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MLB WINTER MEETINGS

December 6, 2010

Terry Collins

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA

Q. Where are you on the coaching staff right now?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, we are interviewing. As I'm sitting here, one of the hitting candidates is Andy Van Slyke, and he's -- I talked to Andy, and he's the first of the hitting guys that we'll talk to. I have a list of three or four or five, and we'll proceed with that.
I've talked to a couple of bullpen guys. I'm going to call Randy Niemann this week and visit with him. So we're moving forward.

Q. Do you have a connection?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, we were together in Pittsburgh. Then I know Andy as a player, I knew him as a coach when he was with the Tigers. I know he's a real, real bright guy and played the game right, studied the game. So I wanted to talk to him about this job.

Q. Is he done with the coaching job? Is he in the minors or anywhere?
TERRY COLLINS: He's one of those guys, he's been doing it his whole life and even in Detroit and even in Pittsburgh when we played, guys shared ideas and shared thoughts. And I know of a lot of players in Detroit went to Andy. Major League players, they want all the input they can get. When you have a guy that's as good as Andy Van Slyke, and you want to hear what he had to do, what he did as a hitter and just to gain some more knowledge.

Q. Do you know how many total you're going to interview, total coaches?
TERRY COLLINS: Total coaches?

Q. I mean for the hitting coaches?
TERRY COLLINS: Yeah, I was going to say, that's a little much. Probably four.

Q. How many of those are you going to knock out this week?
TERRY COLLINS: Four.

Q. Do you think you'll have somebody decided on by the end of the week?
TERRY COLLINS: I hope so.

Q. Is the Major League experience something that is important to you? Is it the teaching ability? What are you looking for?
TERRY COLLINS: For all coaches that we'll talk to all have Major League coaching experience. So I think it helps. I think it's important right now at this stage. So those are the guys we're going to talk to.

Q. In terms of expectations in the winter meetings, what are your expectations of improving the ballclub as you come out of Orlando?
TERRY COLLINS: You know, I'm very, very lucky because I've got a pretty good staff that I'm working with right now. You sit in that room this morning and listen to the ideas from JP and Paul and Sandy and Wayne Krivsky, guys that were all former general managers and a staff that works very, very hard to get information. We've got a pretty good grasp of who is available and who is going to be fit and who isn't. Certainly that's Sandy's job to put all of that together.

Q. There seems to be a perception once the contracts come off the books next year that the Mets can really get into rebuilding and getting better. How do you respond to that notion?
TERRY COLLINS: I'm worried about this year. I can't worry about the future. I can only worry about right now. I've looked at my club, at our ballclub, with our 40-man roster and my knowledge of the minor league system, and that's where I'm putting the names together. I don't know who we're going to get, who is available. So I only worry about the facts that I have and I know the people that we have on our club.

Q. Do guys who -- obviously, you were a minor league player rep last year, so have certainly you have more of a perspective on those guys than Sandy or JR and JP. Do you think that your familiarity with these guys is going to allow you to make or at least be part of the judgment process when it comes to either trading for a guy or using someone from the system to fill a hole?
TERRY COLLINS: We've already discussed that. One thing I want to make sure is we think about the players we have in our organization, and the people that we're discussing, are they better than what we have? And certainly with my knowledge of what we've got, I have a lot of input in some of those places where we're trying to replace guys at. I agree with what Jim Leyland told me last night, and that is there are some people in the minor leagues who can play in the big leagues, given the opportunity.
So as I look at our organization and who do we have down there that's right now ready to get that opportunity?

Q. Not that you -- you said you don't want to talk about the past. But when you look at -- certainly, you can't worry about any mistakes that your organization has made in the past on self-evaluation, just that very thing that you talked about, figuring out which guys you have that are better than maybe going out and getting somebody else. This organization, would you think it's fair to say, needs to get better at self-evaluating and is that something that you put a lot of importance on?
TERRY COLLINS: Once again, since I wasn't here, I don't know what the dialogue was in that room. I don't know the organization two years ago or three years ago. I only know it from this past year.
We've got some players coming that are maybe a year away. We've got some guys that are close. Our decisions are going to be where does Mejia fit right now? Where does Tejada fit right now? Fernando Martinez, could he be a piece of the puzzle? Some of our six-year free agents that we're bringing back. So those are the decisions we're going to have to make.
I have a say in some of it, but ultimately Sandy is going to be the guy who decides what the best parts are.

Q. Are you still thinking for somebody inside for the bench coach job? I know you talked about that. Is it something that you have somebody you think is going to have the job?
TERRY COLLINS: I've got a couple of people from the inside on my list, and I've got a couple of people that are outside the organization on my list.
I do believe -- as I said before, I do believe it's very, very important to hire from within. I was in the minor leagues for 20 years looking for my chance. Finally the man in Pittsburgh gave me a shot. I think it's important that our minor league staff knows that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm going to hire one of our minor league coaches for sure in one of these roles.

Q. That time between your last job and this one, what was that like? At what point did you say, you know, I may not get another one? It doesn't look like it.
TERRY COLLINS: September 3rd, 1999, I wasn't sure I'd get another shot, to be honest. You know, I'd have to say as I look back, I had jobs I had to do. I did them the best I could.
From the time I was the advanced scout for Don Baylor in Chicago, to the third base coach in Tampa Bay, to the farm director for the Dodgers, you know, I love the game. I wanted to give back as best I could no matter what role that was in. I went to Japan for a reason, and that's because I thought I wanted to get back on the field and try to manage again. That's why I went to Japan.
So when I came back from that I thought, hey, look, I've had a lot of fun. I've given it my best shot. Had Omar not called me, I'd probably be playing golf today. But here I sit. I owe that to Omar for giving me another opportunity, and certainly Sandy and the group here that gave me the chance to interview for the job. I'm certainly honored by it all.

Q. Given how those jobs ended, players being unhappy --
TERRY COLLINS: Some of them were happy, by the way. Okay. I wanted to just clear that up a little bit.

Q. That's why I said some.
TERRY COLLINS: Yeah.

Q. Given also how much more power players have now because of contracts, is there something that you have to bridge between?
TERRY COLLINS: Certainly. It's already begun. I knew some of these guys from last year, dealing with them at the mini camp, some of the players that are up there we had through our minor system, Ike Davis, and Dillon Gee, and R.A. Dickey, I got to know those guys pretty good. They have a pretty good feel for me. I think my communicative skills are better, my patience is better. That comes from all the years of being the farm director and the field coordinator. You have to have patience in the minor leagues. So I think this will all help.

Q. Sandy's looking at a couple of guys to fill out the rotation. Do you have a preference with whether it will be a lefty or a righty?
TERRY COLLINS: I want the best there is available if we can get him. The best guy we can get that throws strikes and it can give us innings. At the end of the day you can only do so much. You look at R.A. Dickey, he's 11-9, yet gave a quality start after quality start. That's what we need. If we do the little things, we have a chance to win those games.
So whoever they're looking for, all I want is the guy who fits who is the best in that spot.

Q. Can you talk about the marketplace right now? Some guys are getting over 15, 20 million, then you get somebody like R.A. Dickey or Aubrey Huff last year who is getting under $5 million a year. Sometimes they're able to get some of these, unveil some hidden jewels that end up having more value than some guy getting $15 million or $10 million contracts?
TERRY COLLINS: Those guys that got those contracts, they earned it. It's like everything else, I don't have anything to say about it if the owners or particular clubs want to say pay it, so be it. I want to get the most out of anybody who is around. If it's R.A. Dickey, I need those quality innings from him. No matter if he's making $500,000 or if he's making $50 million. So it's all about that competitive attitude that they're going to bring to this ballclub and we need that here.

Q. With the holes you have in the Major League roster and knowing the system the way you do, which players that fans maybe haven't heard of yet or got very brief glimpses of might make an impact in spring training or early in the season?
TERRY COLLINS: That's a really, really good question, because I don't know exactly who is coming to spring training yet. What non-roster guys that we're going to invite that the fans haven't heard of. Probably not many. Obviously the one name that sticks out, and I think he's probably going to have to go pitch in the minor leagues, would be Matt Harvey would be the guy that sticks out the most. This guy was very, very highly thought of when we drafted him. Nobody got to see him pitch because he was such a late sign. So I'm anxious to see him in spring training. I'm as anxious as the fans to see this guy and how he throws.

Q. I guess Mike Leake made his debut the year after being drafted?
TERRY COLLINS: But he pitched in the fall league.

Q. Could Harvey be at the Major League level this year or is that too soon?
TERRY COLLINS: You know, I don't ever doubt. I never take that, hey, look, this guy needs a year in the minor leagues. Some of those guys just deal. You put them out there and they keep winning and getting better.
I look at the one left-handed reliever that ended up Minnesota signed him or I can't remember the club that signed him last year. Oh, the White Sox. The guy the White Sox had. He got to the big leagues in his first year. Anything can happen. It's all about the opportunity.
And if Matt goes out and we start him, no matter where they wanted to start him in the minor leagues, and he pitches his way out of that league, who knows where he'll end up.

Q. You have a history of working well with closers. You had Billy Wagner coming up as a young player. You had Percival with the Angels. Obviously, with K-Rod, he's coming back, but the rest of the bullpen is kind of up in the air. Do you have, based on all the years that you managed, do you have a philosophy about how to use the bullpen, how do build it? Is it a question of establishing roles, having guys grow into roles? Or is it something that you feel because of the unknown quantity of these players, that it's going to be a work in progress?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, it's going to be a work in progress, obviously. I know one thing, when we had the lead in the ninth inning, K-Rod's going to be in that game. Hopefully, it's enough times where we can actually give him a day off every now and then. But he's going to be in that game.
Now the roles up until that point, I have always gone on the theory your role is when I bring you in, get the guy out that is standing in the batter's box. You know, there are a lot of times that the game has to be won in the sixth inning. I go back to a game I remember when I was in the American League. We went into Baltimore and had the real, real good clubs. All of a sudden in the sixth inning you had had the bases loaded and one out, and I knew this is when we had to win the game. I brought in the set-up guy in the sixth inning. He gave us three quality innings to get to Percival, and we ended up winning the ballgame because that was the point where we had to win the game.
So I think those middle relievers, when you say roles, would everybody like to have an 8th inning? Yeah, we probably would. Hopefully we will have one. But if we don't, sometimes that 8th inning might be a 6th inning.

Q. How much of a concern is the fact that you lost Takahashi, lost Feliciano, both in terms of innings logged in the bullpen. But I know Sandy had said maybe some righties can get lefties out. But in a division with Howard and Utley, and Ibanez whoever the Braves' lefty hitter is, you don't have really right now a lefty-on-lefty specialist?
TERRY COLLINS: When I was in Houston one year, we did not have a left-hander in camp or in the organization that we felt could get a left-handed hitter out consistently. So therefore we went with the best guys who were right-handed that had the best stuff. And that's what I look for out of the bullpen.
I can tell you years ago in those late '90s, the Cleveland Indians had those power arms coming out of that bullpen. They didn't care if you were right-handed or left-handed. They brought good arms with good stuff. Yes, would we like to have a lefty that we know can get a left-handed hitter out? Absolutely. Is that animal out there? We hope it is because we've got some names for it. But if we don't get one, we're going to go -- if there's not -- hopefully we have a left-handed guy, but if we don't, it's going to be a right-handed guy with good stuff.

Q. Do you see any similarities to stepping into this job to that Angels team you took over or the Astros team? Plenty of talented guys there but not really ready to go.
TERRY COLLINS: I believe this has more similarity to the Angels team. The Angels two years before I got there got beat in the playoff game because they tied with Seattle and ended up losing a playoff game. And the next year they collapsed. And then Marcel left, and I got the job. Alls it was was hey, we've got to rebuild the confidence here, and I believe they did. We played good for a couple of years before we had some issues. But this team resembles that team more than anything.

Q. Is that going to help you? It must obviously help you manage this situation knowing how you got that Angel team back on track for a while?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, it's similar because they had good players and we have good players. And I think as I've said all along, and I've talked to the guys, you know, I've got to keep Carlos Beltran on the field, I've got to keep Jason Bay on the field, and David Wright, and Jose Reyes. If we keep that core eight guys, we can get 145 games out of each of those guys, we're going to be in good shape. So that's going to be the challenge.

Q. I know everyone's said is the right thing about Beltran looking at him in spring training, centerfield, right field. How has that evaluation going to be made? Have you thought about it yet? If he ends up in right field, does it have to be a clean break or will he be playing both? Could he be dabbling in both?
TERRY COLLINS: I don't think -- actually, Carlos and I talked the other night for about 40 minutes. I will tell you, he is on board for whatever we decided to do. But when I say we, he's included in that. I told him this decision will be made with his input, and how he feels and how he looks. And we will move down the road together. But, no, I'm not moving those kind of guys back and forth. I don't think it's fair to them.
So whatever position we decide, Carlos is going to play, that's where he's going to play.

Q. Can Angel win that job from him if he has a really strong spring?
TERRY COLLINS: Sure, but if Carlos wins the job, Angel's going to have a place in the outfield too. So again, I think as we go forward, Sandy, myself and Carlos, we'll sit down and we'll cull up with the right plan and we're going to move forward.
We're not going to sit there and take one of the best players in the game and dangle him around from position to position to see where he fits best. We're going to get him comfortable. We know when this guy's comfortable, he's a productive player.

Q. Do you view second base is probably going to come from somebody already in the system? How viable is say Murphy versus Castillo? Can Murphy play second base? You saw him in person a little bit.
TERRY COLLINS: I did. I talked to Luis Castillo this morning. I told him, look, he's been reading that this job is up for grabs. Why not have his name in the mix. If he wants it bad enough, he'll get himself ready to play it, and then we'll go to spring training and see what's our best option.

Q. With both him and Oliver, Castillo and Oliver, you weren't in the field last year, the second they trot out there in April it's going to be incredibly negative. Is there something to be said with a new GM, new manager, and kind of a breath of fresh air to not revisit and dredge up the negative stuff like that? Just to have a clean break?
TERRY COLLINS: We're going to try to do that for sure. You know, it's all about them executing. It's all about them performing. You know, this is a hard game. This is a difficult game. But they're professionals. They've been in the big leagues a long time. They've got to deal with the negativism, and they've got to show we're going to rise above that and go out and perform.
Ultimately, as we've all seen through many years, if you go out and get the job done, those boos turn to yeas. Right now that's our goal.

Q. You've mentioned a couple of players that you've talked to recently. Is that what you mean by your improved communication skills reaching out to guys? Is that something you would not have done as much in the past?
TERRY COLLINS: I did it everywhere I've been. I've done it everywhere I've ever gone. I've called the players and just to say hello, tell them I'm looking forward to working with them and get themselves ready for a big season. That's all I said.
Carlos the other night was tremendous. I talked to Jason Bay the other day. He's very, very excited. He feels great. I talked to David, and he's going to come to the early camp probably the first part of February. So that shows you, those guys want to win. I'm telling you, Carlos Beltran, the first thing was look, I'll do whatever it takes. I want to win.
I saw that with him in rehab camp last year when he was getting ready. As I've told people, you know, I wasn't at Citi field, but I know one thing, this guy worked his butt off to get back as fast as he could to New York.
Was he ready? I don't know. But he had great pride and he knew he was needed. He said the other day, I'm going to have a big year and I'm going to be ready to play.

Q. Have you spoken to everybody so far, all the main players?
TERRY COLLINS: There must be a lot of guys hunting. I've made a lot of phone calls and I haven't gotten some calls back. But I've tried to reach out to everybody.

Q. I understand you want to make that connection with those guys. But is it important to get it done early? You've only had the job a couple of weeks?
TERRY COLLINS: I don't think I want -- I don't want them to think, Geez, is this guy going to call me? I want to get it done.

Q. Your first concern is your team, but looking at the picture of the division, it's a pretty big move here, Jayson Werth leaving, they've had success here. How much does that impact the Phillies in your mind?
TERRY COLLINS: He's a huge part of their lineup. I really, truly believe that Jayson Werth protected some of those guys in what he did and when you want to pitch around Ryan or somebody else, he comes up with big hits. Certainly he's a Washington National that got better. I know the Phillies will probably come up with somebody to replace him. They probably had Dominique Brown, is that the kid that replaced him? So I know they've got a good club. Washington got better. I know the Braves are trying to get better. I know the Marlins have. We've got our work cut out for us.

Q. (Indiscernible)?
TERRY COLLINS: I don't know why not. He's a heck of a player. If he keeps putting up the numbers that he's putting up, he's a marquis guy. You can't neglect what he's done in recent years.
So we had him in Los Angeles. We saw that talent there. We had trouble, he was injured a couple of times in Los Angeles. But you saw the skills. The skills were there and he's put it together and more power to him.

Q. Obviously playing in New York and we always talk about whenever a guy is a target, can he play in New York? There's been managers who have come here that haven't handled New York, guys who played here. There's no secret that Wally Backman was a guy that the fans really wanted as manager?
TERRY COLLINS: Sure.

Q. I think they're accepting of you, but do you feel any extra pressure to get off to a good start just because of that reality?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, you always want to get off to a good start. But ultimately it's where you are in September. I will tell you, I tell my players and I've told them at the Major League level and I've certainly told them and harped on it at the minor league level, it's not where you start, it's where you finish. This is a long season.
Do I want to get off to a good start? Absolutely. Do I want to make it easier? Absolutely. But if we finish in October, a lot of that stuff in April might be forgotten. I don't want it that way because I'm going to do the best job I can to make sure these guys are prepared coming out of spring training.

Q. But do you feel that New York is a place that even with the fact that you beat out the fan favorite or the guy that the fans wanted, do you feel New York is a place that it's not going to be a surprise for you? You're going to be able to handle the pressure from the fans because they're vocal and intelligent?
TERRY COLLINS: Yeah, it's great. They are intelligent. That's why I said when I got the job, this is the biggest and best stage to be on. That's why we got into this game. We all wanted to get there. Some guys maybe will not like it, but I think it's a tremendous challenge.
I got into this game when I was 21 years old because I like to compete. And I got this opportunity, and that competition is going to be something that will drive me throughout my rein here however long it will be.

Q. Is your intent still to visit Oliver Perez and Sandy?
TERRY COLLINS: As a matter of fact, we talked about dates today, this morning.

Q. When he comes to spring training, assuming he comes to spring training, obviously you need a starter and relief. But are you doing one or the other right now? Is it pretty wide open what role he could be?
TERRY COLLINS: I am -- right now I'm wide open. I think obviously when we get down, if I get a chance to hopefully see him pitch and sit down with him and talk about some things, I think Ollie will do, again, what he has to do to help us. As I've said, if he gets -- if he can pitch the way he knows how to pitch, the way he's been, he goes out and gives us quality innings, I think the people will say, hey, look, he's gotten better.

Q. Is there a lot of number crunching going on right now? Lot of (indiscernible)? Lot of people are expecting that to be influenced more now with the management that's been brought in?
TERRY COLLINS: For sure there is. Today that's how you rank players. That's how you grade them out. It's a little different than he's got a 55 arm. There are things that these stats tell you, what kind of a player you're going to get or what to expect from it. It's a useful area. We're going to use it on the scouting side a lot.

Q. You mentioned that you would have been on the golf course if Omar hadn't called you. What are the next couple of months going to be like for you? How does it beat being on the golf course?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, I've been doing this for 40 years. This is my passion in life, so nothing will ever stand in the way. As a matter of fact, I have told my wife that my mistress in life is baseball, so don't mess with it.

Q. What did she answer?
TERRY COLLINS: She goes, I understand.

Q. Did Jason give you a word on whether he'd be at mini camp and how did he feel?
TERRY COLLINS: We talked about it. I said if you feel like coming to the mini camp, we'll be there. If you think you need -- you're not going to get enough at-bats or practice in camp, you ought to be there. But I'll make sure he gets all the at-bats he wants when regular spring training start.

Q. Did he give an indication?
TERRY COLLINS: No, he said I'm going to think about it. You've got my support whatever you want to do.

Q. In terms of recovery, where is he?
TERRY COLLINS: He feels great. He's working out. He feels great. He's excited to get back out and help.

Q. Given that passion that you just talked about, you've worked in lots of other jobs within baseball. How much do you miss being in the dugout?
TERRY COLLINS: Well, again, when you're at the Major League level and competing against the greatest in the world, it brings out a little extra adrenaline going.
I took those other jobs pretty serious. I'm sure anybody, you know, you guys, you're parents and I took those 165 players I had in the minor leagues this year or the 165 I had with the Dodgers, some of my proudest moments was to see Russell Martin win an a Ward in Los Angeles as the Player of the Year. When I saw the day we made him a catcher.
Or to see this year, players advancing that a year ago there is a player that ended up in AA at the end of the year, had a great season. He came to me at the end of the year and said two years ago people wrote me off. You gave me a chance and he responded. Those are the things that make you feel good. It's the same thing. When you go out nightly into the Major Leagues and you see your team play good, and you see them play with enthusiasm and execution, you feel good about it. That's the fun part about being in the dugout.

Q. I know you haven't seen him up close on a daily basis. But Jose Reyes. Do you have any observations about what could get him to the next level or kind of back on track? The past two managers, Willie Randolph tried to talk to him about like how he's relying on athletic ability now, but they've got Jeter and based on the pitches he didn't respond to that. Then Jerry was talking about how he tried to criticize him a little bit for not paying attention right before the pitch, and Jose kind of insulted him than taking it to heart?
TERRY COLLINS: Like a lot of things in life I think you grow. I think you mature. I truly believe Jose Reyes is growing and he's maturing. One thing that I think more than anything this year is that his legs are healthy. I think he was very concerned about them in spring training. It was what is going to happen? Am I going to get hurt again? He got through the season solidly and I think he'll continue to grow not only on the physical side, which will help the mental side, too.

End of FastScripts

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