Thoughts on the manager.

I listened to the interviews. I read the analysts. I spoke and heard the opinions of the fans. Then Sunday, I got the news alert on my cell phone: Terry Collins, 61, named 20th manager in Mets history.

I saw it, and moved on. That’s it.

Not to sound like a buzz kill, but I was muted in response for a reason. I often find myself reacting to every single bit of Met news like its personal. When its your favorite team, ideas like family, loyalty etc begin to over take any bit of reason. Which is why I’m happy these last few seasons happened.

Like a girl who gets walked all over by her man, one day I woke up and decided that I wasn’t going to take it anymore. Not that I don’t care anymore, no. But I won’t be suckered into anything anymore. I refuse to be reeled in.

So the Mets couldve hired a manager who hadn’t managed in over a decade, alienated almost every team he had coached, and was seen as too high strung for a high profile job like one in NYC. And the Mets couldve overlooked the overwhelming fan favorite in this managerial search, a member of the 1986 world champion Mets*, a fiery personality who certainly would have had people coming back to Citi Field considering the last few seasons and especially since new GM Sandy Alderson has said over and over again that they have no plans to dip into the top end of the free agent pool meaning no Cliff Lee or Carl Crawford.
*= the 86 Mets are remembered like no other team in the history of sports. They won the world series and had a cast of characters that, if you add the fact that they played in New York, makes them larger than life.

The Mets hired the former, taking their chances on the guy with major league experience while holding onto the fan favorite as an escape clause in case the Terry town experience doesn’t go as planned.

And what’s planned? Let me take a crack at it. Collins was given a 2 year contract. Wally Backman will likely be given a promotion in the minors and stashed away for a later date. In baseball terms, think of Terry Collins as the starter in the 8th inning, with runners on 2nd and 3rd protecting a lead. The manager has made his trip to the mound and given him a chance to get out of the inning. Backman is the closer. He will come in at some point and end this game.*
*= here’s your analogy key
Game= win a championship
Manager= Sandy Alderson

But its clear the Mets front office brought in Collins to clean the operation up and sets up Backman very well. Collins major selling point was teaching and his major role over the next two years is to motivate the Mets and create a new clubhouse culture that is more conducive to winning. And you need a Type A personality to fight those battles with players who may be used to getting their way too often.

Backman will enter his first managerial position with a team full of young homegrown players, taught to play the game the right way and his job will be to manage, which he’s shown he’s pretty good at already.

But that’s just an opinion of a clear headed Met fan who now can see the light. I’m removed from the B.S. of it all which sapped my energy.

Aldersons job is to get a fan like me back into the fold. The Mets have one of the most passionate fan bases. We aren’t devoid of bandwagoners, because if we’ve learned anything, its that America loves teams with tortured histories (They gravitate to them like leeches for God knows what reason) but we aren’t as bad as some.

Butt I like being here. I’m not at happy hours watching the Mets lose on a summer night. I’m not checking scores on my phone during dinner. I’m not on Metsblog.com everyday hitting refresh just to see if the Mets are trading for/linked to a free agent.*
*= I’m going to act like I never wrote this paragraph in about 6 months, I know it.

I’m not even negative nancy waiting for the Mets to screw up. I’m just here, void of feelings, still in love but a lot more cool about it.

Maybe I’m just writing to convince myself. Maybe its easier for me to tell myself this to save myself the misery. Maybe I had to write it down in order for it to stick. Who knows?

What I do know is this: the Mets are operating under a new vision. It may not be what we want, but I suppose having a plan is a good thing. A plan that accounts for the organization. A plan that looks to the long term. All I can do is believe that that’s what’s happening. If it doesn’t happen, just know I won’t be crying in my room. I will be living my life. Life goes on.