In a report by Mike Puma of the New York Post on Thursday, the Mets front office and general manager Sandy Alderson were irked by some of the on-field moves manager Terry Collins during the last homestand that ended with a series loss to the San Diego Padres.
The report cited three specific instances that really bothered Alderson; they included how Collins mishandled Matt Harvey and Tommy Milone in their last starts, and Collins’ insistence to keep giving playing time to Curtis Granderson at the expense of T.J. Rivera who the front office is very high on.
It was interesting and quite surprising to see that Collins’ bullpen management wasn’t mentioned.
Last week, I wrote an article that was very critical of how Collins completely bumbled and mishandled his use of the bullpen with a series of questionable moves that led to the two losses against the Padres. In fact, I thought some of what transpired laid out a good case for firing Collins.
After my article was published, Mets beat writers hit up all their sources to see if Collins was truly on the hot seat as I propounded on Thursday.
One of those beat writers, Marc Carig of Newsday, learned from a source that Collins still has the “steadfast support” of CEO and majority owner of the Mets, Fred Wilpon.
So while many of Collins’ recent in-game decisions have frustrated Sandy Alderson – and came under fire by other members of the front office – it looks like Terry Collins remains entrenched as manager of the Mets.
Just last week, Collins became the longest-tenured manager in franchise history. When asked if he had any concerns about his job security, Collins didn’t seem to concerned about it. “It’s part of the territory as you know.” Collins is in the final year of his contract but remains open to continuing on as manager.
With almost one third of the season in the books, the New York Mets are in third place and 8 1/2 games behind the division-leading Washington Nationals in the NL East.
In the wild card standings, the Mets are in 8th place and 7 1/2 games back. They have six teams in front of them for that second wild card spot including the Dodgers, Brewers, Cardinals, Reds, Braves, and the Pirates – who they are playing this weekend.
The Mets took the first game of the series against the Bucs on Friday night, thanks in great part to a brilliant effort by the true ace of the staff, Jacob deGrom. A win tonight and the Mets can leapfrog Pittsburgh and get one step closer to that wild card.
But as I wrote last week, if the Mets are going to make a serious run at a playoff spot, they cannot afford to blow any games because of their manager. Collins needs to seriously stick to the front office game plan, improve his bullpen management, and stop overthinking everything and getting out-managed by the guy in the other dugout.
One more thing…. Can Fred and Jeff Wilpon please stick to counting their dollars and stop meddling in the team’s operation? Please let Sandy Alderson do his job unencumbered.
