Terry Collins won’t have to spend the final month of the Mets season looking over his shoulder.
According to a club source, there is “no chance” the Mets manager will become a scapegoat for the team’s second-half collapse and be fired this offseason or before the season concludes.
The 63-year-old Collins is signed through 2013, but will enter next year as a lame duck if general manager Sandy Alderson chooses not to extend the manager’s contract.
It was last September that Alderson picked up Collins’ option for 2013, in part to ensure the manager wouldn’t enter this season in the final year of his deal.
Don’t be surprised if a potential Collins contract extension is tied to how the Mets finish this season. The source said team brass has a goal for the Mets over these final 34 games: Finish third in the NL East, ahead of the Phillies and Marlins, to help create a more positive perception of the franchise heading to the winter.
“It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but there should be some pride there,” the source said.
* Daniel Murphy will undergo an MRI exam today after sustaining a posterior strain of his right shoulder in yesterday’s 2-1 victory over the Astros. Murphy said he felt a “spasm” in the shoulder while sitting on the bench before his eighth inning at-bat. Ronny Cedeno replaced Murphy. … Jordany Valdespin was optioned to Triple-A Buffalo to make room for Lucas Duda.