With pitchers and catchers reporting in 18 days, Mike Puma of the New York Post says manager Terry Collins is on the hot seat.
“Though the Mets have holes, most notably at shortstop, Collins is expected to keep this crew in contention for the entire season. So if the Mets are sitting seven or eight games below .500 on Memorial Day, Collins could be a goner.”
As I wrote on Saturday, with all the high expectations and rampant talk from players about October baseball, Collins is clearly on the firing line and becomes the perfect fall guy and scapegoat if things go wrong.
Back in September, Andy Martino of the Daily News wrote that while Collins does has his backers in the organization, it’s now very clear he has his detractors as well. Not everyone supported Sandy Alderson’s decision to bring him back for the 2015 season.
My colleague Matt Balasis raised an excellent point in one of his previous articles:
“It shouldn’t take much to vault this team into contention. But when you consider how last year’s team was arguably on the cusp of contention itself, sunk by suspect managerial choices and poorly conceived lineups, you have to wonder how much these less than overwhelming improvements will factor in the grand scheme. At times it was hard to watch the workings of a manager who went beyond the ineffectual and actually appeared to inhibit any kind of rhythm or momentum with his mind boggling playing time allocations.”
We can all agree that Collins’ role in his first few seasons was to play caretaker as the Mets slashed payroll and focused on rebuilding. However, 2015 is the season when the Mets are expected to become relevant again and contend for a playoff spot. If the Mets get off to a slow start, the calls for Collins’ to be axed could quickly overshadow what is supposed to be a very promising season.
Furthermore, if the Mets are struggling to stay at .500 by May, it will bring Alderson’s judgement into question for retaining Collins, especially if the team he put together severely under-performs.
If that happens, I wouldn’t be a surprised to see Collins fired in favor of Wally Backman, the peoples’ choice, even though he’d be Sandy’s last choice.
I’ll be rooting hard for him and the Mets from day one because that’s what Mets fans are supposed to do. But the minute I sense more of the same old tired play and awful decisions, I’m going to demand some accountability and I hope Sandy does likewise.
