MLB: 5 Major League Managers on the Hot Seat
3. player. 3. <strong>Record:</strong> 732-768 (.488) overall, 304-344 (.490) with New York . Manager. New York Mets. Terry Collins
With the Washington Nationals entering the 2015 season the Las Vegas favorites to win the World Series, it could be a long year for the other four clubs in the National League East. And as you’ve probably noticed, Terry Collins is the third manager from the division on our list of MLB managers on the hot seat.
Collins has yet to led the New York Mets to a winning record but the club was 79-83 in 2014, which is the best of the Collins era. Because of that improvement, and despite cutting roughly $8.7 million dollars from last season’s un-New York-like payroll (now ranked 22nd among the 30 Major League franchises), expectations are high.
With ace Matt Harvey back on the mound after missing the entire 2014 season, Collins has one of the best pitchers in baseball at his disposal and a pretty solid pitching staff around him. Led by veterans David Wright, Curtis Granderson and Michael Cuddyer, as well as up and comers like Lucas Duda in the lineup, the Mets are capable of scoring enough to make some noise in the Wild Card race and are a dark horse candidate to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006.
Collins is in the final year of his own contract (which does include a club option) and there is no extension in sight, so it’s clear his objective is to win now if he’d like to have an opportunity to manage the ball club in 2016 and beyond.
Surely that topic of discussion came up when Mets owner Fred Wilpon had a long meeting with Collins early during spring training.
Next: Joe Girardi