In what has become a very public showing, –or lack there of– Terry Collins has expressed his discontent with Ruben Tejada’s not reporting to camp early on multiple occasions. Wasn’t this the same issue in LA and Houston? Did his players not petition against him in Anaheim for reasons just like this? It seems to me like this whole incident was a regression for Collins back to an old habit.
In his former jobs with the Astros and Angels, Collins had issues with making his problems with his players public rather than handling it directly. I saw this whole debacle with Tejada as doing just that. TC needed to keep his problem with Tejada to himself, to an extent, until he had a chance to speak with him first.
I am not arguing that Tejada was right in ignoring his manager, because I agree with Collins that he should have reported early. What I am arguing is how Collins handled it was fairly poor. He expressed to the media at least three times his disappointment in Tejada; you don’t do that. This should have been a private conversation between the two, not a media frenzy.
“I am a little surprised, a lot of it is just selfishness on my part. I take great pride in the game itself, and respecting the game. I wish everybody had the same respect for it to want to get started as early as possible.”
It is one thing to express that you weren’t happy with his not showing up early, but then to indirectly question his respect for the game is too far.
What was good was that Collins met with Tejada personally to put it to bed, but that is how it should have been handled from the get-go, not after talking about it to the press.
Hopefully Collins can continue to perform at the extraordinary level he has so far. I personally think he is a very good manager and so long as he continues to suppresses these minor, yet significant flaws in his communication with players, he will be a staple with the Mets for many years to come.
