In what still feels like a dream, the Mets continue to invite some of us bloggers to chat with Mets VIPs. Tonight we had a conference call with Terry Collins. My impressions of him are positive, he seems very high energy and seems to be making a concerted effort to learn from previous mistakes and accept that he doesn’t know everything. He still strikes me as a fairly traditional manager in terms of the Xs and Os, but it’s still rare for a baseball team to stray far from that in a managerial hire.
I asked him about keeping players fresh and managing playing time, specifically as it related to Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. (And David Wright, but he didn’t answer that and we know Wright will be fine anyway)
He mentioned Beltran will probably play five of seven games starting out, and hopefully will strengthen his knees and when it gets warmer hopefully play more. With Reyes, he acknowledged that Reyes is a guy that gives you everything he’s got and it’s important to get him rest when he needs it, and to possibly double it up by resting him going into or coming out of an off day. Here’s his response as transcribed by Michael Baron of Metsblog.
“Carlos and I have already discussed the upcoming ten day period, and resting that leg, so he can continue on a positive note and his legs can get stronger and stronger for the hot months. Even if he’s on the bench, he can come up and make a big difference. We hope to have him in five out of seven games to start off. Regarding Reyes, he goes out there, gives all he has, and I want him out there a lot so I have to be wise enough to maybe give him days off before an off-day. One thing we have to do, because we aren’t very deep, is to make sure we are ready to compete later in the summer.”
Michael Baron at Metsblog transcribed this quickly and efficiently.
Greg at Faith and Fear in Flushing finds Terry Collins’ enthusiasm infectious, even on the phone.
Eric Simon at Amazin’ Avenue asks Terry about Kerfuffle.
Kerel Cooper at On The Black with a recap and better list of links than this.
