Mets’ Sandy Alderson likely to return, Terry Collins less so

As the Mets finish limping towards the end of a frustrating, painful season—one that both general manager Sandy Alderson and manager Terry Collins entered in the final season of their contracts—thoughts inevitably turn towards the future, or lack thereof, of current management. Conventional wisdom has held that Alderson would return, and recent reports seem to hew to that, indicating that he will be back “running the team.” Whether that means he will continue in the role of he has held since after the completion of the 2010 season or move up in the organization and promote someone else to the GM spot seems slightly less clear.

Meanwhile, the future of the longest-tenured manager in franchise history seems far less certain. Speculation since the end of 2016 has been that Collins would retire after this season, though he indicated this week that he has not yet made that decision.

The Mets may well be hoping he makes that choice and takes the decision out of their hands, given the lengthy list of candidates already being bandied about. Former Mets and current Dodgers bench coach Bob Geren—whose name has cropped up elsewhere—might have to be considered an early front-runner if Collins departs. Other names speculated upon today include A’s third-base coach Chip Hale and current Mets bench coach Dick Scott. In any event, any Collins replacement should be expected to be “more technologically savvy and more fluent in analytical and sabermetrics,” per Kristie Ackert’s report in the Daily News, and far less likely to use the expression “cripes!”