The following transcript is courtesy of Adam Rubin of ESPN New York. It’s a conversation that just concluded between reporters and Terry Collins at Citi Field:
Reporter: “When you take a look at Wilmer Flores, when he was up here in May, when he played in five consecutive games, he hit. When he plays every other game he doesn’t hit. Is now the time to see what Flores can do on an everyday basis?”
Collins: “It all depends where you’re going to play him.”
Reporter: “You don’t have confidence in him at shortstop?”
Collins: “No, no. I didn’t say that. The other kid [Tejada] is playing pretty good. I don’t know what games you’ve been watching, but we’ve been playing pretty good lately.”
Reporter: “He’s 3-for-29.”
Collins: “We’re playing pretty good lately. You know, Ike Davis wasn’t hitting and we were winning games. So you pick and choose your spots. Wilmer came up because Ruben got beaned, so we were concerned about having a backup. So that’s why he’s here. There were no instructions to play him everyday. We’re going to try to get him at-bats. That’s why he’s in there today.”
Reporter: “What do you need to see from him to keep him in the lineup everyday?”
Collins: “Nothing from him. We’ve got to figure out if he is going to be the shortstop, or if the other guy is going to be the shortstop.”
During Flores’ first call-up to the Mets, he hit a grand slam and drove in six against the Phillies to win the game. Afterward, Collins said the following about Flores:
“It’s not like he hit it against Cliff Lee.”
After sitting idle for 12 straight days, Collins was asked if that was harmful to Flores’ development. The Mets manager responded:
“I cant worry about developing players, I have games I’ve got to win.”
Last week, when asked if Flores would share time at short with Tejada, the Mets manager said:
“Lets understand that if Tejada didn’t get beaned, Flores is not even here right now. Got it?”
Cripes… Yeah, we got it…
