Updated: 10:20 PM
Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes that Sandy Alderson met with Terry Collins prior to Tuesday’s game against the Brewers to assure the manager that his job is safe.
DiComo adds that Alderson said he felt the meeting was necessary due to a fresh round of tabloid rumors surrounding Collins’ job security.
“Sometimes you have to address topics you wouldn’t otherwise because of all of the noise that surrounds the situation,” the GM said. “That’s kind of it in a nutshell. You have to take a little bit longer view of things. The first game in Chicago, had we won that, we were a .500 team. Now we’re seven under. A lot of stuff has happened in the last week, but nothing so shocking or surprising.”
11:45 AM
Mike Puma of the New York Post on Monday, reported that Terry Collins believes his job isn’t in immediate danger despite how poorly the team is playing. It is understood that if the Mets don’t start winning, it may force the hand of ownership to make a move, much like the one they did when Sandy Alderson had to fire Dave Hudgens.
David Wright was asked about how players view Terry Collins.
“I think everybody in here kind of respects authority. There might be things on a daily basis you disagree with (Collins) about, but at the end of the day you understand that he’s the authority figure”.
When asked about how good of a job he is doing as Mets manager, Wright said:
“What he’s done with our minor league system, he knows a lot of these guys. And it’s the same thing when we were talking about Hudgens. He is not up there with a bat in his hands and making pitches and there is only so much a manager can do to help the outcome of games”
Wright was on the team when Willie Randolph was fired, and was asked if things feel similar this season as they did back in 2008, but he was more concerned about how he and the team have been playing.
Eventually something will have to give. Fans and critics alike don’t feel as though this team is built to contend anytime soon and people are getting restless. Firing a manager doesn’t always come with quick results and may not be the answer at all, but things need to be evaluated from the top down to get things moving in the right direction.
Thoughts from Joe D.
That was hardly a ringing endorsement of his manager by David Wright. In fact I’m not sure if it was an endorsement at all and more like an assertion that he respects authority and for now Collins is the authority figure.
It was reported last week that Wright wasn’t very happy when he was pulled from the game in a double switch for the first time since his rookie season. In fact some described Wright as being very short and agitated when asked about the move, “I don’t know, I’m not the manager, I don’t make the decisions.”
When he was told that he’d be getting the day off on Sunday, he responded, “I don’t know anything about that, it’s news to me.”
When Wright tried to get himself back into the game, citing he’d have an off day on Monday, he was overruled. However, Collins turned to him as pinch-hitter against a right-handed pitcher on Sunday and Wright struck out.
Again after the game and the sweep at the hands of the Giants, a dejected Wright responded:
“Trust me, at this point with how badly we’ve played and how poorly I have played over the last week, I am just worried about going up there and trying to get hits.”
It just doesn’t seem like the usually optimistic and confident David Wright that we’ve all become accustomed to hearing regardless of a win or a loss. However I can’t blame him for being frustrated at this point. I mean who isn’t frustrated?
By the way, I read a couple of articles on other sites suggesting the Mets should trade Wright. Conveniently they completely ignored the fact that Wright has a full no-trade clause and has zero intention of breaking it or leaving the Mets.
And if you want to improve your offense, which I assume is the goal, why would you trade your top offensive player anyway? He is part of the plan, remember?
