The New York Mets are not yet two months into the 2013 season, but is it possible that manager Terry Collins is already on the hot seat? It seems unreasonable, and you could argue unfair, for a manager to have job security issues so early in the season, but there are plenty of signs that point to Collins being in trouble.
The first problem Collins has is that he entered the season as a lame duck manager. Despite leading the Mets to seasons that were slightly above expectations, especially in the first of the season, during his first two years in New York, the front office did not offer Collins any kind of extension during the offseason. General manager Sandy Alderson did express some confidence in Collins and praised the job he did during his first two seasons as the team’s manager, but the action of not offering him an extension spoke a lot louder than those few words. Without a contract for next year, the Mets have no commitment to Collins beyond this season, which will make it easy to part with him during the season if things aren’t going well.
This leads right into the second reason why Collins might be in trouble already, and that’s the team’s performance the first two months of the season. Despite a few promising moments during April, New York is now 10 games under .500, and losers of 10 of their last 13 games. During the last two seasons under Collins, the Mets performed admirably and were competitive through the entire first half of the season. However, with their recent slide, the Mets are far from being as competitive, which is a problem. No one is expecting the Mets to win the World Series, or even to make the playoffs, but they have to remain relevant as deep into the summer as possible, and right now they are in danger of falling out of contention too early. If Collins can’t keep the Mets within striking distance of the playoffs at least until the all-star break, there’s no reason for him to remain the manager.
Alderson’s job security is another reason why Collins may have to worry about his job security. Now is the point in Alderson’s reclamation project of the Mets that progress should start to become visible. If that progress isn’t seen in the won/loss column, Alderson can’t afford to stay with Collins for his own sake, and he’ll have to find someone new to manage the team. Alderson not committing to Collins beyond this season is already a sign that he’s ready to make a move if he doesn’t feel things are unfolding as they should, and right now, the Mets are approaching those circumstances.
Finally, there is the white elephant in the room: Wally Backman. It’s no secret that Backman wants to be a major league manager, and he’s chosen to stick around as the Mets AAA manager because he would prefer to get that opportunity with the Mets, the organization he won a World Series with nearly 30 years ago. It’s not a guarantee that Backman will replace Collins if and when Collins is fired, but if the Mets were to let Collins go, they know they have someone to promote from within who’s qualified and who covets the position. There’s also a significant portion of the fan base that would like Backman taking over as manager, and if the Mets continue to freefall, Backman could be the person the Mets need to reinvigorate both their clubhouse and their fan base.
Could it be a little early in the season to be pondering the possibility of Collins losing his job? Possibly, but it’s New York, and the Mets have been losers for a while, and they can’t afford to go much longer without showing signs of turning things around. There are already signs that point to Collins being in trouble, and so with every loss the Mets suffer, the hot seat under Collins gets just a little hotter.