N.Y. Mets: Terry Collins Takes a Knife in the Back

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

THE IDES OF AUTUMN?

Media, Front Office, and Players

Gang-Up On Terry Collins

New York Mets: Terry Collins Deserved Better; I Guess Handling the Situation With Dignity Was Too Much to Ask.

On Wednesday, the Mets played their final home game of the 2017 regular season.

In all likelihood, it was also Terry Collins' last game at Citi Field as manager of the New York Mets.

If only things were that cut and dry.

On Thursday, Newsday writer Marc Carig unleashed an incriminating expose, unveiling just some of the dysfunction afflicting the Mets front office; a condition we fans have suspected all along.

According to more than a dozen team insiders interviewed by Newsday, speaking on the condition of anonymity (of course..), Carig states organizational dysfunction, discord between Terry Collins and his players, and a broken relationship between the manager and the front office, have all been plaguing the Mets for several years now.

Carig wrote that Fred Wilpon has been protecting Terry Collins from Sandy Alderson and Jeff Wilpon, who've lobbied several times during the last few years for the manager's dismissal. 

Apparently, Fred would have none of it.

Otherwise, Collins' misuse/overuse of the bullpen is reported to be one of the front office's major points of contention.  Carig's article also leads us to believe Terry was never the great communicator we were led to believe.

And there's the rub ...

All we've heard from the media since 2011 is how much players respected, and wanted to play for Collins.  It was the media congratulating Collins for somehow maintaining a sense of comradery in the clubhouse through some very lean seasons.  And it was the media heaping praise upon him in 2015 after guiding the Mets to a National League title, then again for piloting the Mets to back-to-back post-season appearances.

Let me be clear, I was never among TC's biggest supporters.  Collins never made my personal list of candidates back when he was originally appointed manager.  At best, I grew ambivalent towards him. Suffice to say, I do not necessarily disagree with many things Carig's article touches upon.

Terry Collins is indeed a poor tactician, and his abuse of the bullpen borders on criminal.  I do not appreciate his lack of conviction when it concerns certain higher profile players, nor his heavy-handed tactics with younger players, because when managing a clubhouse one method flies in the face of the other.

In that sense, some of which Marc Carig reports makes perfect sense (most of it, actually).  And in truth, nothing about this is new to us fans.  The dysfunction afflicting the Mets front office is crystal clear, and has been for quite some time.  We've been screaming this from the mountain tops, only to have the media take Collins' side. 

How ironic ... hmm?

Whether you liked him or not, I believe most fans were perfectly willing to thank Terry Collins, then just let him ride off into the sunset. 

That is why I call this article a swift kick in the ass.  For Carig's part, the timing of it stinks to high hell.  Worse, however, the front office contributing anonymous quotes is nothing short of cowardly.

And if Carig didn't get some quotes directly from Sandy Alderson, then the Mets front office has a leak.

John Ricco?

Think about it ... no one knows what he does, but he has a bird's eye view of everything.