Mack’s Morning Report – 8-10 – Friday Kingsport Update, Casey Thomas, Terry Collins, Aug/Sept Wishes

Good morning.

Friday Kingsport Update –

Beginning tomorrow morning, Clay Ramsey will be posting a weekly Friday 8:00am report on the Kingsport Mets, which will include highlights of the past week, stats, and Clay’s thoughts and observation.

Casey Thomas –

This is a sad story about Oakland minor leaguer Casey Thomas that died this past week from an accidental overdose of Fentanyl, the same drug that killed singer Prince.

            Very sad.

Terry Collins –

             Buster Olney on Terry Collins -

With the trade deadline now in the past and the team increasingly focused on preparing Amed Rosario and others for next season, it would behoove the Mets’ brain trust to arrange a sit-down with Collins and work out a graceful resolution. At 68 years old, Collins -- a baseball lifer -- might prefer to get to the finish line of the season. Or, if the Mets don’t intend to bring back Collins, maybe they could offer him the opportunity to go home for the final weeks of the season. With this much service with the Mets, he should be given the right to choose, and to answer questions directly and honestly about what his future will be beyond the last game of this season.

Mack – I’ve stayed away from, for quite some time, all this ‘let’s get rid of Sandy and TC’ talk here on the site; however, I think it is time for me to chime in at least on the Collins portion of this discussion.

No… let’s discuss both.

I was ‘VP and General Manager’ in Dallas-Ft. Worth, for the most difficult man to work for in radio broadcasting, John Tenaglia. Back in those days, everybody in radio broadcasting had at least one ‘JT’ story to share over an after-hours drink.

People would always ask me how I was able to pull this off (worked for him twice!) and I would tell them you can’t unless you liked the guy to start with. I did like John. I thought he was nuts, but I did like him and I closed my ears during his rants and waited for him to come back to earth before getting back to the task of being a General Manager for both a dysfunctional team and owner.

Do you see where I am going here?

As for Terry, it truly is time.

Yes, Collins is 68 years old and would be 69 if he came back next year. It seems to me that the Mets are at least two years away from rebuilding a playoff team, which would make him 70.

I believe he should retire for two reasons.

1.     It is close to impossible for a 30-year old to breath in the pressure filled humidity of the New York press, no less being 69.

2.     His inning to inning decisions seem to be missing a beat as he gets older.

Now, I know some of you may feel that this is an age biased statement. Well, I can say this. I’m 70-years old and know I could never do this job at my age. 162 games… countless trips to the airports… thousands of microphones in my face… and, when the day is done… ‘JT’ buzzes down and wants to see me.

Come on Terry. You did the best you could with what this team gave you. You didn’t pick these players. And the vast majority of the ones that were hurt weren’t because of any decisions you made.

Go fish or play golf, dude. Better yet, write for Mack’s Mets. I’ll pay you the same I pay Kaplan and Brennan.


Aug/Sept Wishes - 

There are a few things that I hope the Mets do for the remainder of this season...

    1. Keep P Chris Flexen in the Queens rotation. There's no reason for him to pitch a 6.00-ERA in Las Vegas when he can do the same thing here. Let the kid work the kinks out.

    2.  Bring up P Corey Oswalt to join his buddy Chris. We have idea what guys like Harvey or Syndergaard  are going to dhtis year, no less next season. We need to start work on the 2018 version of 'you need nine starters to pitch six'. Oswalt is going to be one of them next year so throw him into the fire now.

    3. Don't bench Amed Rosario. Not everyone can hit the minute they come up like Aaron Judge or that freak the Dodgers have. Keep him playing. The bat will come around.

    4. Bring up C Kevin Plawecki and let him start for the remainder of the season. This is another guy we need to see what he has.

    5. Give Brandon Nimmo the lion share of outfield starts now that Jay Bruce was traded for another top prospect reliever (sic).