Reese Kaplan -- Managing to Succeed

While the Miami Marlins were on the verge of being no-hit by the Atlanta Braves pitcher Shelby Miller, the second ax of the 2015 baseball season fell, this time on the neck of longtime manager Mike Redmond, who was replaced by his boss Dan Jennings as the field manager of the fish.  Some felt that the young hitting core of the team should propel them higher in the standings, but in the end a pitching staff missing its top three pitchers was not able to win consistently despite the presence of Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich and others. 

This termination was the second of the still relatively young 2015 season which followed the Milwaukee Brewers’ dismissal of embattled manager Ron Roenicke who, despite a winning record for the Brew Crew, was told his services were no longer required.  When that decision was made it immediately struck me as a parallel to one Terry Collins who was hired at the same time as his now erstwhile Brewers’ counterpart but who was seemingly held to a lower standard of performance.

Out of curiosity I looked up the records of other managers fired during the Collins’ tenure with the Mets and surprisingly there were a few with winning records who were handed their walking papers:

Charlie Manuel	Philadelphia Phillies	2005	2013	780	636	0.551
Dusty Baker	Cincinnati Reds	2008	2013	509	463	0.524
Ron Roenicke	Milwaukee Brewers	2011	2015	342	331	0.508
Ron Gardenhire	Minnesota Twins	2002	2014	1068	1039	0.507
Kirk Gibson	Arizona Diamondbacks	2010	2014	353	375	0.485
Terry Collins	New York Mets	2011	2015	326	360	0.475
Mike Redmond	Florida Marlins	2013	2015	155	207	0.428

Redmond of the Marlins was actually the worst of the bunch with a consistently bad record leading to a paltry .428 winning percentage during his tenure in south Florida, but Roenicke joined a collection of three other winning managers – Charlie Manuel, Dusty Baker and Ron Gardenhire – whose employers felt were still not getting as much out of their teams as possible. 

Kirk Gibson was hired to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to the promised land of post season success.  In his first full season in charge he did just that, but couldn’t replicate that performance and after four years and a losing record of 353 and 375 they decided to shift gears and let former Mets 3B coach Chip Hale try to motivate the Snakes to overtake the Dodgers and Giants in the NL West. 

While the Mets soared out to an improbably 13-3 record there were a great many people trumpeting the managerial genius of the man whose previous track record of failure was dismissed as “never having had the horses to win a championship”.  An argument could be made in that regard for the Mets, but in each of his previous stints as manager in Houston, Anaheim and Japan the teams flourished after he left, so I’m not sure that argument holds water.

Then came the swoon in the Mets 2015 season.  Starting with the Subway Series against the Yankees the Mets have performed at a 9-16 record, a .360 winning percentage, far below anything done by Terry Collins in the past and evidence more of the mind boggling rash of injuries that has seen the team had to go without Zack Wheeler, Josh Edgin, Bobby Parnell, Vic Black, Rafael Montero, Dillon Gee, Jerry Blevins, David Wright, Travis d’Arnaud and Dilson Herrera.  Throw in the lackluster performance of the corner outfielders, Daniel Murphy, the lack of power from Lucas Duda and the subpar defense of Wilmer Flores, and it’s easy to see why the team sputtered. 

What’s less understandable is the proclamation from the manager that the veterans need to step up and lead the way.  Huh?  Call me crazy, but isn’t the manager the person whose job description includes motivating and leading the team? 

I’m not here to call for Terry Collins’ head with the team in first place (by its fingernails, anyway – at least as of May 18^th in the daytime while this article is being written).  However, I am calling out to the manager to remind him to set standards, not to accept mediocrity, to put players in a position to succeed and not to keep trotting out the same old tired solutions that haven’t worked in the hopes that they somehow miraculously will.  Playing Eric Campbell while he’s hot is a step in the right direction.  Benching him until he goes ice cold while playing Ruben Tejada would be an example of what  doesn’t work. 

I’m perfectly willing to see how Terry Collins handles this team when his two missing starters from the lineup return from the disabled list.  If he can keep the team in first place or within shouting distance of a post season spot, then perhaps it was the horses after all.  However, if they have a June like their May, then changes better be afoot come the All Star break before the team sinks to join the Phillies and the Marlins in the basement.