In 1994, his first year as Houston Astros manager, Terry Collins inherited a team with 25-year-old Darryl Kile, 26-year-old Jeff Bagwell, Luis Gonzalez, Shane Reynolds, and Todd Jones, 28-year-old Craig Biggio, and 29-year-old Steve Finley and Greg Swindell. A 21-year-old Mike Hampton threw 41 innings out of the Astros’ bullpen. When Collins guided those mid-nineties Astros teams to three consecutive second-place finishes, he gained a reputation as a developer of young talent.
Collins moved on to Anaheim for 1997, overseeing an Angels lineup peppered with quality young players: Darin Erstad was 23, Garret Anderson, 25, Jim Edmonds, 27, Tim Salmon, 28. He coaxed a combined 66 starts and 402 innings out of 24-year-old Jason Dickson and 26-year-old Allen Watson. Collins’s Angels finished in second place his first two seasons with that team.
This year, Collins has buried 23-year-old Michael Conforto, reluctantly played 24-year-old Wilmer Flores and 27-year-old Juan Lagares, and stunted the development of catchers Travis d’Arnaud (27) and Kevin Plawecki (25). He’s also played fast and loose with a young, fragile pitching staff, to say nothing of his strange, borderline uninformed managerial decisions.
Collins lasted three seasons in Houston and was fired two-thirds of the way into his third season in Anaheim. This is his sixth year with the Mets. In five of those six years (given this year’s team’s trajectory), the Mets will have finished below .500. Whatever magic Collins once had for developing young players has deserted him as he’s aged into the oldest manager in baseball. It’s time the Mets found someone else to lead the team on the field. Here’s who we suggest Sandy Alderson call first. — Scott D. Simon (@scottdsimon)
John Baker
So let’s get the obvious part out of the way: the trendy thing to do in baseball is to hire recently-retired white catchers who were known for soft factors like clubhouse leadership and defensive skills we can’t yet measure perfectly. Baker, 35, who spent parts of seven seasons in the majors with a strong reputation for soft factors and retired during the 2015 season, obviously makes sense on that profile alone.
What makes Baker different, at least to the information available to a lowly Baseball Prospectus writer, is the way he thinks and communicates about baseball. Shortly after retiring, he showed up at last year’s Saberseminar as an attendee to learn about analytics, showing the type of openness many in such a position don’t. This year as a presenter, now ensconced in the Cubs front office, he sounded like the smartest guy in a room literally full of some of the smartest people in baseball (and me). He was personable, smart, and thinking things through on a level that most people — even most major league managers — don’t show the public capability to do. It reminded me of Joe Maddon.
The Mets have spent a number of seasons with an “old school” manager — the oldest in baseball — who often explains decisions with cliches and his gut, and has recently displayed a disturbing unwillingness to cultivate young players. It’s time for creativity, for youth, for positivity, for fresh ideas, for developing the young talent already present. It’s time for John Baker. – Jarrett Seidler (@jaseidler)
Dave Martinez
One of those guys who always seems to interview for the big jobs but never actually get them, Martinez is more than qualified for the top spot. He played the outfield for 16 seasons for nine different clubs. He’s been Joe Maddon’s bench coach and right-hand man for nine seasons running — the first seven with Tampa Bay, the last two with the Cubs — and he’s interviewed nearly half a dozen times for managerial openings from Toronto to Houston to DC. Martinez is, by all accounts, open to modern thinking, a straight shooter, and a good clubhouse guy. If the Cubs do win the World Series this fall, someone out there will most definitely snap him up. The Mets would be wise to be that team. — Erik Malinowski (@erikmal)
Chip Hale
So to briefly let you know how the sausage is made, folks, I claimed Chip Hale for this before I watched him leave Archie Bradley in about six batters too long from the bleacher seats at Fenway. But there are two mitigating factors to consider:
- The Diamondbacks bullpen currently resembles an Edvard-Munch-depiction of a dumpster fire; and
- It would be a smooth transition from Terry Collins in that respect regardless.
Hale also ticks some other boxes for the Mets front office. He is a familiar face, having interviewed for the position in 2010, and he served on Collins’s field staff in 2011. Hale may very well be available, as rumors about his job security have bubbled up this summer. And Hale had a good relationship with David Wright, potentially setting the stage for Wright as bench coach if his back and neck don’t cooperate this offseason. And how much fun would that be? Well, hopefully enough to offset watching Steven Matz continue to start innings when he probably shouldn’t. — Jeffrey Paternostro (@jeffpaternostro)
Gabe Kapler
While I believe most Mets fans would prefer a former Met such as White Sox third-base coach Joe McEwing or ESPN analyst Alex Cora, the best option is the current Director of Player Development for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Gabe Kapler. As a firm believer in analytics, Kapler can bring the Mets’ bench into the 21st century. Collins should have consulted the data when the team acquired Jay Bruce, not wondered aloud whether Bruce is faster than Brandon Nimmo. Another thing that makes Mets fans irate is Collins’s insistence on bunting. Kapler would hopefully make that a thing of the past. — Seth Rubin (@sethrubin)
Jon Stewart
Baseball is probably the one sport in which you don’t need an outstanding tactician as manager/head coach. Anyone can come up with tactics. Teams can and do produce cheat sheets for matchups and aligning defenses. Baseball managing requires less improvisation than coaching in other sports. It makes sense to have people in the front office who specialize in tactical analysis while the field manager specializes in communicating these tactics to the players. Unfortunately, most managers like to shake up a struggling team to show that they are “managing.” Over the last 10 days, Terry Collins has put his weakest hitter at designated hitter, glued Michael Conforto to the bench, overextended key bullpen arms, and kept Logan Verrett in the rotation. Collins’s decisions are actively hurting the club. His lack of confidence in the younger hitters may be irreparably harming their careers in New York. A manager who does a great job communicating with his players and defers to the front office on tactics may be better than a manager who tries to tinker with the tactics.
Jon Stewart has a lot of experience as a communicator. After watching Terry Collins for the last few weeks, a manager who would have to rely on others for tactical decisions sounds pretty good. We know Stewart watches out for the injured and cares about integrating young talent to the team. Are there potential managers who could do these things better than a professional comedian? Probably. But there are also a lot of current managers who do a worse job. — Noah Grand (@noahgrand)
Alex Rodriguez
Hey, a man can dream, can’t he? A-Rod just finished a legendary career (in terms of performance and controversy) this past Friday night — even ripping a game tying double to right-center in his first at bat. Is A-Rod really done playing for good? We’ll have to wait to find out. While I hope the answer is yes, there is another job waiting for him down in Flushing — manager of the New York Mets!
Just think of what incredible television this would be. Alex Rodriguez, maybe the most controversial figure in modern baseball history, leaving the Yankees (after 13 seasons with the team) to run across town and manage the rival New York Mets. I’d be glued to the television every night. Setting aside the drama, A-Rod showed himself to be a thought-provoking analyst during his guest appearances in the booth last postseason! Perfect!
Obviously, this would never really happen under any circumstance, but boy would it be fun. — Tyler Plofker (@TylerPlofker)
Wally Backman
You’ve heard the calls for a long time. It has been almost 14 years since a New York Times article on October 4, 2002 first floated the idea of ’86 Mets fan-favorite Wally Backman becoming the manager in Queens. Each managerial tenure since then — Bobby Valentine, Art Howe, Willie Randolph, Jerry Manuel, and now Terry Collins — has occurred without the Mets hiring Backman. Granted, most of those calling for Backman’s hiring are calling WFAN to do so, but they’re a very vocal bloc. At this point, it seems clear that the team is understandably reluctant to give Backman his first MLB managerial opportunity since losing his Diamondbacks job in four days 12 years ago.
If one of those WFAN callers hits the jackpot, scores multiple lottery wins, and somehow convinces the Wilpons to sell the team, Backman could get his shot. With complete autonomy, our new owner would fire Collins and replace him with Wally Backman. Zaniness ensues. Spring training is a hot mess. Backman clashes with Matt Harvey, struggles to find the right balance of playing time for Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, Curtis Granderson, and Michael Conforto, and the clubhouse is very tense. Under plenty of pressure all year, the 2017 Mets fall back under .500. Naturally. the new owner blames the players, not Backman. — Andrew Mearns (@MearnsPSA)
Photo Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports