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10/1/17

Peter Hyatt - 5 Things You Need to Know About Terry Collins


Newsday recently published an article about the divided clubhouse in Flushing and the controversy surrounding Terry Collins.  

There are five things you should know about Terry Collins:  

1.  Terry Collins is a losing manager. 

 In spite of the run of 2015, his 7 seasons produced a losing record.  

He is not a mediocre manager; he is sub mediocre.  .486 overall winning percentage.  .500 is mediocre.  

 Recall the many bizarre decisions he made in 2015...that worked much to the surprise of all. This "magic", or going against odds in general, returned to statistical likeliness in 2016 and 2017, just as it failed in the years before 2015.  What seemed like ridiculous tactical moves, such as we saw in his pinch hitting, proved ridiculous before and after 2015. Why? Because they were odds-poor shocking moves that returned to statistical norms.

2.  Terry Collins was a weak leader which gave way to divisive factions in the clubhouse. Baseball is a team sport that takes team, over superstar, to win. It is made up of competitive men and whenever leadership is abdicated, competitive factions arise.  This is true of any societal gatherings.  You've heard, "nature abhors a void" and it is filled by something.  With competitive athletes, the competition fills the void of leadership and it is not good.  Competition belongs on the field with the enemy being the opposition; not each other.  

When weak leadership refuses to hold some players accountable, resentment from others grows.  

Weak Leadership clings to the vets like a weak high school artificial pecking order. Strong leadership holds all accountable, and balances vets with youthful opportunities which makes vets, especially in their walk year, angry.  

Strong leadership does what is best for the team. 

 Terry Collins, instead, parlayed favor from the whining vets, doing what was best for his own survival, rather than what is best for the team.  He yielded to the highest paid player's pouting and those who had the most press. Collins was accused, on more than one occasion, of "allowing" Yoenis Cespdes to de facto dictate the line up.  Cespedes could hustle on Monday, and show indifference on Tuesday, but without fear of a single word of correction from Collins.  

It did not go unnoticed by others; especially by those who gave their all, or who road the bench.   

3.  Terry Collins'  use of the bullpen was stubborn refusal to, at age 68, respond to criticism.  Remember, this is the same manager who may have blown the 2015 World Series by his backing down of removing Harvey.  He shows a stubbornness that is always evidenced in his defensive language post game.  He would run one into the ground, waiting for the miracle, while becoming more and more deaf to the front office.  

No executive backs a loser, even if he personally likes him.  It is bad for the executive's career. 

4.  Terry Collins was not genuine in his presentations to the press.  He presented one front while practicing another.  He feigned an open door policy while avoiding,  due to guilt,   the players he refused to give opportunity as well as the players he refused to listen to, including Jay Bruce.  He humiliated Bruce's protege, Michael Conforto, much to the favor of Cespedes, Reyes and Cabrera.  Granderson attempted to bring unity, but could not without the backing of the manager.   

He claimed it was about winning meaningless games and not development, until it came to whiner prima donna Matt Harvey, where he, one week later, claimed it was not about winning but development. 

5.  Terry Collins ended his career giving  the proverbial middle finger by refusing to give meaningful playing time to youngsters, instead, game after meaningless game, Jose Reyes, Astrubal Cabrera and 35 year old waiver pick up, Aoiki manned the specific positions (2B, 3B and outfield) which should have been given to Gavin Cecchini, Matt Reynolds, and others.  Even as the Nationals fielded an unrecognizable line up, Collins dug his heels in to keep the biggest complainers happy.  If not for key injuries, Brandon Nimmo would not have seen playing time. 

Do we really need to know what Aoki can do?

Didn't we see enough of the Reyes-Cabrera defensive disaster tandem to look towards the possibility of others?

Recall the quote from the anonymous player this week was read in Mack's Mets months earlier:

"the inmates are running the asylum."

David Wright has not been present for most of 2017.  His loyalty to Collins is admirable, but his comment to "man up" is both misplaced and not applicable.  Kids who were benched or given very little time, especially in September, would have seen even less time had they gone to Collins, and they would have been the target of Cabrera's venomous mouth in the clubhouse.  If on the squad next year, they would also be "out of favor" with Cespedes and possibly Reyes.  Reyes is, at heart, a "me first" narcissist who does not take the word "no" well (ask his wife). He played inspire of batting .174 in April, .216 in May and .213 in June, as well as poor defense and horrible base running. 

In fact, there was nothing that would stop Terry Collins from removing him from the line up, including the bad press, as the Mets fell from contention before Summer.  

Players bristled over this. The post All Star game resurgence did not justify burying the team in the first half.  At one point, the press took note that the defensive pairing of Reyes and Cabrera was MLB worst.  Collins refused to budge.  Even after Cabrera backstabbed the team, he was kept in the line up.  As players became more and more malcontent, two veteran voices did what they could to attempt to unite the team and make a run.  

The clubhouse divide took a turn for the worse when Jay Bruce and Curtis Granderson were traded away, with the former coming directly after Bruce went public with the club house mess, advocating for giving playing time to those who deserved it, rather than the Cespedes favored Reyes and Cabrera. 

Reyes play was so poor in April, May and June that he and Cabrera helped bury the Mets beyond redemption.  His .306 September is as meaningless as the Mets being 25 games out of first place.  He is a negative influence both on the team and to the youngsters.  This is why Collins took to praising Reyes, over and over, in the last few months.  He was responding to criticism even while Reyes' bat heated up. 

When Smith and Rosario were first called up, Collins said, without being asked, that he "knew" they would need "rest."  This was to further signal his intentions of keeping his vets happy.  If anything, it revealed his mindset about playing youth in general. 

The 2017 Mets were without leadership.  Contempt over favoritism to Harvey and the acquiesces of rules with Cespedes led to the outburst of Cabrera, the refusal of Syndergaard to MRI, and the overall  anarchy is now reaching main stream media.  

8 comments:

  1. I hate their not playing there kids more - for instance, Taijeron's future chances are slim - but after a horrible start, he has been on base 12 of his last 37 times, which isn't bad. Would have been nice to see him go the plate 25 or 30 more times, except for the white-haired fool in the dugout.

    Evans 10 for 32 - ditto - should have played more over his first 23 days here.

    You forgot Collins' # 6 - gross overuse of pen - he used Familia too frequently and in non-save situations just before his clot and subsequent surgery. Was the overuse the trigger, or would it have happened anyway? Who knows? But if they did not have to lose their closer, and had him, Reed, and Blevins anchoring a solid pen, perhaps they win 5 or 6 more games by mid-July and go all in to win, instead of running a fire sale.

    It was also amazing that short reliever Paul Sewald's arm did not blow up after a Saturday night late game, followed by a Sunday afternoon game, where Paul warmed up at least twice AND threw 84 pitches. That is borderline malpractice.

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  2. Tom -

    The playing of the old dudes is Terry's payback for how the Mets and the local press is treating him at the end of his Mets career.

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  3. Good riddance, Terry. There have been other Mets managers who may have been as bad, but none that we had to live with for so long. I join the parents of every young reliever that Sandy traded for this year, and every young player stuck on the bench, in celebrating your departure.

    I wish I were confident that the leadership issues would be solved by a new manager, but I think that the issues start at the very top, and affect the entire front office, so I have my doubts.

    Wondering if the Mets will be able to get the same slow, slap hitting middle IF drafting #8 as they would if they got the #6 slot. You know, the one with the high baseball IQ who drew a lot of walks in HS. Let us pray.

    I wonder if Kevin Long will be able to strong arm himself into the manager's gig (press reports indicate that he might leave the org if he doesn't get it) like the vets have strong armed themselves into the lineup? In every interview I've ever heard with him, Kevin Long's favorite topic seems to always be the greatness of Kevin Long. Makes me cringe in advance for years of post game pressers.

    Perhaps Asdrubal Cabrera's strong finish will entice some other team to trade for him this offseason. I don't see the Mets in contention next year, and I don't see Cabrera as being a particularly good fit (or good soldier) on a losing or rebuilding team in his walk year, particularly if he ends up losing time to younger players. That assumes that Sandy makes any trades this winter, which is a long shot.

    162 games is a long time to be angry and frustrated. Congrats to everyone still here for making it through 2017.

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  4. We weren't mad for all 162 games, Adam, but we sure started to get ticked when they got smacked down by the Nats in mid-April while Cespedes incurred a 2 month injury. But I'd sure say we got 162 games worth of angry into those last 152 games!!

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  5. In terms of the beloved "young players". You know who said that Rosario would need rest before Terry Collins commented on the matter? Sandy Alderson.

    The same Sandy Alderson also explicitly said he didn't need to see Gavin Cecchini play and put him below Matt Reynolds on the totem pole.

    And how the heck was Conforto "humiliated"? Especially in relation to Cabrera/Reyes.
    Conforto wasn't going to play SS - those guys weren't the ones taking his job. It was the front office who wanted to demote Conforto (thankfully saved from their stupidity by a Lagares injury). And it was clear the reason Conforto was going to be demoted and the reason he wasn't given the starting job to start the year was $$$$. The front office didn't want the expensive players Bruce/Grandy sitting on the bench at the outset of the year....it'd be harder to trade them and save the $$ that way. Conforto ended up playing virtually everyday and hitting at the top of the lineup all year anyway....hardly "humiliating". And what is the basis or context of Collins "refusing to listen" to Jay Bruce?

    I don't agree with everything Collins did, by any means, but this reads like a desperate attempt to scapegoat the guy who is on his way out in order to make the holdovers in this franchise look good. Can't dare criticize the parts of the team that may be back!

    This was a poorly constructed team that was much too reliant on players who had a small stretch of success last year and players who were injury prone and/or coming off injury. And the pen was a clear disaster area. The manager probably doesn't even crack the top 10 in the list of problems.

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  6. Nice sack dance, arms folded & protruded lower lip. How about a dog-pee mime, that would be clever.

    Yes, TC needed to go and he knew his time was up, but there used to be a penalty for piling on.

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  7. This is possibly the dumbest article ever written
    It’s also one uninformed persons opinion. The guy writing this had no idea what goes on in the clubhouse. Most of it is made up. I didn’t realize Reyes was supposed to carry this team?????
    What a joke. Mets had second worst pitching in their history but it was the Latin guys who brought the team down....blah, blah , blah




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