How Impactful is the Manager in a Short Series?
Brian Greenzang – Terry Collins is about to face his biggest test as a manager. The role of a manager in a series like this is critical. Needing to know when to pull the plug on a starter, or letting them go a little bit longer than normal is going to be big for Collins in this series. How he manages this pitching staff and bullpen in each and every game going forward is going to be the key to the Mets success in any playoff series. Collins has to be aware of where all of his players are mentally in each game and make sure he properly manages each and every player for the success of this team. His importance in this series is bigger than one may think.
Robert Piersall – A manager is very impactful in a short series, because it’s now or never to pull the trigger and make the right in-game decisions, or else you’re done for. However, on a different note, you are also dealt the best possible players to choose from, which makes things easier. As long as Terry Collins does what he has done all year, the Mets will be fine.
Joe Spector – All it takes is one dumb, Jerry Manuel-esque move and the momentum can be easily and unfortunately changed for the worse. That said, it’s not as if Terry is hitting or pitching so, he can’t be blamed if the team takes a dump.
Gerry Silverman – The primary impact of managers in a short series usually is felt by virtue of some blunder of omission (i.e. not bringing in a certain reliever to face a certain batter in a critical situation). Other than some stroke of “genius” along the lines of starting some player that no one expected based on a hunch who then gets a critical hit, there ain’t much else to do above and beyond what happens in the regular season.
Michael Branda – I don’t think he’s that big of a factor. I think the players play and the Manager sits on the bench. To me, all you can do is start the right players, and hope for the best. I think being handcuffed by Harvey’s limits made the rotation choices obvious for Collins. Game 4 is when Collins will have a tough decision to make. I think deGrom should get the ball in Game 4, no matter what.
Andre Dobiey – The playoffs should be beneficial to Terry Collins´ style of managing. His main fault as manager in regular season(s) has been overtaxing relievers or leaving starting pitchers in games too long. At times, he ran regular season games like playoff games, creating fatigue for his players. Now in October, that´s exactly how you manage, so I´m not really worried.
Joe D. – I feel as though every time I’ve been at odds with a Terry Collins decision in most cases it proved inconsequential. Still he can drive me nuts at times. For example we have the daunting task of having to face the best left-handed starter on the planet tonight, and yet he plans to have Curtis Granderson in the lineup. Granderson is hitting just .183 against LHP, the worst mark in the majors among players with at least 125 at-bats. So yeah, that really bugs me. I’m not sure a Mike Matheny or any other progressive stat conscious manager would go that way. Hopefully, like many of his other bad decisions, it won’t bite us on the ass, but yeah, managers do matter. Especially in a short series.
