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.
