Collins resigns as Mets manager

Oct 2, 2017 - 12:49 AM New York Mets manager Terry Collins resigned his post after Sunday's regular-season finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Collins said he will remain with the organization in a yet-to-be-determined role.

"I'm stepping down for sure. This has been a tremendous run, had a great time, it's been a wonderful experience," Collins said after the 11-0 loss. "I owe the Wilpons -- Fred, Jeff, and Saul. (Owner) Jeff Wilpon brought me here and I thank him. We shared a lot of things.

"Unless you sit in this chair you don't know what goes on behind the scenes and Jeff Wilpon has been behind me from Day One and I thank him for that. I think the world of Fred. We have dinner together, we talk baseball together, we love it. (General manager) Sandy (Alderson) I owe so much to, to give me another chance. We had a good run. This was one of those years you want to forget and I will tomorrow and look forward to opportunities ahead."

The 68-year-old Collins has been the subject of speculation over whether or not he would be back, as his two-year contract was expiring. He guided the team to the 2015 World Series -- losing to the Kansas City Royals -- but the Mets lost in the wild-card game last season and were a disappointing 70-92 this season.

He was the oldest manager in the majors this season and he got a bit emotional as he made it clear he wants to stay involved in baseball.

"I've been in the game a long time. I'm not going anywhere, I'm going to stay in it as long as I can," Collins said. "This is a sour taste. There's no question about it. We certainly had bigger plans than what occurred. There's some things you got to be able to do and right now I think this is the best for the organization and I'm a team guy.

"I'm a team guy, always have been a team guy. I'm a team player. Sandy and I have talked recently and we just think what the best option is."

Collins informed his players in a clubhouse meeting prior to Sunday's contest that it would be his last as manager.

When Collins was waiting to walk out the lineup card to the umpires, a majority of the players stopped to shake hands or bump fists with him. As he returned to the dugout, the players lined up and applauded him.

"I talked to them earlier before the game started," Collins said. "I knew this was going to be bit of a cluster mess and I just told them, 'Look, there's a lot of young guys in that room one year ago today we celebrated in here and the experience they had this last month is not what you want.'

"You want to be able to celebrate and getting to the big leagues when you have talent is easy. Staying here and winning is hard and that's what it's all about to go into this winter to say what do I need to do to make this team a champion? That's the only way to approach it."

Collins had a 551-583 record in seven seasons with the Mets. Overall, he was 995-1,017 in 13 seasons, including stints with the Houston Astros (1994-96) and the then-Anaheim Angels (1997-99).