Mets' Collins doesn't want to retire: 'I will be in baseball somewhere'

Terry Collins isn't ready to call it quits yet, but whether one of the longest-tenured active skippers in baseball manages the New York Mets next season is a question that remains open-ended.

"I'm going to be somewhere," Collins told Matt Ehalt of North Jersey.com before Tuesday's game. "If after we have discussions, if it feels I shouldn't be here, then I won't be.

"We've created something here that's pretty good. That's my take. I haven't talked to anybody about it so we'll go from there ... I will be in baseball somewhere."

Collins' contract is set to expire at the conclusion of the 2017 season - his seventh with the Mets. Over that tenure, the manager owns a 548-581 record that includes back-to-back postseason trips in 2015 and '16.

"I said it a couple years ago ... I never said anything that I was going to retire," the 68-year-old Collins continued. "I always wanted to work until I was 70. That's two more years.

"I can put something to rest: I'm not going to go home and go fishing. OK. Whatever anybody thinks about if I’m going to be here or not, I can’t answer that. But I’m going to be doing something."

While general manager Sandy Alderson's contract is also expiring after the season, the Mets are reportedly likely to renew the 70-year-old executive. Collins' future with the team is decidedly less certain, though, meaning he may be looking for a job elsewhere.