Mets general manager Sandy Alderson isn’t pleased with the in-house finger-pointing directed at manager Terry Collins, who’s likely in his final season with the club. Alderson told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday that he “was exceptionally disappointed” in the member(s) of the front office who said earlier this week that Collins has lost favor with the team’s management. The GM added that “were I to know who that person was, that person would be terminated immediately. I think that this story and the aftermath overshadows, to this point, seven years of outstanding service” from Collins. Asked whether Collins has contributed to the Mets’ injury woes by overworking his players – something one club official has accused him of – Alderson said, “No, I wouldn’t agree to any of the substance of that conversation.”
Mets Rumors
Robin Ventura, Kevin Long Top Candidates To Replace Terry Collins
Former White Sox manager Robin Ventura and current Mets hitting coach Kevin Long are the favorites to replace Terry Collins as the Mets’ manager, Mike Puma of the New York Post tweets. Collins, of course, still has the job, but is widely expected not to be retained when the season ends, and the Mets have reportedly already begun the process of reaching out to replacements. Ventura, Long, and other rumored candidates (including Alex Cora, Bob Geren and Chip Hale) have ties to the Mets. Rays third base coach Charlie Montoyo is another potential candidate. Here’s more from the NL.
Mets Have Already Reached Out To Potential Replacements For Terry Collins
That the Mets don’t plan to retain manager Terry Collins next season is baseball’s worst-kept secret. Today, Adam Rubin tweets a new wrinkle to the story — the team has already been in touch with potential replacements, he reports.
It’s unclear who the Mets have contacted, although there have already been reports linking them to Rays third base coach Charlie Montoyo, as well as former or current Mets Robin Ventura, Alex Cora, Kevin Long, Bob Geren, and Chip Hale. Mets COO Jeff Wilpon and GM Sandy Alderson have reportedly attempted to fire Collins at various points over his seven-year stint at the Mets’ manager, only to be blocked by owner Fred Wilpon. It now appears that Fred Wilpon will not intervene to save Collins’ job. Via Newsday’s Marc Carig, the Mets’ front office takes issue with Collins’ leadership style, as well as his use of relievers like Jeurys Familia, Jerry Blevins and Addison Reed to pitch on consecutive days.
Collins has managed the Mets for seven seasons, posting a 550-582 record in that period, including 69-91 this year. His contract expires at the end of this season. Despite frequent reports about the possibility the Mets will dismiss him, he has indicated he doesn’t plan to retire.
Managerial Notes: Mets, Phillies, Klentak, Bochy, Guillen
David Wright and Jacob deGrom were two of several Mets players who weren’t pleased by the teammates who anonymously criticized manager Terry Collins in a recent piece by Newsday’s Marc Carig. “It was cowardly, in my opinion,” Wright told Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. “I have been very fortunate in my career. I haven’t had too many gripes, but when I did, I went and talked to Terry or whoever the manager is. His door has always been open and he’s always listened.” It seems a foregone conclusion that Collins won’t return to manage the Mets in 2018, and the manager himself didn’t want to comment on many of items in Carig’s piece, other than to take exception to the idea that his usage of Jeurys Familia contributed to the reliever’s surgery to address an arterial clot in his right shoulder.
Some more managerial notes from around baseball…
- “In my mind, we have reached a turning point in this rebuild,” Phillies GM Matt Klentak told reporters (including PhillyVoice.com’s Ryan Lawrence) about why Pete Mackanin was moved to a front office position rather than manage the Phils next season. “We see our roster right now is littered with young players who look to have a very, very bright future. It’s time to look forward. That’s the message today: it’s time to look forward.” In Lawrence’s view, Klentak’s answers were somewhat indirect, especially since Mackanin was just given a contract extension in May. Both Lawrence and Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer believe Klentak is now taking a larger role in the Phillies’ rebuild, given that several of the team’s top young talents were brought into the organization by previous (since fired) front office personnel. Brookover figures the new skipper will be younger and more analytically-minded, and he cites Dusty Wathan as “the smart choice” for the job since Wathan is so familiar with Philadelphia’s young players. Wathan has managed in the Phillies’ farm system for the last decade, including managing the Triple-A affiliate in 2017.
- Sources close to Giants manager Bruce Bochy believe he’ll certainly stay on until his contract is up after the 2019 season, CSNBayArea.com’s Alex Pavlovic writes. Despite the Giants’ dreadful season, there is no danger of Bochy being fired, and though the manager has undergone some health issues in recent years, Bochy is intent on righting the ship next year. “I want to leave the Giants organization better than when I came here and I want to get this team back on track. This is my passion,” Bochy said.
- Ozzie Guillen hasn’t received an interview request since being fired by Miami four years ago, but the former Marlins and White Sox manager is still hopeful of another chance at managing a big league team, he tells Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. Fenech believes Guillen would be an interesting candidate for the Tigers job as the club embarks on a rebuilding process, though it isn’t clear whether Guillen is one of the names under consideration for the job.
Mets Interested In Rays' Charlie Montoyo As Managerial Candidate
The Mets have an interest in talking to Rays third base coach Charlie Montoyo about their upcoming managerial vacancy, Adam Rubin reports (Twitter link). Montoyo has been a fixture in the Rays organization even before the franchise’s first MLB game, managing his way up the farm system ranks from 1997-2014, including eight years at Triple-A Durham. He joined the big league staff in his current role prior to the 2015 season after receiving some consideration for the manager’s job that eventually went to Kevin Cash. Montoyo also interviewed with the Mariners prior to Scott Servais’ hiring. With Terry Collins widely expected to not be returning to the Mets’ dugout in 2018, Montoyo is the latest of several names already rumored to be in the running to be New York’s new manager.
Mets’ Owner Reportedly Halted Terry Collins’ Dismissal In Previous Years
9:29pm: Puma and colleague Joel Sherman add more context to the story, reporting that Collins was on the brink of being fired last season when Fred Wilpon intervened. The Mets went on to rally and make a Wild Card appearance, which helped Collins’ cause. Alderson & Co. were also debating a managerial change at multiple points this season, per the Post duo.
Puma and Sherman add that Collins’ heavy usage of Familia early in the year flew directly in the face of advice from the front office. They also note that the absence of David Wright and the trade of Curtis Granderson removed two of the team’s most important veterans in terms of maintaining clubhouse order.
9:00pm: In a revealing, must-read piece for Newsday, Marc Carig reports that owner Fred Wilpon protected manager Terry Collins from being dismissed by COO Jeff Wilpon and general manager Sandy Alderson at multiple times over the course of Collins’ seven-year tenure as the team’s skipper. There have been multiple reports suggesting that Collins may not be back with the team in 2018, and the New York Post’s Mike Puma recently reported that if the decision is made to move on from Collins, the elder Wilpon isn’t likely to veto the decision this time around.
Carig cites “more than a dozen team insiders” in reporting that Collins has lost favor in the front office due to a lack of responsiveness to analytics, his overworking of multiple relievers and a clubhouse in which he’s lost control. As Carig points out, Collins rode Jerry Blevins, Addison Reed, Fernando Salas, Hansel Robles and Jeurys Familia extremely hard in the season’s first six to seven weeks; there were 21 non-Mets pitchers that had five or more appearances on zero days of rest by mid-May, while each of those five had already had five or more such outings. One club official tells Carig that Collins “abuses” relievers by overworking them and simply “doesn’t listen” when approached by the front office about extra rest for the ’pen.
Moreover, Carig spoke to a number of unnamed Mets players that suggested that Collins made his preference to give playing time to veterans over rookies perfectly clear. When the Mets traded away most of their veterans in July and August, the clubhouse was comprised largely of younger players who “had grown to resent the manager,” Carig writes. One Mets player states that Collins has always been “difficult” to communicate with, and another more bluntly tells Carig that following the wave of summer trades: “We were all miserable.”
Beyond Collins, the future of both pitching coach Dan Warthen and hitting coach Kevin Long is uncertain. Warthen’s potential exit has been reported on previously (most recently by Puma), and Carig writes that it’s not clear if Long would remain with the club if he’s not given consideration for a potential managerial vacancy. Carig’s column contains quotes from numerous team officials and players alike and shines plenty of new light on the disconnect between the dugout and front office.
Mets Interested In Extending Jacob deGrom's Contract
- The Mets will likely try to extend right-hander Jacob deGrom in the coming months, per Heyman. DeGrom has been the only Mets starter to survive their injury onslaught this year, turning in yet another excellent campaign with 201 1/3 innings of 3.53 ERA ball, to go with 10.68 K/9 against 2.64 BB/9. He’s already set to turn 30 next year and still has three arbitration-eligible seasons left, meaning deGrom can’t become a free agent until the age of 32. It could therefore behoove him to get some long-term security over the winter, and Heyman notes that a deal would likely span at least four years. If no agreement comes during the off months, he’ll build on this year’s $4.05MM salary in arbitration.
Mets Rumors: Cabrera, McEwing
- The Mets are “nearly certain” to pick up infielder Asdrubal Cabrera’s option for 2018, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes. Whether to bring back Cabrera amounts to a $6.5MM decision for the Mets, who must choose between exercising the $8.5MM option or buying him out for $2MM. Cabrera, 32 in November, has posted solid production during his two years as a Met, including his respectable .273/.346/.422 batting line in 530 plate appearances this season. He has also played upward of 30 games this year at second base, shortstop (a position that now belongs to Amed Rosario) and third base.
- Former Mets utilityman Joe McEwing has emerged as a potential successor to soon-to-be-ousted manager Terry Collins, per Mike Puma of the New York Post. McEwing, who played with the Mets from 2000-04, has been a coach in the White Sox’s organization since 2008. He served as their third base coach from 2012-16 before earning a promotion to bench coach prior to this season.
Mets Notes: Warthen, Collins, Catching
The latest from Citi Field…
- The Mets are expected to part ways with long-time pitching coach Dan Warthen, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports. Warthen has been in his current role since June 2008 and had originally intended to retire after the season, though the Mets’ struggles caused Warthen to want one more year so as to go out on a higher note. Two internal candidates (bullpen coach Ricky Bones and minor league pitching coordinator Ron Romanick) are the top picks to replace Warthen, while Triple-A pitching coach Frank Viola is not under consideration and may not remain with the organization. Puma also listed former A’s pitching coach Curt Young and Red Sox director of pitching development Brian Bannister as external candidates who could receive consideration.
- There has been wide speculation that Terry Collins won’t return as the Mets’ manager in 2018, though Collins tells The Record’s Matt Ehalt that he has no plans to retire. “I said it a couple years ago, I didn’t know how long I wanted to manage, what could be my last year — I never said anything that I was going to retire. I always wanted to work until I was 70. That’s two more years,” Collins said. While best known as a manager, Collins has worked in a wide variety of roles over his long career in baseball and said he is open to continuing in one of many jobs at the MLB or minor league level, though his preference is to remain with the Mets.
- Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki have both been hitting well since the two catchers began to evenly split the playing time last month, leading MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo to speculate that the Mets could benefit by continuing this timeshare in 2018. D’Arnaud has long been plagued by injuries, so reducing his workload would help keep him healthier and theoretically more productive. The catch could be if Plawecki is able to keep up his respectable hitting numbers over the course of a full season, as the backstop has been unable to duplicate his good minor league numbers at the MLB level.
Mets Expect To Tender Matt Harvey, Likely To Part Ways With Terry Collins
The Mets are indeed preparing to tender righty Matt Harvey a contract, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag reports. MLBTR’s Steve Adams examined the matter just yesterday, explaining why the club likely sees the 28-year-old as a worthwhile investment despite his marked struggles. GM Sandy Alderson had already made that rather clear, but Heyman suggests it’s all but a done deal and adds some context. New York, he says, may mostly plan to rely on the team’s slate of internal rotation options while investing instead in the bullpen.
- It seems likely the Mets will move on from Terry Collins, as we’ve also heard recently, but Mike Puma of the New York Post gives the clearest indication yet that the veteran skipper will probably depart. Per the report, ownership is not expected to override the baseball ops department, which seemingly intends to notify Collins of its decision shortly. The club’s precise plans for the potential managerial vacancy remain unknown, though Puma says it’s fairly likely that New York will look to bring in a new skipper that has previous “ties to the organization.” He lists Robin Ventura, Alex Cora, Kevin Long, Bob Geren, and Chip Hale as potential candidates.
