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10/2/17

Reese Kaplan -- Better Late Than Never


Perhaps the worst kept secret in sports, Terry Collins managed his final game as the leader of the New York Mets on Sunday.  He waited until his last game to play young infielders Gavin Cecchini and Phil Evans together thus underscoring how out of touch he was with the reality of the game.  Even when the games haven’t mattered for more than two months, he still thrust a 35 year old outfielder into the starting lineup rather than see what a younger player could do. 

When queried why he kept playing veterans he responded that he was trying to win ballgames.  That’s ironic on so many levels.  First, he was allegedly handed the reins because of his ability to develop and encourage younger players.  It’s highly unlikely they got much of a feel for what it’s like to be in the majors while watching the over 30-crowd play night after night.  Second, once the fire sale took place, it was clear that the Mets were planning for the future (assuming the future included a bevy of mediocre relief pitchers) but no one ever sent the memo to Terry Collins.  Night after night we got a steady diet of Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera and Nori Aoki.  This is not a criticism of these players, but an indictment of the idiocy of continuing to trot them out there every day when even the owners and GM conceded that 2017 was not the team’s year.

The number of pitchers who have fallen victim to various health maladies under his watch is frightening.  Do you remember how he abused Scott Rice?  He should be the poster child for what happens in a Terry Collins bullpen – the 31 year old rookie pitched to a respectable 3.71 ERA out of the pen during his first year where he was thrust into 73 games, then out of baseball a year later. 

Apologists for Terry Collins are quick to point out that he’s won more games than any other Mets manager (wrong – that was Davey Johnson).  Then they point out he shepherded them to the World Series in 2015.  Memories tend to be short.  The team had a 52-50 record in 2015 when suddenly the team acquired Yoenis Cespedes, Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed.  The rest, as they say, is history.  The difference between a good manager and a bad manager is that the former can figure out how to win when not handed All-Star caliber players.  The latter hovers around .500 or worse.  (The very same folks who sing the man’s praises fall to point out he’s lost more games by a margin of over 100 than any other Mets manager).

To the folks who still feel his 7 years controlling the lineup pencil are praise-worthy, I would submit as an analogy the pitcher Don Sutton who is in the Hall of Fame to the disbelief of many people who watched him play.  The term “accumulator” was often interjected into the conversation about Sutton who managed to last for 23 years, never won a Cy Young Award and only made 4 All-Star teams while failing to do so on 19 occasions.  Yes, Collins did win 551 games, but he also lost 583.  It’s a flawed analogy, however, because despite not even being the best pitcher on his own team most years, he actually managed to win.  The same can’t be said for Terry Collins.

Many Mets fans were incredulous that Collins lasted after the conclusion of his first contract.  After all, his team actually went downhill in performance under his so-called leadership.  However, as we have since learned his friendship with Fred Wilpon trumped all, including an organizational desire to win. 

A great many people are speculating as to who might be a worthy successor to the Skipper.  It’s not as if you’re replacing Connie Mack.  The bar has been set at limbo champion height.  They say that Collins will now assume an as yet to be defined front office role.  Let’s hope it’s like a corrupt union no-show job in which he will get paid but not actually have to try to do anything.  The less involved he is with the future of the team, the more likely they will be able to begin to reverse the damage already done. 

If not for the reprehensible manner in which the Mets’ whisper campaign turned him into a sympathetic figure, there would instead be dancing in the streets.  Another site carried a headline about “the reign of terror is over” but for me it’s simply a long overdue action that I’ve been waiting to happen since that first season ended in 2011.  I haven’t broken out champagne, lit a cigar or ignited fireworks.  He was only part of the problem, and I fully anticipate his supporters will not give whomever is handed the job an iota of benefit of doubt.  There’s no manager in baseball who can turn this mess into a championship team in a single year, but when something clearly isn’t working then you need to make a change.  All I wonder is what took so long? 


11 comments:

  1. Bullpen abuser, Tejada lover, "honey, hide the rookies", and in 2017, he stayed with Reyes and Grandy to a fault, too early in the season, putting the team in a deep hole.

    Overall, a grade of C-.

    In 2015, sometimes stuff happens: worst hitting team in baseball for 4 months adds Cespedes and becomes the best hitting team in baseball the last 2 - that is largely luck, not managerial skills.

    Did he do at least close to satisfactory? A case can be made. But...

    Could the "we love to settle for less than the best" Mets have done better? I think that sentence answers itself.

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  2. U were always very consistent with your comments about tc... This is your day to enjoy.

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  3. Reese, you forgot Pedro Feliciano who has Terry to thank for being out of baseball too.

    I once asked, "Tell me what the Mets organization is good at besides scrw.. up" Didn't get too many responses as expected.

    3 straight years and the Mets still have no clear answer on what they have in Lagares, Flores. On a perfect year to play the Cecchini's, Reynolds, Taijerons, Phil Evans Collins chooses to play Cabrera, Reyes and someone's else reject Aoki. Then he get promoted?

    For 2018, cut the cord since the Mets have a numbers problem on the roster. Say bye bye to Jose and Aoki, pick up option on Cabrera and then trade him. Find a taker for Montero because I can't stand his gutless pitching anymore. Why is Milone on the 40 man roster? get rid of the stiffs and open up opportunities in 2018 for younger players.

    2018 won't bring a winning team but you can still do incremental upgrades with an eye on putting it all together once the 2018-19 free agents are available. Sign a Lance Lynn and then a Machado to make a statement.

    Sorry, I forgot, these are the Mets and Collins will be in charge of drafting going forward.

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  4. @Viper -- how can Terry draft 35 year olds? :)

    Actually, I'm in favor of Aoki getting a spot on next year's team ON THE BENCH, not as a starter. He actually impressed me with his ability to get hits by using the entire field, still has some baserunning speed, and with Conforto starting the year on the DL, they are pretty thin in outfielders. The same is NOT true of infielders which is why Reyes should not be brought back. I can't see them skipping on Cabrera because even if you used Flores at 2B then Phil Evans would likely be one of the backups with TJ Rivera unable to start the season. Entrusting 3B to Evans is probably not something they'd want to do since the deposed Skipper never gave him much of a chance to play (to say nothing of Gavin Cecchini).

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  5. Reese, maybe they were trying to hid Evans in hopes he would avoid Rule 5 draft. Flores' face roiled those plans. Once Evans came up successfully, the cover was blown - he should have gotten 70 plate appearances, not 35.

    Do we put Cheech on the 40 man? Probably a year too early to admit defeat by leaving him off.

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  6. Reese, do you bring back Aoki at the expense of Nimmo? Would you rather have Taijeron/Reynolds and 6 years of control or Aoki?.

    There will be casualties in the 40 man roster.

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  7. There should be a vast housecleaning of the 40-man roster. Many folks who played for the Mets this year will be either outrighted to AAA (and risk losing them to waivers) or simply cut.

    On the hypothetical raised, Aoki hasn't shown signs of slowing down at age 35. He hit .284 which is a single point off his career average. Taijeron didn't get a fair shot, but 24 Ks in 52 ABs makes guys we lambasted for their whiffs like Anthony Recker and Kirk Nieuwenhuis look like Tony Gwynn by comparison. I wouldn't lose any sleep over Matt Reynolds being snatched up by another organization who craves a .230 hitter with no power and no speed. Wait, are we sure he's not really Ruben Tejada in disguise?

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  8. Too bad we will never know if they could hit in the ML because we had to get Cabrera and Jose going. But I am already already thinking they will either bring in a Collins clone or someone worse.

    No to Ventura, Long, Geren, etc. I wouldn't mind Cora. Someone new.

    Where Wally when you need him.....Mexico?

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  9. Bring back Jordany Valdespin and Jenrry Mejia

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  10. The Dupont Mets -- Better Living Through Chemistry.

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  11. Tom -

    Jenrry and his family follow me.

    I will see if I can get a read out on his status.

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