Terry Collins says he has no plans to retire, report says
Mets manager Terry Collins looks on from the dugout against the Braves at Citi Field on Sept. 26, 2017. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It seems most likely that Terry Collins will be going once the Mets season is over. But Collins made it sound on Tuesday as if he won’t be going quietly.
Collins, in an interview with The Record before the Mets hosted the Braves at Citi Field, said he isn’t planning on retiring, hopes he can continue on with the Mets, and even suggested he’d be willing to take a job in the minor leagues in 2018.
“I never said anything that I was going to retire,” Collins said. “I always wanted to work until I was 70. That’s two more years . . . I can put something to rest: I’m not going to go home and go fishing. Whatever anybody thinks about if I’m going to be here or not, I can’t answer that. But I’m going to be doing something.”
Collins spoke before the Mets’ 4-3 win over the Braves. Travis Taijeron’s walk-off single to deep left with one out in the ninth gave the Mets the comeback victory. They were trailing 3-0 until the seventh, when Kevin Plawecki hit a two-run home run off R.A. Dickey. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a game-tying sacrifice fly in the eighth. Dickey allowed two runs in 6 2⁄3 innings. Rafael Montero gave up three runs in six innings for the Mets.
Collins’ contract, which he signed after taking the Mets to the World Series in 2015, ends when the Mets finish their season in Philadelphia on Sunday.
General manager Sandy Alderson, in his most recent public comments on Monday, said of Collins’ status: “We will talk about that at the end of the season as well. I can’t really say that there’s clarity. And if there were clarity, I couldn’t really discuss it at this point.”
Alderson did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Collins knows his status will not be decided until the season is over. That doesn’t mean he isn’t still holding out hope he can continue with the organization — and he said he thinks people are forgetting it was only two years ago that he took the Mets to the World Series.
“I will tell you I hope it continues, but it’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “I’m kind of sometimes baffled of how it’s got to this point. Everybody’s asking me, ‘Do you go back and think about two years ago?’ I don’t, but obviously nobody else has either. We’ve done pretty good here. I’m going to go out and finish the season and do the best we can to win as many of the next five games we can, and sit down with my bosses who I respect immensely, and we’ll make decisions.”
If he is let go by the Mets, Collins said, “I’m going to be somewhere. If after we have discussions, if it feels I shouldn’t be here, then I won’t be. We’ve created something here that’s pretty good. That’s my take. I haven’t talked to anybody about it so we’ll go from there.”
Collins took over the Mets in 2011 and went into Tuesday with a 548-581 record. If he doesn’t get a major-league job, Collins said he’d entertain working in the minors next year.
“I’m a baseball guy,” he said. “I’m not embarrassed about going to the minor leagues . . . I’m not embarrassed about doing anything that I think can help a team win and get better . . . I will be in baseball somewhere.”
Notes & quotes: Noah Syndergaard will make his second one-inning start on Saturday or Sunday, Collins said . . . Closer A.J. Ramos is out because of biceps tendinitis . . . Tommy Milone underwent an MRI because of left elbow soreness.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
