Peter S. asks…
Does Terry Collins have a problem with Wilmer Flores? He often throws him under the bus and goes out of his way to constantly rave about Ruben Tejada every chance he gets. Does he know that Flores speaks and reads perfectly good English and that he probably knows all this stuff Collins keeps saying about the shortstop situation? I feel bad for Flores because his own manager isn’t even in his corner.
Joe D. replies…
There’s no way for me to accurately answer your question because nobody knows what’s going on in that head of Terry Collins.
I recall him showing up at the Winter Meetings in San Diego and during a press conference he said Flores wasn’t the team’s shortstop yet. I thought that was an odd thing to say at the time because the front office had recently shared some glowing reports on Flores’ offseason progress.
“As I sit here today, I’m not going to name Wilmer Flores just yet,” Collins said. “Ruben promised me he’d be at the fitness facility in January to get ready for spring training which I think would be a huge benefit for him.”
“He’s 25,” Collins said. “It would be one thing if he was 31 or 32 and maybe on the downside of his career, but he’s right in prime time. What we saw at the end of last season is the Ruben Tejada we know he can be, tremendous defender, great arm. He hit for more power than we expected, but he’s doing that by design.”
Those comments created such a stir that Sandy Alderson felt compelled to meet with reporters later that night and shoot down what Collins said about Tejada.
Sandy Alderson chuckled when asked if Ruben Tejada could start at shortstop for #Mets. "I guess conceptually, it’s a possibility," he said.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) December 9, 2014
Alderson went onto say that Flores would be the Mets starting shortstop.
During his first meeting with reporters at the Mets spring training complex last week, Collins again suggested that Flores was not the shortstop yet and that Tejada could still win the everyday job at short.
“I’m going to give him a fair amount of chance to win that shortstop job,” Collins insisted.
“I’m not going to say that Wilmer Flores won’t be the shortstop. I’m not saying that,” the manager added. “All I’m saying is I’m giving this other guy a chance because I know two years ago I had some coaches on this staff, who are still here, that thought this guy was going to be an All-Star, especially offensively.”
Collins also paid Tejada a compliment telling reporters that he’s in camp before the mandatory reporting date. Flores however, has spent almost the entirety of his offseason completely focused on preparing to be the team’s shortstop. As one beat writer put it, he’s been hard at it since the end of last season.
On Monday, Collins tossed infield prospect Matt Reynolds into the shortstop competition and pledged to give him plenty of time at short once Grapefruit League games begin March 4. Sandy Alderson is already on record as saying that Reynolds would begin the year in Las Vegas and that he still has some things he needs to work on.
Flores knows what Collins has been saying, telling beat writers he’s read all the reports this Winter. For the most part, he has been taking it all in stride. However, Flores finally spoke up yesterday.
“Everybody has their own opinion about every guy and about every player,” he said. “Just wait until I play, until I play the season. We’ll see how it goes. I’m ready to take this job and I’m ready to fight.”
“I thought I did a pretty good job last year at short,” Flores said. “I was better than I thought I was going to be. I feel pretty good. I feel fine at short.”
Getting back to your question, it appears to me that Collins would prefer anyone as his shortstop but Wilmer Flores and I don’t know why. It’s just my opinion based on how I’ve perceived the many statements Collins has made on the matter.
I could be wrong, but there’s just so many instances of this going back to April of last year when after Wilmer Flores hit a game-winning grand slam, Collins said in the post game, “It’s not like he hit it off of Cliff Lee.” That comment still bothers me almost a year later.
But you know what, it doesn’t really matter what Terry Collins says. In the end it’s Sandy Alderson who calls the shots – especially when it comes to who is the starting shortstop. It’s just a shame that there seems to be such a huge disconnect between Collins and the front office when it comes to Wilmer Flores.
