Terry Collins indicates 2017 might be last year managing Mets

Terry Collins said that he might be done managing the Mets after the 2017 season, but won’t make a decision until that season’s end, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN. Collins, who is 67, says it depends on how he physically feels at the end of next season, which is when his current contract ends, as well.

It appears that this decision would be for health reasons. Collins is the oldest manager in baseball, as Rubin’s article notes, and was hospitalized during a series in Milwaukee. In the article, Collins is also quoted saying that travel takes a toll on people.

While baseball is important, yes, it shouldn’t take precedence over health. Despite the Mets’ recent success, Collins might make a move that has him walking away from the team when, in 2017, they could make it into the postseason again. This is not a move that should be met with dismay, but rather, respect and appreciation. And even if the Mets make it to the World Series once again, Collins walking away from the job after that is not a sign of weakness or things of that nature; he would be doing what is right for him, and at the end of the day, he’s doing what he needs to do for himself.

For all Collins has done for the team—from when he first managed the Mets in the middle of the 2008 season, when then-manager Jerry Manuel was fired and Collins was promoted to interim manager, to the NL Wild Card game loss to the Giants this year—it has not been perfect. That doesn’t mean that Collins isn’t worthy of a little acknowledgement that he is human.