With the retirement of 68-year-old Jim Leyland, and the departure of Charlie Manuel in recent months, 64-year-old Terry Collins becomes the oldest manager in the majors, writes Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.
Collins has invested almost 43 years into the game in various capacities, and while he’s the elder statesman for now, he;s never had a first place finish as a manager.
1994 Houston Astros 66-49 .574 2nd 1995 Houston Astros 76-68 .528 2nd 1996 Houston Astros 82-80 .506 2nd 1997 Anaheim Angels 84-78 .519 2nd 1998 Anaheim Angels 85-77 .525 2nd 1999 Anaheim Angels 51-82 .383 4th 2011 New York Mets 77-85 .475 4th 2012 New York Mets 74-88 .457 4th 2013 New York Mets 74-88 .457 3rd
Nobody would ever accuse Terry Collins of being a very good in-game strategist and perhaps that’s the biggest knock on him, but not the only one.
Collins is notorious for opting to play under-performing veterans instead of younger players who have more upside. In some cases these younger players even outperform the veterans that Collins allows himself to get too close to.
You’ll hear plenty of veterans like Carlos Beltran and Marlon Byrd rave abut Collins, but you don’t hear as much coming from younger players like Juan Lagares or Zack Wheeler who have been challenged publicly by their manager this season.
The reason the Mets waited so long to act on Ike Davis was because Collins was his biggest proponent. His attachment to veterans sometimes precludes him from doing what’s right.
Collins also has this unexplainable obsession with giving excessive PT to below replacement level players like a Justin Turner or Mike Baxter. He’ll oftentimes go with the more inferior player because he “likes their fire” as he likes to say.
All of that said, Collins is a nice guy. He’s come a long way from his days with the Angels where he suffered a public meltdown after losing control of his clubhouse. He now goes out of his way to get the buy-in from his clubhouse veterans, but almost to a fault. He wants to be liked.
Collins will be here for the next two seasons, but he’ll have to ramp up his game if this team is ever going to have a shot at contending for a post season berth.
In the end his job is predicated on wins and losses and so far it’s been mostly losses.
