According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, Terry Collins refused to say that Wilmer Flores is his starting shortstop and told reporters that he has challenged Ruben Tejada to win the job.
Collins said that as far as he’s concerned, shortstop is a wide open competition this Spring. “I’m going go to give him [Tejada] a fair amount of chances to win that shortstop job.”
I’m sure Collins is only trying to create some competition with so few spring training battles heading into camp. It’s too early to read into these comments by Collins and it’s pretty clear that Flores is the team’s shortstop.
While Terry Collins spends the next few weeks trying to determine who will bat leadoff between Juan Lagares and Curtis Granderson, he’s also tossing around the idea of bumping Daniel Murphy from the two hole and batting him lower in the lineup. Collins sees Murphy more as a No. 6 hitter, where he potentially could drive in more runs.
“A lot of times hitting in that two hole you’re asked to execute some things instead of just being a pure hitter,” Collins said after Saturday’s workout. “With the pitcher hitting where he hits, sometimes you come up with not a lot of guys on. And I think if we put Dan in a situation where there are guys on base, the fact that he is such a good offensive player, he can produce some more runs for us.”
Pitchers all threw side sessions from the six pack this morning with lots of raves for Steven Matz who unleashed a wicked curve, and Matt Harvey who threw his first slider and then a curveball that Collins referred to as “stinkin’ dynamite.”
Mazzoni, deGrom, Syndergaard, Niese, Leathersich, and Edgin all had throwing sessions today.
Bartolo Colon set to field a groundball at #Mets camp on Sunday: pic.twitter.com/uV7q6OU0S3
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinMedia) February 22, 2015
Wright, Granderson, Cuddyer and Nieuwenhuis all took turns in the batting cage and launched some bombs for onlooking fans.
It was another good day at Port St. Lucie where things remain upbeat and positive. The kids are all having fun and there seems to be some great chemistry in camp in the early going. It’s all good in the hood…
