27
2012
MMO Fair or Foul: Collins Arrived A Few Years Too Late
An article by 
He arrived a few years too late, truth be told. Terry Collins would have been the perfect manager to guide the Contender Mets of a few years back, the 2006-08 heartbreak kids who always found a way to spill tomato sauce all over the final chapters of their stories and their seasons.
We know that now, of course, because we saw the work he did with last year’s Mets, we saw the patience he has discovered late in the game, the way he relates not only to kids fighting every day for their livelihoods but to stars, too. We saw how he kept the team together after that 5-13 start, and when the annual injury purge struck, how they were .500 as late as Aug. 10 and only one game under on Sept. 7.
All the while, Collins saying, “We have to believe we’re better than people believe we are.” All the while, getting his players to buy into that, too. Yes, it might have been useful to have Collins’ steady, exacting hand at the controls when the Mets were allowed to drift during the star-crossed summers of 2007 and ’08, when they stopped playing for Willie Randolph and stopped listening to Jerry Manuel. ~ Mike Vaccaro, New York Post
Better late than never right?
I’ve said it before, but Alderson’s best moves in two offseasons was first signing Terry Collins who was already in the organization, and then extending his contract in January.
As for whether or not Collins could have been a difference maker in 2007 and 2008, sure… why not. They missed the post season by just one game in each of those seasons, and it’s been said a good manager is worth about ten wins during the course of a 162 game season.
The players like playing for Collins and they respect him – there is a difference between the two. He gets the most out of his players and he sets the bar high. For now, he’s exactly the right manager at exactly the right time.
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.
67 Comments + Add Comment
Recent Comments
- SirPall: on Is Ike Davis Really Mike Jacobs Reincarnated?: Ike's gotta go get fixed in the...
- Al: on Mets Minors Report 5/22: Alderson Says Wheeler Could Get Promoted After 2-3 Good Starts: Why won't SNY show Las Vages 51s...
- Metsie: on Sandy Disappointed With Some Of His Moves And The Team’s Performance: Dooby I think maybe I see the...
- Mr North Jersey: on Sandy Disappointed With Some Of His Moves And The Team’s Performance: Again I don't know who "we" is...
- Alex68: on Sandy Disappointed With Some Of His Moves And The Team’s Performance: Chris Capuano - Good, didn't want him...
MMO Mets Chat
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5381 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1269 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
I disagree with this. I don’t see Collins as a finisher. I think for now he was the right man at the right time following Jerry Manuel because almost anybody would have been better than Jerry Manuel.
As for leading those teams to titles? I don’t think so. I don’t think he would have gained the respect of those players and for all that Willie Randolph was, at least he was familiar with knowing how to win so I think the Mets done as good as they can with him. Now if you want to say Davey Johnson than that’s a different story.
And seeing how he mishandled the Tejada situation i couldn’t see him getting along well for any length of time with guys like Delgado, LoDuca, Pedro Martinez, and even Beltran in that high level New York playoff environment.
I agree with most of this. Honestly the best manager for the competing Mets of 2005-2008 would have been Willie.
I have no problem overall with the job TC did last year. I’m not sure he’s going to be the manager long term though.
As far as TC doing a better job than say WIllie? I don’t know about that….
I think 2007 and 2008′s problems went beyond the manager.
Agree completely TRS.
We’ll never know just how much the undermining of Randolph from the front office and ownership had to do with the lacadasical play beginning in June ’07. 34-19 on June 1st and 1 game under the rest of the way.
I thought Willie ran a tight ship and accepted no excuses. Once the players saw they could get Rick Downs fired they realized what pull they had and it was to our detriment after that.
Shame Willie had to be canned right before the All Star game he was selected to coach in at Yankee Stadium too.
I don’t know if Collins would have had any different support from the players than Randolph did anyway and I know he wouldn’t have been impervious to being undermined from above so I don’t think things would have been all that different for him if he had been hired instead of Randolph.
His management style is more effective with younger guys not on guaranteed deals and he might have rubbed the vets the same way Willie apparently did.
At this point, it’s really hard to say, i mean, the players tuned out willie and he was some sort of disciplinary, collins seem to be more strict, although, i will say, i think he would’ve been better equipped down the strecht than either willie or manuel were.. i think the team would’ve reacted different had collins be the manager..
Possible, I just think the first collapse was almost unavoidable. The second one, if you call it a collapse was hangover.
Anyone would have been better than Manuel. He wore out his welcome pretty quick.
The first collapse was just a strange situation.. the second one was in part on minaya, he needed to adress the bullpen better coming in, but didn’t. then midseason wagner goes out, we finished the season with 29 blown saves, and many miss opportunities, including that famous STRIKEOUT against the cubs Sept 24th..
”Strange” wouldn’t be my description. Absolutely just f’ing unbelievable.
I had not been that disappointed since ’88 – not even ’06 pissed me off as bad as ’07 and that epic collapse did.
‘The champagne will just be that much sweeter’.
UGH!!!!!
There’s a difference between a good manager and the right manager. I think he’s a good manager, but I don’t think he would have worked with the teams of a few years ago. A guy like him, a task master and big on discipline, will clash with big egos and supposed super stars. Especially if the rumors of undercutting and dirty politics of that time are true.
He’s good for the Mets right now. A group of young players need a guy to keep that fire lit under them, especially in the down times. None of them have accomplished anything or can outshine him in anyway.
It’s not the CORE’s intention, but more BAD NEWS if you’re a mets fan:
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/38790/fred-wilpon-speaks-about-mets-future
I did not read any of it as “bad news” for Mets fans anymore than just more posturing. Most of us realize that the budget was cut due to two reasons, one the team was not performing and had/still has a lot of dead weight money on the team. Two the Wilpons could not bail out the under performing team due to their own issues.
Alex, thanks for this. Just read it, not sure all that carefully. Busy today.
What makes you think it’s so bad? I get it, they claim SA has his way, and that we can read he’s got a cheapskate philosophy in the short term–at least.
On the other hand, and call me Crazy if you must, maybe this year marks Year 1 for the post-Madoff, post-Minaya Mets. I know how you feel about SA, so there’s no point in jawing over that.
If the Mets have eras, then we probably can all agree that 2005-2011 was an era, or 2005-2010–whatever. I will include 2011 because we still had a real core from everything good that developed when Minaya first came on board. From the old era, we have Santana, Wright, Bay, Pelf, and Dickey, I guess.
If the Mets don’t remain on a downward spiral through the 2013 season, then I am going to say we are on the up and up. Say what you will, but the real Alderson era begins for me in 2012.
Russell, as always, the CORE respect your opinion, my thing is, wilpon is already thinking small market just like sandy alderson does, what do you think this means for wheeler and co if they turn out to be good? they will not lock them up to long term deals? they’re gonna turn around and trade them once they become good? hearing that it’s just frustrating as a fan because, the Oakland A’s are doing the same thing alderson is trying to preach here, moneyballin his way to just be AFLOAT!
You have no idea what Sandy will do with his stars in the future. He is NOT Billy Beane, why people continue to compare the two baffles me. When Sandy had money in Oakland he spent the hell out of it. He only resorted to cost cutting measures when his owner forced him to slash payroll.
Well people seem to do as their history suggests don’t they?
We all know there is a REAL possibility that Wright will be traded soon.
SO why would we not expect him to keep on doing what he has done so far?
As for the comparisons with Beane well Beane is the one manager that is known for doing what Sandy has done so far! And it makes sense since Sandy is the guy who Mentored Beane in the first place and gave him the job he has!
What Sandy has done so far? What has Sandy done? Not signed Reyes to a large contract and let some dead weight go. Has Sandy traded a top young controllable player yet?
In my opinion, this is bad news, the wilpons as owners is bad news.. we will still be hold back as fans because they can’t spend any money, also, that means that uf they stay, sandy alderson will be the GM… even more bad news.
I am just not so sure that RIGHT NOW keeping the Wilpons is not the best thing for the Mets. If they do decide to sell it will be years down the road before the Mets can improve their team. If there is one thing we know about the Wilpons is that when there is not financial turmoil they will spend. So to me the best thing that can happen is for this court case to get dropped and the Wilpons get their personal affairs in order. Then if the young guys start to play well the Mets will add salary even with your anti-christ at the helm.
Fair enough. I cannot agree or disagree with you at this point.
I am strapping on my safety belt and getting ready for what I hope is going to be a very interesting 2012; will be a huge test for Alderson, Collins, and the 25 who make the roster.
One step at a time…
Well if you take Fred on his word (and most won’t) seems Sandy wanted these cuts more than Wilpon.
We will see where this goes in the future though.
Well…..this will move the media on from ‘Ruben-gate’….
I don’t really have a problem with the Wilpons retaining ownership at the moment. They’re not selling unless they’re forced to. So the sooner they get these money problems resolved, the better.
As far as GMs….no matter who it is, I’m hearing Fred say he’s deferring baseball decisions to his GM so that has to be a good thing……
Agreed, part of the problem has always been the Wipons wanting to please the press and the fans by spending on what ever the largest name was and to go all in each year. That strategy ultimately got us where we are. Time to let the GM make decisions and if HE fails then fire him.
Isit really their desire to please the press at issue or is it merely they seem to let the GM do whatever he wants to do and never put checks and balances on him?
You know it’s easy to accuse them of meddling but the truth is (and Wilpon has said this for as long as I have listend to him talk)
He seems to take whatever advice the GM gives him and lets him do his job!
Now when things go well no one cares and gives the GM credit.
Why when it goes wrong do we assume the Wilpons made it happen?
Why doesn’t the GM get credit for the bad as well as the good?
Omar wanted those FAs and Wilpon let him!
Sandy wanted to cut Salary and Wilpon let him!
So far we have seen the Wilpons own teams who have Built (86), Bought (90′s and recently) and Sold (Post 90′s and now)
The owner has been the same only the GMs have been different!
Yet when they spend too much it’s the Wilpons fault, when they cut or don’t spend it’s the Wilpon’s fault!
Sure they were there but the only way for them to be responsible and or stop these supposed mistakes is to do what everyone accuses them of doing NOW, which is micro manage the team and handcuff the GM!
Team History seems to show they don’t do that as the variety of philosophies we have seen over the years seem to vary to both extreemes!
Did fred say go buy everyone you see?
Did fred also say get rid of everyone you see?
Or did he merely let the GM do whatever he thought was best and we are unfairly attributing our problems to Fred?
The only thing you can knock Fred for is WHO he hired, And no one ever seems to have a problem with the WHO once they get here only 5 years after the fact!
Metsie, you said: “The only thing you can knock Fred for is WHO he hired, And no one ever seems to have a problem with the WHO once they get here only 5 years after the fact!”
you’re wrong, I HAVE A PROBLEM RIGHT NOW with the GM at the helm, he sucks as a GM, does not care about winning at all and is just here to slash payroll and put a crappy team together to ride the waves, while lying to the fan base when talks about franchise players and what not, yet letting one walk away and signing 2 bums in francisco and rauch (Middle relievers)
You don’t like Sandy? Wow.
As for your comment again, you have yet to explain what benefit it would be to Sandy to NOT want to win.
Yeah, I don’t believe for one NY minute SA doesn’t want to win – same as the other 29 GMs do.
Look at the sh*** team he’s put together in back to back seasons, you think he gives a f*** if he win or lose? you must pay close attention at what’s been happening the last 2 years
Answer the question, what benefit does he gain from not wanting to win? It’s just his timetable and your’s are different. Again, if after 2013 we are still here then you can say that he stinks as a GM. Even then it would be foolish to say he did not want to win.
How do we know Omar wanted to win? Because he went out and spent millions and millions of dollars on bad contracts? There were plenty of “other” moves he could have made with all that money but because he went out and spent a crap load of money and much did not work out he wanted to win and because Sandy is not (whether it’s his decision, the Wilpons or both is pointless) spending careless and recklessly he is not trying.
This team is in serious financial trouble. That is a well documented fact. they were bleeding money because of a bloated and unproductive payroll.
the plain and simple fact is the slashing had to happen, even if the Madoff problems didn’t arise. Going out and over spending just to buy headlines failed over and over. The franchise was broken top to bottom. that is not something that gets fixed over night.
Besides, if the only thing to do was slash payroll and not give a f, why bother bring in a new GM? why not tell Minaya or Ricco to do it? Why hire a ton more scouts, a new director of player development, and a special assistant to the GM?
Because it isn’t just about slashing payroll. and it is all about giving a f. The fact that there is so much work being done to make a sustainable winner, not just buying fans’ interest for this April.
Why would you ever take a job that you don’t want to succeed in?
Bingo!
If it was all about slashing payroll and nothing but slashing payroll, they could have told Omar to do that and saved themselves the expense of paying 2 GMs for one job.
Not sure why that point is so hard to get across.
SRT has asked that question over and over again. IF it was just about money and slashing as much as possible then why would they pay two GM’s? Why would they bring in all of these other guys? Why not just turn it over to that guy that was Omar’s 2nd in command or leave Omar in charge.
I believe there is a plan in place and while some of us may not like it we will all be able to judge it after 2013.
Yes, I do think he gives a f*uck if his team wins. Nothing you’ve come out with yet has convinced me otherwise.
His hands are tied somewhat with the financial situation. Also, I don’t that problem didn’t exist SA was going to throw good money after bad. Meaning….he just wasn’t going to go out and buy the best/expensive FAs available at all costs.
He’s trying to build a better franchise from the ground up. The minors are already in a better position then they were a few years ago – whether that was b/c our better prospects were rushed up through the system, our drafting was sparse, our drafting went along with slotting – or all of the above.
He also made several changes FO wise in the minors and with scouting.
It’s just not all about the major league club in the here and now. You’ve got to plan for the future while trying to compete with what you’ve got today. Trying to compete with dead weight on the major league club last year was damn near impossible unless we were going to spend even more money to compensate for the wasted money in Perez, Castillo and those sitting on the DL (i.e. Johan).
This year it’s a very young team – with some prospects almost ready – with too many holes to try and fill at the major league level off FA.
I’m giving this organization another year to see where they go from here.
Alex I wasn’t meaning to suggest EVERYONE has been happy about every GM hired…
Just pointing out that a lot of people were quite happy to see Omar hired only to blame the Wilpons for hiring him later!
I don’t know or can say for certain that there was anyone better than Sandy out there to hire but then again since they didn’t get the job and until they do get one we really won’t know!
Most of the hiring angst is residual from the days where Harrazin,Duquette, Phillips and McIlvane were hired!
Thats when the Skill Sets moniker came about!
And thats really where the majority of thise 25 years of frustration come from!
Because lets fact facts, Love him or hate him Omar had three good seasons in his first 4 and if not for Injuries in 2009-2010 might have looked like a genius right now considering all the Kids he got that folks are raving about now!
And in repsect to the point about pleasing the press YES firing Omar was pushed by the media and fans more than any lack of faith in Omar on Wilpon’s part!
‘Just pointing out that a lot of people were quite happy to see Omar hired only to blame the Wilpons for hiring him later!’
I like the Omar hiring. I thought the plan he laid out when he got here was a good one.
I never understood the extension the Wilpons gave Omar just weeks before we were eliminated in Sep. Didn’t make any sense.
By Aug of 210 I was done with Omar – specifically after the Bernazard/Rubin debacle. That was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. That’s when I started my chants of ‘Omar must go’.
Right Srt, but really if you were on board at the time he was hired you can’t really blame the Wilpons for hiring right?
(Not saying you do just making that point for those that DO blame them!)
The Bernazard issue was bad and it can be said losing Bernazard hurt our scouting too!
I understand the extention though I mean three meaningful seasons and the highest recorded attendance in Met History!
You can’t not recognize that even if the Players choked, Omar can’t hit for them!
I don’t blame the Wilpons for the initial hiring.
I do blame the Wilpons for the extension. They obviously have no baseball smarts and trusted the path Omar was going down – enough so that they obviously had no reservations about waiting to see how that Sep played out.
Well the xtention was made to avoid having a lame duck GM.
I understand it. The team was doing well you certainly can’t blame Omar for the chokes!
Hell you can’t even blame him for not being a buyer at the deadline!
Omar’s problem was he had no kids worth a damn to start with, had to buy a team to get where he did and when the injuries happend in 2009 and 2010 the farm was not really ready yet to fill in
Davis was it and you have to admit that was a good one.
Duda took another year!
His farm is starting to show and the fact we can’t afford that type of Salary now has as much to do with those injuries than Omar’s moves!
Bay was a bad signing a desperation signing no one can deny that! But what was he to do other than get Halladay?
Who was he going to promote? No One without rushing up some kid!
We give Sandy credit for cutting salary based on the situation and we should give Omar credit for dealing with his!
He didn’t bankrupt the Wilpons nor is he responsible for our lack of attendance!
The economy is the main culprit, the injures made it worse, the hatred of the manager made people lose even more faith and thats where we are today!
You are right, Omar did have some good years and I supported him through those. However, I do think it is clear that the spending on bad contracts and the ultimate failures (even based on injury) has put the Mets in a tough situation regardless of the Wilpons financial issues.
Truth is he had three bad contracts (out of how many 8 or 9?) and one wasn’t really all that bad (Castillo!)
Of the good contracts you had:
Wright
Reyes
Beltran
Delgado
Glavine
Hernandez
Wagner
K-Rod
Santana (who may be in the middle if he can’t come back the next two years left)
And in opposition:
Perez
Castillo (only 8 mil per hardly big money here!)
Bay (who may turn out to be a good signing if the fences really were the issue!)
The only argument made against those moves was made by Tag about giving up picks to get those guys! But looking at what we lost out on it really would not have been worth trading those three years of competitive baseball for!
However, those 3 “bad” contracts all put us at the MAX the Wilpons were willing to spend so while most teams can handle 3 bad contracts it’s because they have the flexibility to handle those. The Mets did not. Omar could not bring in the talent needed to fix the rest of the holes because he spent his entire budget on big name pieces and then back filled with the same type of players we are forced to back fill with now. The only difference is the budget that we have to work with now.
I have often wondered what would Omar have done in an off-season where he had no money to spend? Would he have traded away the farm like he did in Montreal for a foolish run? Would he have done just like Sandy?
Was it really the three bad ones? Or was it all the GOOD ones?
Your talking 36 Mil of what was at it’s highest a 160 Mil Payroll!
Two of those contracts are gone so why aren’t we at that 140 Mil number?
Come on we know why they are not at 140M anymore. You can’t spend what you don’t have.
Why dont they have it?
Thats the WHY that started it all!
Is it because we spent it? NO! We spent 160 Mil and made a tidy profit!
So it wasn’t the spending that made the money go away!
We cut 55 Mil from the payroll do we have 55 Mil to spend? NO!
Did Madoff cost them? NO! They made money off that deal and are being sued to get it back!
Why don’t they have it?
We stopped going!
no matter who it is, I’m hearing Fred say he’s deferring baseball decisions to his GM so that has to be a good thing……”
Explain to me how that is a good thing? have you not being paying attention? do you see what’s going on with the mets? have you seen the back to back offseason we’ve had? did you see how he batched the reyes negotiations? then how he reacted to him leaving? the lies about franchise players and then turn around and signing rauch and francisco?
Because:
A) It’s her opinion.
B) Because she feels she has seen it the other way and it failed.
i know you’re not talking about someone else’s opinion and respecting it, when all you do is turn every conversation into a debate…
Turn every conversation into a debate? Seriously? What the hell are you even talking about? Of course conversations on a blog are going to be a debate. The problem is you don’t have very good debating skills. You are like the candidate that just says the most controversial thing they can for a few claps but when asked to back it up changes the subject or uses some type of other rhetoric.
every time i something i showed facts, i don’t need to debate when i am right… you owe me all kind of apologies for trying to prove me wrong…
Again, I have no idea what in the hell you are even talking about.
What?
Come on….the Wilpons have no baseball smarts at all. Just hire the best man for the job and leave ‘em to it.
Been reading here long enough to understand your opinion on ‘what’s going on with the Met’s.
I just don’t happen to agree with your opinion.
I’m reserving judgement on SA – to small a sample size yet.
And I don’t believe SA doesn’t want to win. Jeeze, what GM doesn’t want to win?
It’s either with him or against him with so many on here. Why some can’t understand that we are willing to wait to see what happens with Sandy’s plan is beyond me. I have said over and over that if his plan fails I will be right there holding the pitch fork while Alex, Bay and Metsie runaround with Sandy’s head on a pike.
That applies to both sides!
A lot of Clickey behavior around here! Doesn’t even matter what the opinion is if a guy from the other Click says something the opposite side is taken just to start another fight!
I am not so sure it applies as much both ways. Do you see me supporting the far extreme in the other direction? I think I have agreed with you and Alex more than I have Jessup. I do back up people like SRT as she is very level headed and I know personally when there is an issue with the Mets she will speak her mind. Same goes for Any, Salty and a few others. However, none of them are “PRO” yippppppieeee Sandy guys but get lumped in all the time.
IMO, the only time I’ve ever followed actual fights on here where when one side or the other cannot stick to a debate but has to resort to personal insults and name calling.
Otherwise, it’s two sides presenting their opinion and debating the merits of each.
Except in this post where people seem to be on the same page and the most recent Santana post where myself and others who you accuse of being in the same clique actually have different opinions. And there are plenty of other examples.
The problems don’t arise from a difference of opinion. the problems arise with how people choose to express themselves. Blaming someone else because you can’t accept a difference of opinion is not the other person’s fault.
I see you gt moderated and had to change your post…
Getting the hint yet?
“the problems arise with how people choose to express themselves”
Yes and you and your friends usually choose to express your difference of opinion by maligning the poster not what he said!
And sometimes you don’t even comment on what he said just take issue with the fact he SAID something and then attack him for expressing his views on YOUR BOARD!
As if you own it or something!
And playing the victim is not what I’m doing! I’m playing the BULLY!
Right back at ya!
Just to prove a point about how useless Internet bullying really is, how childish it looks and how if you REALLY want to be treated like an adult you had best first ACT like one instead of picking fights and then claiming innocence because the person you attacked decided to return the favor!
We get it! You don’t like some people, Me especially!
If that frustrates you then I would suggest your best course of action is to ignore me and not try the same tricks you used on Bayonne!
Because they don’t work and it only exposes who the real troublemakers are around here!
The Common Denominator in most insult fests is the one who needs to either be quiet or be gone!
Guess who is the one poster involved in, starts and participates in EVERY insult fest Donal?
It isn’t Bayonne he was gone and it still happened!
Isn’t Alex because he isn’t involved in all of them!
Isn’t me because I stayed out of most of your little playground fights with Bayonne until recently!
So who is it do you think that has been a part of every slime fest we have ever had here?
Me Alex bayonne and maniac?
Or the ONE guy who argues with and insults ALL of them even when the others are not involved?
I wasn’t referring to either of you if it makes you feel better!
lol
Well giving an F and actually doing something about it can be two seperate things!
I’m sure he thinks he has made the team better. Better than what is the question?
Better than the team we had in 2006?
Better than the team we had last season?
better than the rest of the NL East?
Or better than the team some other GM might have made if he was forced to cut salary and let three All Stars go?
Better is a relative term that only has meaning when the “Better than WHAT?” is clearly defined!
I think truth be told his goal is still in the future and having flexibility when the current “core” is ready. So I think that maybe 2013 will be much like 2005 as a goal. Except I don’t expect them to invest all of that money into two players.
I also think that better is an organizational philosophy instead of just a 25 man roster philosophy.
I get why he thinks he needs to TRS.
I justdon’t know what he is referring to in context of him saying this team IS better…Better than What?
better by baseball standards? 2011 or 2006? The 1962 Mets?
Better by financial standards? Compared to what? Losing 70 Mil? Only losing 20 Mil? Or are we about to turn a profit?
Not saying he is wrong but anyone can sy something s BETTER and leave no comparison and never be proved wrong!
It all depends on Better than WHAT?
When I look at Duda & Davis, Niese and Gee, Kirk, Harvey Mejia and Familia less than a year away I see a core thats just about already here!
And like someone said in another thread, should they do well and we miss the playoffs by 5 games how many games did losing reyes cost us?
Not saying we are just saying when your dealing with unknown and future it’s easy to say this move was good and this move was bad right up until the time the future becomes the present and you see that maybe that move wasn’t the best thing!
Isn’t that pretty much what happened withall those contracts Omar signed?
I have no idea if ultimately the Mets Organization now is better than it was when he took over. I think that implies the minors, the majors, the finances, the flexibility… and as you said I don’t think that we will know until his plan has had an opportunity to run it’s course. That’s all most of us are asking for, there might be 2 running around championing every move, most of us are just in a wait and see mode.
No one has any idea which is why we had all those fights a few weeks ago about what a great job Sandy is or is not doing!
I admit he may be making the team better but there is no proof and no evidence of it yet.
All we know is we are scheduled to lose 15-25 Million instead of 70 if attendance stays the same and we lost three All stars!
Jury is still out!
alex, everyday wilpon remains the me(t)ss get worse.
will, as usual, the CORE salute you
Was Collins the right guy in 2006-2008?
Nope!
Neither was Valentine!
When you have a team of high priced Vets the best manager is one like Davey or Torre who just lets them play! Treats them like stars and at most says comon you should know better than that!
Randolph if he had more experience had the right tone but he was too busy trying to prove how smart he was and qualified as a manager and thats the wrong tact to take with established Vets!
He would have been much better with a younger team who would look up to him than he would be with Vets who probably are having better careers than he did!
Collins is another guy who is really good with Kids. The vets he had (Beltran, Wright and Reyes) were fine for him but Collins had issues with guys like Castillo and would have had the same issues with a Delgado!
Collins is good for the team we have now!
And if the Kids he has turn into All Stars they will at least be HIS All Atars and have the respect for him a hired gun might not have right off the bat!
Agreed.