Thoughts from Joe D.
To be honest, if Terry Collins had been fired at the time that was reported, few would have shed any tears. But somehow, Collins was able to survive the guillotine, mostly because of four things as I see it.
1. The team suddenly got healthy particularly with the returns of Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes from the disabled list.
2. The team didn’t skip a beat when Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman replaced Jacob deGrom and Steven Matz.
3. Curtis Granderson turned his awful season around and got raging hot.
4. The Mets had the easiest schedule among the other four contenders for the NL Wild Card, having to close out the season against the Twins, Braves, Phillies and Marlins.
Call it luck or a perfect storm, those four things combined to see the Mets finish the season with a 27-13 run.
We can talk all day long about how much the players love Terry Collins, but love doesn’t win championships. The players loved Casey Stengel when the Mets lost 120 games.
What Collins is best at, is keeping his players motivated and playing at their peak performances. His teams have always exhibited a lot of fight and heart, even when they posted losing records in four consecutive seasons on his watch. His teams have never quit on him.
One of the earmarks of this 2016 team in particular, has been an extraordinary resiliency and an ability to bounce back after a devastating loss or incredibly disheartening news on the injury front. Most recently we saw this in a gut-wrenching loss to the Braves during a rare blown save by Jeurys Familia, only to come back the next night with an emotional walk-off win on a three-run homer by Asdrubal Cabrera in the 11th.
Or how about that one where the Mets nearly came all the way back from an early 10 run deficit only to fall short and leave the tying runs stranded in the ninth inning. The very next day the Mets bounce back with a historic 17-0 blowout victory to get in a three-way tie for the wild card.
Time and time again we’ve seen this team overcome one adversity after another and this is where Terry Collins’ deserves a ton of credit.
As a strategist, we all know that Collins has cost this team at least a half-dozen wins if not more. But somehow he makes up for that with an ability to see his team persevere even under the most dire of circumstances.
Maybe with another manager the Mets win another few games. but would that same manager be able to keep his team from giving up when the news broke they had lost deGrom and Matz for the season? Or would a different manager be able to motivate his team to a playoff berth after they sunk to 5.5 games back with four teams ahead of them and just 40 games left to the season?
Therein lies the true value of Terry Collins to this team – not as a brilliant tactician, but as a superlative leader who ultimately gets the job done with what ever hand he’s dealt.
Original Report
According to a report on NorthJersey.com by Bob Klapisch, New York Mets manager, Terry Collins was nearly fired this past August.
Klapisch, who spoke with Mets insiders, was advised that on August 13, if the team had not won a game against the San Diego Padres, Collins would have been let go. The Mets were just coming off an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks in their own home and had lost the previous night’s game to the Padres.
The Mets though would go on to win their August 13 game by a score of 3-2. They would win three of four games from that date, providing their manager with breathing room. The front office seemingly were ready to part ways with the man who took this very team to a World Series in the season prior.
The report also suggests that the front office may not be too happy with just how quotable Collins is as he must appear before and after each game on SNY. It is noted that the second that the cameras go on, Collins must stick to the message of the team and not go off the cuff.
Klapsich goes on to compare Collins to his mentor, Jim Leyland, who would normally tell old war stories off-the-record to reporters. Collins being from that old school of thinking had Klapsich wondering how other managers of Terry’s ilk may fair in such designations.
Collins never seemed to be a favorite of this front office, seen as more of a transition manager until this team was ready to succeed, only to be replaced with someone else. However, he has stuck around and his players absolutely love him. Never do you hear of a player throw him under a bus. Instead, they fight for Collins and give him everything they got. He has earned his keep.
He may not make the best in-game decisions, but Collins has shown his ability to keep this team together. His team has never given up even when things seemed hopeless as the injuries mounted to star player after star player this season. So here they stand, in the postseason for the second consecutive year. Terry Collins is part of the reason that the Mets will play in the Wild Card game this coming Wednesday, whether you may like to admit it or not.
