Normally, you don’t fire someone who has turned a team around from losers to winners, nor do you fire the manager who brought you to the World Series the previous year. However, it’s time to fire Terry Collins.
This isn’t said lightly. It was his ability to manage the clubhouse that kept the team together last summer until the Mets could make the trades to add Kelly Johnson, Juan Uribe, and Yoenis Cespedes.
More than that, Collins appears to be a good man. He has written notes to Mets fans who are mourning the loss of a loved one. He stopped Spring Training practice so a young heart transplant survivor could meet his idols. Make no mistake, when you lose a human being of the caliber Collins is, your entire organization is worse off for it.
And yet, there comes a time when being a good person and past results need to be pushed aside. You need to focus on the job he’s doing and how he’s hurting the team.
This isn’t just about the Mets disappointing season thus far. You cannot pin a player underperforming on the manager alone even if Michael Conforto has regressed as the season progressed. Players certainly have to share in their responsibility as well. Furthermore, injuries have certainly played a part in this, and injuries cannot always be blamed on the manager (more on that later).
It’s also not just about Collins in-game management, which can be head-scratching at times. There are many factors at play to which we are not always privy. A player may feel under the weather or not ready to play in a game. Also, even if it may seem strange to people, a manager should be allowed to draw from 48 years of baseball experience to play a hunch every so often.
No, the reason why Collins needs to go is his decision making process and how it has hurt the team.
In April, there was his ill-advised decision to pitch Jim Henderson the day after he threw a career high 34 pitches. It was even worse when you consider Henderson is pitching in his first full season after having had his second shoulder surgery. Eventually, Henderson landed on the disabled list due to a shoulder impingement. Collins’ excuse for pitching Henderson was Henderson telling him before the game that “he felt great.”
The decision harkens back to Game 5 of the World Series when he let Matt Harvey talk his way back into the ninth inning despite Collins belief that the Mets should go to Jeurys Familia in that spot. That moment wasn’t about whether anyone thought it was the right move to let Harvey stay in the game. It was about Collins thinking it wasn’t he right move and his letting the player control the situtation.
Speaking of Familia, Collins recently overworked him as well. Over a six day stretch from July 22nd to July 27th, Familia had worked in four games throwing 76 pitches. He was tiring, and in his last appearance, Familia finally blew his first save.
The following game the Mets got seven innings from Jacob deGrom, and the rest of the bullpen was fairly rested and ready to go. Instead, Collins went back to Familia who would blow his second save in a row. Collins’ excuse? He was going to sit Familia until Familia approached him pre-game and told him he was ready, willing, and able to pitch.
With Henderson, Harvey, and Familia, it appears that Collins is giving the players too much power. He is ceding some of his managerial duties by allowing the players to dictate when they are available or saying when they should pitch.
There was also Cespedes dictating to the Mets that he was too injured to play center all the while he was playing golf in his spare time Collins accepted the center field decision, but was completely unaware of the Cespedes golfing. A defiant Collins would say, “I didn’t know he played golf until you guys brought it up. Had it been bothering him then, he would’ve said something about it, but not a word.” (Ryan Hatch, NJ.com).
It’s not Collins fault Cespedes got hurt or was playing golf. He’s aware Cespedes played golf with an injury during the postseason last year. He’s also aware how important Cespedes is to this lineup and this team.
As the manager, how do you not go and speak to Cespedes about his golfing? How do you not know what is happening with his treatments and daily routines? You need to be on top of this, and by his own admission, Collins wasn’t.
On their own, none of the aforementioned decisions are a fireable offense. In the aggregate, it may not be a fireable offense when balanced against how well Collins manages the clubhouse and personalities in the team. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only issue with Collins. His in-game decisions and failures to adapt are also reasons why he should be fired.
On August 5th, the Mets lost a game 4-3. The fourth and decisive run was set-up by a J.D. Martinez double. Upon replay, it appeared that Matt Reynolds had held the tag on Martinez appeared to came off the bag. Reynolds looked into the dugout, but there would be no challenge. Now, that’s not necessarily Collins’ fault as he is relying upon the advice of the replay adviser. However, it was important to denote this when setting the stage for what happened the following night.
The Mets trailed the Tigers 7-6 in the top of the ninth. Jay Bruce started a two out rally in the top of of the ninth, and he would try to score from second off a Travis d’Arnaud single. Martinez would throw him out at the plate, and the Mets just walked off the field without challenging the play to see if there was a missed tag or if Jarrod Saltalamacchia was illegally blocking the plate. Why? As Collins said himself, “Because I didn’t think about it — that’s why. Plain and simple.” (Ken Davidoff, New York Post).
The Mets literally lose the game without that challenge. They lost the night before, in part, because they failed to challenge a play where it appeared Martinez was out at second. Even with all of that, Collins still didn’t at least try to challenge the play to try to get the tying run home.
With the quirks of the catcher blocking the plate rule, it certainly wasn’t impossible for the replay officials to award the Mets a run. It is a moot point as Collins didn’t so much as think about challenging the play. He just accepted the loss.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was the matter of why Brandon Nimmo wasn’t pinch running for Bruce in that spot. Collins didn’t choose Nimmo as a pinch runner because he simply doesn’t know which one of his players is faster.
Last night was another poor job of managing by Collins. He ordered a hit and run with Steven Matz at the plate, and he pushed Matz to a career high 120 pitches despite Matz dealing with bone spurs in his elbow. Then in the bottom of the ninth, Collins turned to career minor leaguer Ty Kelly, who has next to no power, to pinch hit for Travis d’Arnaud, who would’ve represented the tying run. Again, Collins made a series of puzzling to indefensible decisions that not only out his player’s health in jeopardy, but also hindered his team’s chances of winning a game.
Collins has done a fine job here, and he deserved his contract extension. He deserves the gratitude a respect from the entire Mets organization and Mets fans. However, when you cede decision making to the players, when you fail to do everything possible to win games, and when you don’t fully know the capabilities of every player on your roster, it is time to go.
