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Palladino: Options Were All Terry Collins Ever Needed

By Ernie Palladino
» More Ernie Palladino Columns

Terry Collins was never a buffoon of a manager. He just lacked options.

Sandy Alderson gave him some with the trade for Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson.

Now, for really the first time this year, the front office can get a clear picture of whether Collins is the guy to lead the Mets beyond 2015.

That's a future issue, of course. The immediate business involves staying on the NL East-leading Nationals' tail, a position that seems nothing short of miraculous considering the horrendous way the Mets started the second half of the schedule. Regardless of their offensive explosion Saturday and an extra-innings win Sunday, it remains quite amazing that they have hung off Washington's shoulder during a 4-6 stagger out of the All-Star break.

Perhaps that's because the Nats have suffered from similar ailments that have made Collins' season such a touch-and-go affair. They're almost as banged up as the Mets. And their identical 4-6 post-break mark shows they are perfectly capable of affecting a Mets-like inconsistency.

Given that, and the possibility that even more help for Collins' lineup may yet arrive in the person of Ben Zobrist, Yoenis Cespedes or Will Venable, it is entirely possible that Collins' lineup may yet close their current two-game gap and draw even with, or even pass Washington.

Terry Collins
Terry Collins (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)

Getting Uribe and Johnson from Atlanta for prospects got Collins off to a good start, and that's not just in reference to Saturday's 21-hit explosion to which Johnson contributed a homer and Uribe a single off the bench. Nor does it turn Uribe's game-winning single in the 10th Sunday into a definitive statement on the future. But the trade does bring glad tidings, if only because Collins now has others he can turn to for offense.

It showed before Saturday's game, when Collins put his team on notice.

"The message has been sent," Collins said before Saturday's game. "Listen, we gotta start scoring."

Collins probably didn't put it quite so nicely in his clubhouse speech. Or maybe he didn't have to say a word. Simply penciling in Johnson's name into the cleanup spot, two notches up from minor-league call-up Michael Conforto, gave Collins a tool that could send a message quicker than any cell phone text.

"You hit, you play. You don't, grab a seat."

The true impact of this trade and any future move Sandy Alderson makes will be judged down the road. Given the Mets' recent history, plenty of time remains for Johnson and the 36-year-old Uribe to forget how to hit and add nothing more than Eric Campbell, John Mayberry, Jr. or Dilson Herrera did before them.

It is also possible that Conforto's 4-for-4, four-RBI day Saturday will become just a fond memory as opposing pitchers start to understand that he is, after all, a Double-A player.

But it is just as likely that Alderson has given Collins the real options he so desperately needed to replace the missing hitting potential of David Wright and Travis d'Arnaud and, for much of the first half, Daniel Murphy.

Uribe and Johnson may never add enough to turn Collins into a free-wheeling, push-button manager. The Mets need more than those two. But they may loosen the shackles that have bound Collins' wrists up to this point.

For the first time this year, Collins can look down his roster and find starting and bench alternatives whose names aren't followed by .175 batting averages. The possibility of bestowing his pitchers four runs in an inning rather than two runs in a game has become an open proposition.

If Alderson can give him one or two more before Friday's trade deadline, talk of October baseball might just turn realistic. At the very least, they have assured themselves of some weapons as they play into their first meaningful August in ages.

Collins has at least a couple of options to make a real run now and, by extension, save his job.

That's all he ever needed in the first place.

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