Mack - In the past, Terry Collins ran into trouble with his ballplayers when he talked about them to the media rather than talk to them. What's your spin on how he's handling the Ruben Tejada situation now?
Now to the main point of the question, Collins' has made great strides in a single season in convincing players that he can be a manager they not only respect but enjoy playing for...talking to the press about anything prior to speaking to a player about an issue is counter-productive to achieving his ends. As someone who has been responsible for over 1,000 employees at once, I know that if at any time I spoke to another team member about a different team member's performance, I stood to lose respect from all involved. I hope that this isn't the issue that Terry faces, and perhaps he'll learn a lesson from this situation.
A last point; if Tejada was NOT replacing a "Jose Reyes" AND if this was NOT happening in New York, even in the super-information age, there's no way that this would even make it to the newspapers. It's a slow news period, and so everything in New York sports is under the microscope (it always is - it's even moreso during non-peak periods) - just look at the "Lin-sanity" schtick...and that, in a nutshell, is why it's said that not everyone can function under the truly bright lights of the Big Apple. So let's building this mountain, let it recede to being a molehill, and let the smell of fresh-cut grass and broken in cowhide take over and wait for those two sweet words to be said "PLAY BALL!!"
Jeremiah Alley - There isn't much I disagree with when it comes to Collins' methods, but his handling of Ruben Tejada this spring is not justified. First of all, Collins comes off as being a tad ignorant, considering everyone and their mother knew that Tejada was having visa issues. I think I initially read he was having issues close to three weeks ago. Did Collins have no idea he was having visa issues? I find that hard to believe. If he indeed had no idea then he needs to do a better job of knowing.
The
second thing that leaves me scratching my head is that what good is a deadline
to report to spring training if no one adheres to it? It is unfair for Collins to hold Tejada to
any different standard than any other player in this league, or on the Mets for
that matter. Mets position players are
required to report on February 25th. If
Tejada shows up early that is great.
But, he is not required to do so, and it should not be held against him
if he does not report early. It is his
right to report on the 25th.
To me the
situation is akin to taking vacation days at a "regular" job, but
your employer demanding that you cut your vacation short and report back to
work when you have already arrived at your destination. It does not work like that. You have earned the time off and that should
be respected. It may be prudent for
Collins to recognize that viewpoint.
Erik Hudson - I think he's handled the situation
poorly. How many times has he expressed
to the press how disappointed he is in Tejada for not being there early. And then he's said he handle it
internally. If you're going to handle it
internally, it probably would've have been best to not keep bringing it up to
the press.
Maybe
Collins didn't express his wishes clearly enough to Tejada. Maybe it got lost in translation. Tejada is a young kid, and as far as I know,
doesn't have a reputation for having an attitude problem, so I don't think it
was something intentional on his part.
I wonder
if the union has an issue with this?
This isn't the first time a player has ended up in his dog house for not
showing up earlier than they were supposed to.
Every
year, there are a number of players that can caught up in visa issues. You'd think that each team, or maybe MLB,
would have people tracking the visa status of these players who reside out of
the US in the winter, and make sure the paperwork is submitted on time and
properly filled out.
No comments:
Post a Comment