Feb
21
2012
21
2012
Mano A Mano: Terry Collins Vs. Joe D.
An article by 
Terry Collins just concluded his press conference which was televised on SNY. Now that’s my kind of Reality TV. Here’s a little summary of what he had to say…
- Collins said Jose Reyes is a “great player”, but Ruben Tejada is an “outstanding talent”. He’s going to make some “boo-boos” along the way, but has the chance to be a special player. There’s not enough separation between great and outstanding for me… How about Reyes=Great, Tejada=Good?
- Terry would like a second left-handed pitcher in the bullpen, but believes RHP Ramon Ramirez has the ability to get left-handed hitters out. “Ultimately, good stuff is what get’s people out,” he said. Thought I’d take a look and in his career: RHB: .595 OPS, LHB: .734. Umm… Can you say Robert Carson?
- Terry believes Bobby Parnell’s stuff is MLB caliber, and he feels he will be successful in his new role. Correction, Terry… Bobby Parnell’s fastball velocity is MLB caliber, but the movement on Parnell’s fastball is Appalachian League caliber. Sorry, but lets get real here.
- Collins did his best to draw inspiration from other New York based teams saying gems like this: “Who would’ve thought the NY Giants, at 7-7, had a shot?” And this one: ”I thought Sandy did a great job improving the bullpen, every good team has a Jeremy Lin.” Oddly enough, no Nets or Islanders comparisons.
- Terry is impressed with Reese Havens and is anxious to see him stay healthy… I’m more anxious to see Johan Santana stay healthy right now… Or David Wright… Or Daniel Murphy… Or Mr. Met…
- Mike Nickeas has to show he can hit. Or back to the minors? “On the days he played, we can’t be pinch hitting for him in the fifth inning”. Yeah that was kind of lame, I’m totally with Terry on that. But I sure hope Mike wasn’t listening… Hey check out the interview he did with Petey last month – a couple of posts beneath this one. By the way, the backup to Nickeas is Rob Johnson – who moonlights on MMO as HoJo.
- “We might be the youngest team in baseball. I don’t think we have a player who has 10 years in the big leagues,” Terry said. I thought that was something they only whispered in Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Oakland until they signed Jonny Gomes, Bartolo Colon and Manny Ramirez.
- Terry said he was honored they picked up his 2013 option, but he doesn’t care about the length of his contract – he is going to do the best job possible. I believe him. Despite my teasing and having a little fun with this, I love the guy and picking up his option was the second best thing Sandy Alderson has done in two off-seasons. The first was hiring him.
That’s it… I’m done… I declare this cage match a draw…
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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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 25 | 18 | .581 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 21 | .523 | 2.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 23 | .477 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 24 | .415 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 12 | 32 | .273 | 13.5 |
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To Terry Collins:
de·lu·sion·al
[dih-loo-zhuh-nl]
adjective
1. having false or unrealistic beliefs or opinions.
poor terry,what else can the poor guy do?i feel for ya terry,he’s trying to put on a strong face,but deep down he knows he better start investing in a lot of rolaids.
Cage match a draw?
Are you saying you didn’t believe the sincerity behind some of TCs comments?
To meet Terry Collins is to know him. He is one of the most sincere guys in the organization. He’s a good man who wears his heart on his sleeve. It’s a shame he’s here under these conditions. He also loves his players like they were his children. He speaks to every single one of them everyday without fail. He believes what he says – it comes from his passion for his job. I hope he is still the manager when we become relevant again.
Ah……got it.
Every time I listen to TC I think if will counted at all, he’d push this team to be world champions. Unfortunately, desire isn’t the only criteria needed. Talent goes a long way…..
To me he still seems like an intern and Backman will come up with the other kids. I love his passion though.
I still say Tuefel is next in line. I think if things go well and this team improves, Terry will have a front office job opened to him. Something like what Depodesta does now.
I like Terry and think he’s done a great job with what he has. He’s helped bring some positive changes to the franchise.
the guy managing at AA this year sounds like he has promise too.
There is no way I can bash TC right now…I really believe that he’s one of the better moves Sandy has made in his Mets GM tenure.
It’s very easy to “armchair quarterback” a manager…I try to do my best to understand the reasons why a manager makes one move over another, instead of just blasting him because a move didn’t work or went against traditional thinking . I found that last year, there wasn’t very often that I questioned TC’s moves and I didn’t have to reach to far to understand why a certain move was made.
As far as his attitude going into the season, deep down I’m sure he knows the truth (better than us) of what the situation is. He has to stay positive and he has to support his players 1000%…I’m sure he’ll take different approaches to motivating players as needed behind closed doors, but facing the media, he has to be all sunshine and roses.
Besides, what else can he say? This team sucks, I got a collection of injured and inexperienced and under-performing players? My GM didn’t spend money and didn’t do anything to improve the rotation? Odds are that adding Santana might not even get us back in what we lost in Cappy?
I’m with you…I can’t really blame Terry for much of anything, He has been the one bright spot around here but I will agree with some of the others that he will be the Fall Guy when the fans gets sick of being in the cellar the next two years!
Backman has jumped to the next level every year since he got here!
And he seems to be the guy they go to at that point.
And THIS time I will say he is ready because he has gone through the entire MiL system and knows all the players he will have to manage when they get up here!
Davey did the same thing but I don’t see the same results this time around. No Carter and Hernandez here! And doesn’t appear we will have any money to get them by then!
at least he stayed away from guaranteeing the team plays better fundamentals this year, after last year’s lie. I guess he just moved on to another lie, like his leader sandy.
Hey Will, he actually did guarantee better fundamentals in another media session with beat writers at Digital on Friday.
Isn’t part of a managers job to say the will be focusing on better “fundamentals” every year? It’s gotta be part of their contract, because the Mets managers have been saying it every year for as long as I can remember. Wasn’t “fundamentals” supposed to be Slick Willies thing and Fusilli Jerry was supposed to fix the “fundamentals” back when he was here…and I think TC was hired because of his ability to teach the “fundies” to the young players.
I bet that every manager will give the “fundamentals” speech sometime this spring.
Ya. Managers, players, GMs all of them have to quote from the Big Book of Sports Cliches.
it is like a guy running for office saying he wants to lower taxes and cut spending. Always gets said, rarely gets done.
A manager saying that that the team will play better fundamentals in the spring, is as common as a player saying he’s in the best shape of his life, or a general manager saying his team will be fun to watch.
What kind of cage match was this? There was no folding chair jabs to the throat. Booooo
LOL, well give me credit for digging up an image of Collins at the batting cage.
Yeah, next time you need to throw “salt” in his eyes and then pull out the brass knuckles from your shorts.
this is well done by montreal
http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-in-this-emotional-scene-the-montreal-canadiens-paid-tribute-to-gary-carter-2012-2
Off Topic: I wish SNY would get to the point where they would make these press conferences available in it’s entirety rather than snippets online. At worst live streams of the presser.
They did show his entire interview on SNY. So I’m assuming you’re talking about making it available online while it’s live or at least make the entire interview available afterwards online?
If yes, I’m surprised they don’t. I never really checked. I’m assuming you have.
Sorry SRT your correct I was referring to online.
nice to see the props for Havens. he is my breakout star of the year candidate (I have renamed it the Duda award), and I think he is going to nail down the 2B job and keep it for a long time. And it could happen out of ST.
OK so let’s see then we have Reese Havens for “Breakout Star Of The Year” and Andres Torres for “Comeback Player Of The Year”. Better tell Kingy to get the float ready Any.
Screw Torres, I’m hoping that he’s on the bench and Capt. Kirk is running around in CF by June.
I want Santana to get the “CBPotY” with Bay and Wright runners up.
You’ll get no argument from me on watching Capt. Kirk get a shot to see what he can do playing CF. In fact I think that is what the Mets are hoping for.
USMF — We want the best player in CF, with consideration for present and future benefit. I’d hope we don’t screw Torres. He’s a good present day guy for CF.
OK, to be fair, I mean no disrespect to Torres. From everything I hear, he’s a great guy and is the type of player who could win us over despite putting up average numbers.
But for Torres get “comeback” to what he was, he’s still only a nice but replaceable player.
If Santana “comes back” that’s 15wins and a sub 3.00ERA with +200innings pitched.
If Wright and Bay “comeback” that means that we’ll see +30HRs +100RBIs.
If the Mets have any chance to “compete” this year, we’ll need two of the previous three (at least) to have decent rebounds. If not, I don’t see them having any chance.
Besides, even if Sandy won’t admit it…we are in a rebuilding phase. Our only hope in the near future is to have several of our young “studs” come up a excel. Kick is one of those “studs” Torres is just keeping the position warm.
Don’t you have to have been good once to be able to COMEBACK? LOL
I mean his best year was a .270 Average and we dumped Pagan with a higher one for him!
Who needs a comback player who even if he comes back is still worse than what you replaced?
Shhhh…Torres was a great addition…who cares that his best year he batted .268 w/ 16HRs and he’s never played a full season and has bounced around between 7 different teams going back to 2002.
The thing is, I think Torres for Pagan is pretty much a wash. Both are inconsistent at the plate. Torres seems to a much more consistent player in the field and a smarter base runner. Pagan has better “upside”, but he just doesn’t have “it” between the ears and was supposedly a moper last year.
My only problem with the Pagan trade was that it didn’t happen last year while his value was highest.
Truth is, neither guy is nothing more than a fill in role player who can easily be replaced, they will never even match Jay Payton’s career. Both guys will be forgotten about in five years.
LOL I mean I have nothing against the guy it’s just that the move was appluaded despite going against every principle the guys who appluaded it say is the plan!
Metsie — In my opinion, not shared by a lot of fans here on MMO based on the number of posts, Pagan was a pretty good player. Yes, his 2011 season was mediocre. But I don’t think he should have been dispatched.
I am not too upset we traded Pagan, I thought he may turn out to be a good player, and .270 is only a couple more hits or walks from .290 which is more than adequate for a CF!
I am more concerned with the return!
I hate trading regular everyday players for one inning specialists and replacing that everyday performance with much worse than we gave up on!
If Kirk wasn’t so close I would be FUMING then!
If Newenhuis wasn’t so close, that trade probably doesn’t happen.
After the trade someone reported (Rubin? Marino?) that along with his defense falling off in 2011 – and needing a good defensive CF b/c they were going forward with Duda in RF – it was the constant reassurance he seemed to need as the season went on. It was commented he was in Terry’s office most days either seeking reassurance about something or wanting constant feedback.
If that happens, I hear that Howard is already working on the e-book “Terry’s Jolly”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
BTW Joe D, did you see Sandomir’s article about the “Madoff Vig”?
I actually get why Terry is saying what he does!
It’s not for our benefit but the benefit of his players!
It’s motivational and in that sense he is doing his job!
besides he is such an eternal optimist that he probably really believes all that!
He is one of those guys who thinks with proper work ethic and attitude anything is possible and I tend to agree with him on that!
Hard Work and DEDICATION will burn all that paper suck into ashes!
the question is will they respiond the way he hopes they do?
Terry Collins Vs. Joe D.? No.
Terry Collins & Joe D.! Yes.
Nice piece, Joe D. Thanks.
In all fairness to Terry, Ramon Ramirez last year produced a .611 OPS vs LH.
Talk about being delusional and telling everyone what the general manager wants him to say. I guess they CGIed the puppet strings so we wouldn’t see them. Tejada is nowhere near Reyes’ talent and never will. Parnell has the velocity of an MLB pitcher but the movement that is not much better than high school pitchers. Another long season ahead.