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Collins on sitting Bruce: ‘My job is to try to win’
- Updated: September 21, 2016
NEW YORK — Terry Collins called it “one of the worst things you can do as a manager,” pinch-hitting for a player with the pedigree of Jay Bruce. Certainly, this was not what Collins or anyone envisioned when the Mets traded for Bruce on Aug. 1, hoping he could provide the same sort of spark Yoenis Cespedes did down the stretch last summer.
It hasn’t happened. Unlike Cespedes, who earned the adoration of Mets fans and, ultimately, a fat new contract, Bruce has received little more than boos in Flushing. Collins did not allow Bruce’s 0-for-3 performance in Tuesday’s 5-4 loss to the Braves to become any worse than it already was, pinch-hitting rarely used reserve infielder Eric Campbell for him as the potential tying run in the eighth.
He hated doing it. Bruce hated it, too. But both men have reached the point where they understand none of that matters.
“He didn’t need to explain it to me,” Bruce said. “I obviously get how the game’s played, and what his thought process was there. I don’t deserve any explanation from the manager. He’s the manager. He makes the decisions.”
Said Collins: “My job is to try to win the game.”
The decision to pinch-hit for Bruce was not something that came to Collins in an instant. This had been building over the course of weeks, as Bruce descended into what is now a 3-for-38 funk. Seeking to snap Bruce out of it, Collins removed him from the starting lineup Sunday and Monday, …
