want to waste the press and yell effectiveness over! LOL
Yeah, I wasn’t implying that Collins was yelling about this ‘issue’ with Tejada either.
Lol Srt, me and you are on the same page I only clarified because we have a few guys here who like to pick fights and will take ANY opportunity to start one over something trivial you say! LOL
I saw a 100 Post insult fest arguing over the semantical definition of YELLING if I hadn’t!
LOL
this really does seem to have been blown way out of proportion.
I understand collins frustration, but it was a bit too much to go to the media with this, especially because here in NY everything gets blown out of proportion.. with that being said, all is well, tejada is here, i hope he has a good season to help us win.. water under the bridge.. either way, collins won’t be here for long..
LOL Alex…
If Tejada not being here 3 days earlier than he is supposed to be can frustrate Collins, what the hell is going to happen when Pelfrey walks four consecutive batters?
They better have a defibulator in the dugout waiting for him! LOL
They better have a defibulator in the dugout waiting for him!”
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the CORE!!
Muchado about nothing.
I think your reading too much into this Clayton. Collins would of liked Tejada to be there early. Tejada showed up on time. Collins & Tejada spoke briefly. They moved on. A manager wishing a player would show up early is something not out of the ordinary. Comparing this to Anaheim in my opinion is a stretch.
Agreed, only reason it’s a story at all is that there are no other stories.
‘I think your reading too much into this Clayton”
Well you have to admit MNJ
There certainly has been more than enough TO READ about something as minor as this!
I have basically read the same story regarding this minor issue over the course of three days!
Been a topic of discussion for three here!
Is it as bad as what happened in anaheim? Not yet!
But this is how it gets to that by bitching about the little things and making a three day conversation out of something that could have taken all of 2 minutes in his office after merely saying damn I wish he came here early but he didn’t and ending the conversation!
Collins pushed this too often to anyone who had a pad or mic.
After the first mention he should have said look I’ll deal with it when he gets here until then focus on the guys who are here!
They need the work as much as Tejada does!
Don’t you think Collins should determine what is a big thing and what is a little thing?
Also, do we know if the media continues to run with the first story or if Collins keeps running with it. He spoke about it, the media needs something controversial to write about so they keep asking about it and he just reiterates what he said. Nothing new.
IF Collins thinks this is a BIG THING then NO!
The media ask 100 questions a day the manager either doesn’t answer or downplays the subject!
Sure they hounded him about it because he made it a subject!
If he had simply said I was dissappointed he wasn’t here and when asked a followup he simply said it’s nothing I will deal with it when he gets here it would not have gotten as big as it did!
But as long as you keep giving answers to questions on a subject they will keep asking questions to pad out the story!
And a Manger should know when enough quotes are enough!
Next to R.A. Dickey I can’t think of someone whose quotes I find myself agreeing with often more than Collins. Here is a quote from him from today.
“I don’t want these guys ever to come in that clubhouse where they’re not expected to win the game,” Collins said. “I don’t ever want to hear that. Yeah, we’re aware of what we’re facing. But I don’t want to have a bad game and have someone say, ‘We’re not supposed to win, so who cares? We had a bad game. Well, we’re not supposed to play good.’ I’m sorry, I’m not built like that. That’s probably why this is my third job. I’m not built like that. There are things that I expect to get done and we’re certainly going to work at getting those things done.”
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/38822/collins-uses-expectations-to-motivate-mets
“That’s probably why this is my third job.”
Man, there are a bunch of ways to read that.
With all do respect Mr. Collier, This whole thing is rediculous!!! It’s DONE!!! TC is 100% Right and within his rights to bitch about an UNPROVEN NEWBIE WITH A ZERO TRACK RECORD AND EVEN LESS IN THE WAY CAN’T MISS PROSPECT STATUS!!! This is Ruben Tejada 2012 not Derek Jeter of any year!!! As Met’s Fans, we constantly complain about how we want stability and a winning culture. Well here is a man willing to rock the boat and not settle for anything less than his players absolute best, yet there are still MANY siding with the PAMPERED ASS PLAYER!!! Look, I am a liberal minded person in many ways but I am also a long suffering Met’s fan as well as a PROUD NY Footbal Giant’s fan. What i’ve learned that in most championship occasions there is someone either running the team or playing for the team that wouldn’t accept anything less than the absolute best from each of his players/teammates. Yes there are rare exceptions but usually those prove to be that the champion is just much much more talented than it’s competition.
TC happens to be the little general this team needs!!! This is a team lacking greatly in both leadership and somewhat in talent, he absolutely cannot allow a relative new comer to thisnk for a moment that he doesn’t have to listen or that he can bend the rules. TC IS RIGHT!!!
I’m shocked that more people don’t share this opinion with me. What has happened in the past? Who have we had any success with? The only real success was after 86 was with Bobby V. A manager considered not only somewhat of a disciplinarian but certainly a leader. There was never a question about who was in charge. Even during 86 Davey lead but “Kid” and “Mex” were in charge (maybe that’s backwards).
We need to stop this bitching but then accepting anything less than the best. It sucks that our owners don’t have winning as a prority!!! In TC, at least I have someone who’s got as much of his heart in every game as I do!!! Fight the good fight TC!!! YOU”RE THE BOSS!!!
Sloatsburg — “I’m shocked that more people don’t share this opinion with me.”
In terms of having expectations of excellence, I do. Right on!!! Also I think Terry Collins is the right medicine for the malaise.
I agree with Slotsburg although I would point out that having too many guys on “scholarship” oftentimes leads to a poor team chemistry and among the worst offenders has often been the most insulated ones with 4-5 year deals. Those deals breed a lack of urgency especially when there are too many of them at the same time.
The security those deals provide don’t translate into security in performance or a team first mentality.
Tom Coughlin or Terry Collins make people uncomfortable and that’s frequently necessary if you want to get the most out of your guys in any industry. Hopefully he’ll have the full support of the FO and Ownership when the inevitable complaints come around unlike Randolph.
Great point about making people uncomfortable. I for one am all for his tactics. No one is above his law.