Just Mets

Terry Collins, now in his fifth season as Mets manager, has patiently dealt with his club’s various offensive droughts, poor pitching at times, and the growing pains which come as part of a rebuilding or transitional process the Mets undertook from 2011-2014.

But in a season which is supposed to have more meaning and clout for the organization, his patience with his club’s severe lack of offense is clearly growing thin.

For the second time in a week, Collins understandably aired his frustrations with some profane language during his post-game press conference, after his team was shutout for the fourth time in June and lost their fourth 1-0 game this season.

“I don’t give a s— if it’s the Cubs or it’s the New York City College,” an angry Terry Collins told the media after the game. “We’ve just gotta win tomorrow. We can keep pitching great but we’ve gotta get some offense.”

Collins is frustrated, and rightly so. He’s in the last year of his contract managing this team, which has talked all season about winning and yet here they are in July with a roster mostly made up of minor leaguers. No one can win like this.

Has Collins made some curious decisions at times this season? Sure, but what manager hasn’t? Look at this current roster. The fact that the Mets are where they are right now is a testament of Terry Collins, not a detriment.

Michael Conforto is not an option. While he did hit a home run last night, prior to that at-bat the 22-year-old outfield prospect was 8-for-his-last-41. After tearing up the league for a few weeks, Double-A teams have adjusted to Conforto and now Michael will have to adjust back. Organizational sources have said that the plan is for him to stay in Double-A for the season, and Conforto himself has told me that he has things he needs to work on. He’s not the answer–not this year.

We can debate over Darrell Ceciliani vs. Kirk Nieuwenhuis or Anthony Recker vs. Kevin Plawecki and Johnny Monnell or Matt Reynolds or Eric Campbell but at the end of the day, this team needs better players, not just more minor league fill-ins. Right now, this team has a bevy of players who probably shouldn’t be on this roster, and a majority of players they’re relying on are a-little-for-their-last-a-lot.

This front office has to go out, dip into their pitching and make a move for a major leaguer that can actually help this offense, because there is no internal answer. Until then, Terry Collins’ frustrations may continue to grow. It’s already showing publicly.