Terry Collins still isn’t a sure thing to return to the Mets dugout in 2015, but team officials expect him to survive if the club keeps up its current pace the rest of the season.
“Why wouldn’t he be back?” one official said of Collins, who was given a two-year deal just before the end of last season. “We’ve seen improvement in some young guys and everyone is still playing for him.”
A report by CBSSports.com first indicated Collins’ “likely” return barring a late-season collapse, though other sources declined to go that far.
“I don’t think anyone has made any firm decisions yet,” the official said.
That’s especially true considering more than six weeks of the season remain and plenty can change before the end of September.
The Mets are 57-64 after Wednesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Natuionals, hardly the stuff of contract extensions, but general manager Sandy Alderson said on Tuesday he agreed with Collins’ assessment the team was poised to play “meaningful” games next month.
The current thinking in the organization is that as long as Collins doesn’t allow the team to fall apart in the final portion of the season, he merits another season.
Collins is in the fourth year as manager in Queens and has a .465 winning percentage after Wednesday’s loss.
“It’s not that simple,” a source said. “There have been a lot of tough breaks this season that could have changed how this season went.”
Collins has said repeatedly that unlike earlier in his career, he has not let his uncertain future impact the way he does his job this season.
“When I was in other places, I would think about it,” Collins said recently. “Not any more. I just do the job the way I know how to do it and whatever happens, happens.”
For Collins to end up sticking around, the Mets probably can’t afford any more stretches in which they lose six straight games or eight of nine, as they did in June.
On Tuesday, Alderson said it was a “legitimate” expectation the Mets still had meaningful games ahead of them, pointing to the fact they were six games out of the second wild-card spot.
They remained in the same position after Wednesday’s game, but an inconvenient fact is the Cardinals and Pirates were tied for that final playoff spot and the Mets also trail Atlanta, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Miami and San Diego.
Not to mention, they haven’t even seen .500 since they were 19-19 on May 13.
Alderson called finishing the season at .500 a “goal” and some in the organization still believe the Mets have to at least approach that number for Collins to keep his job after seasons of 77, 74 and 74 wins, respectively.
Collins has managed a team that has been without an injured Matt Harvey and hasn’t gotten expected production from David Wright or free agent Curtis Granderson. Another newcomer, Chris Young, was so bad the Mets just let him go.
Playing a part in the consideration to keep Collins has been the development of Lucas Duda and Juan Lagares — though Travis d’Arnaud has been inconsistent behind the plate and the shortstop position remains a mess and the team’s plan there seems to change on a weekly basis. A change in the dugout, though, may not happen.