Five years after then-GM Paul DePodesta wanted to hire Terry Collins, who was then the club's director of player development, as Dodgers manager, the two are reunited now in New York. The Mets have hired Collins to be their manager on a two-year deal.
Collins played in the Dodgers minor league system for parts of seven seasons, and managed in the system from 1981-1988. The last five of those years were spent managing the Triple A Albuquerque Dukes. Collins later managed the Astros and Angels, finishing in second place in his first five years as major league manager before imploding in 1999. Collins resigned from the Angels after a 51-82 start in 1999, and once the season was over the Angels plucked Mike Scioscia from the Dodgers to be their new manager.
After the Dodgers disastrous 71-91 season in 2005, DePodesta fired Jim Tracy, and Collins emerged as the leading candidate for the managerial job. DePodesta favored Collins to the point that he even skipped a meeting with fellow managerial candidate and former Dodger great Orel Hershiser. In the end though, both DePodesta and Collins were gone that same offseason. Now they are back together, with the Mets.