November 2010
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Not only does Collins have major league experience as a manager, he’s spent the past year as the Mets’ Field Coordinator. In that role, Collins pretty much was responsible for knowing and structuring every last detail of the club’s farm system, from coordinating teaching methods to evaluating staff.
And man oh man, if there’s a team in the majors that needs structure, teaching and coordinating right now, it’s the “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game” gang.
This is an organization that desperately needs to be steam-cleaned, detoxed and spit-shined.
By putting an adult in charge upstairs — Alderson — the Wilpons finally are giving themselves a real chance not to come off as the goofs they are.
By putting Collins in charge downstairs, Alderson swiftly reinforced the chain of command and the notion that, among other things, he intends to start remaking the Mets from the inside out.
” —Scott Miller
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You want to know what Terry Collins was like as a manager? Watch the part of Full Metal Jacket with the drill seargent in basic training. Watch the Geico commercial about the guy going to therapy with a drill seargant. By all accounts, Terry Collins was a tightly wound drill seargent.
But Collins’ managerial style was not just evident in 1999. That was when it was exposed for everyone to see. Consider that in August of 1997, Tony Philips was busted for smoking cocaine in a seedy motel. The team was contending. Now these things happen, but both the 97 and 98 teams faded in the last 45 days of the season and having Napoleon 24/7 could not have helped in every circumstance.
His jersey number was “1”. Think about that. He was the kind of jerk who would wear Number One as a symbol that he was number one. No chance he could lead by example, he had to lead by jersey number. The only good thing that I can say about Terry Collins was that he got my team to its revolution a lot quicker. Maybe you think that you need that. You don’t.
” —Halos Heaven on Terry Collins
“The last three days Dino Costa of Mad Dog Radio has stated that he believes Wally Backman will be the next manager of the Mets. Costa said this information is coming from “impeccable sources.” I reached out to Costa tonight who told me he stands by his statements on the radio and does not believe reports of Bob Melvin getting the job are accurate.”
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Dino Costa: Backman Will Be Mets Manager
(via sportsnetny) —Last Winter, while filling in for Chris Russo, Costa declared that a source he trusted completely had told him that the Mets & Matt Holliday were a “done deal”. Not even 60 minutes later Mike Francesa announced(correctly) that the Mets had signed Jason Bay. When Costa says he has Mets info, he is as credible as I was when saying I believed Clint Hurdle would be the next Mets manager(within 24 hours of that brilliant moment the Pirates hired him). In other words…not credible at all. The Mets will do what they seem to love to do as of late: Someone at the Wilpon compound will place a call to the Sports Pope telling him who they have chosen as the new manager of the Mets. In turn he’ll spend early Monday afternoon on the ‘Fan telling us what a “little birdie” told him. (via winstonwolfe)
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The Mets have narrowed their managerial search to three candidates: Terry Collins, Clint Hurdle and Bob Melvin →
nypost.com
I’d go with Hurdle as well. Fiery but without the baggage Backman brings with him.I am going to go out on a limb and predict that Clint Hurdle will be your next New York Mets manager. The Post story essentially says that with the 3 finalists they have, it came down to the Mets brain trust(isn’t nice to nice to be able to actually use that phrase again with the Mets without snickering?) wanted a skipper with prior experience as the head man at the big league level. The Post also claims that Terry Collins is the front runner—he had five 2nd place finishes in his six season managerial career, in addition to strong ties to DePodesta and Sandy Koufax—but I just have a hunch the pick will be Hurdle.
It sounds as if Wally Backman performed well during his interviews, but there are still pretty big concerns with him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Chip Hale end up as part of the Mets coaching staff, with the rest being made up of coaches already familiar with the guy who gets the job or coaches the front office would like to develop as potential managerial candidates in the future.
If I were handicapping this race, I would put Hurdle as the overwhelming favorite, with Collins and Melvin second and third respectively.
