Mets manager Terry Collins, was a guest this morning on the Boomer and Carton Show on WFAN. The lengthy interview lasted 40 minutes and Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog, highlighted most of the pertinent points:
- There is a good chance Mookie Wilson will be his first-base coach
- He is hoping to get Johan Santana back in the rotation by mid-season, ‘hopefully around June.’
- Dillon Gee showed he can be an effective major-league pitcher if he locates his pitches.
- Josh Thole has earned a chance to be the every-day catcher.
- With or without Luis Castillo in camp, second base will be an open competition
- Jason Bay is ‘ready to go,’ and he will be at mini-camp in January.
- Sandy Alderson is working hard to bring in a starting pitcher.
- Collins has been playing phone tag with Carlos Beltran, who he hopes to talk with about getting work in right field.
Collins also said that they are considering a few candidates to be the team’s hitting coach, and that they plan to interview them during the winter meetings next week.
Regarding Johan Santana, that’s the first hint of any timetable we’ve heard regarding a possible return.
I’m surprised that they will speak to Carlos Beltran about right field before he even reports to Spring Training and shows any improvement. That will give Beltran almost three months to deal with it, which could be either very good or very bad, we’ll have to wait and see.
Collins didn’t sound very confident about Dillon Gee being an effective starting pitcher, but sounded optimistic about Josh Thole as an everyday catcher.
One great quote that came out of it was this,
“We’ve got to forget about the past. That’s behind us. We have to move forward. We have to create a new atmosphere in the clubhouse. We have to create a new atmosphere on the field.”
You can listen to the full interview by going to WFAN.com.
