Mets camp report
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Five things to know about the New York Mets:
1. You know it. They know it. But it cannot be repeated enough: Watching the Mets' final three weeks last September was like watching a burning house. They led the NL East by seven games with only 17 days to play and blew it. The playoffs went on without them. "It was devastating, but believe me, I didn't hold onto it," manager Willie Randolph says. "I didn't think about it every day." He will if the Mets start slowly in 2008: Anything less than a solid start and Randolph, who is signed through 2009 with a club option for 2010, will move directly onto the griddle. The Mets need a good start to keep the talk surrounding the manager's job security in check.
2. Pedro Martinez, who made only five starts last season, is purportedly healthy and ready to roll. Which, if true, presents the Mets with an interesting decision to make regarding their Opening Day starter. Do they send new acquisition Johan Santana to the mound against Florida on March 31? Or do they defer to the once-great Pedro's seniority? "I don't care if I'm No. 1 or No. 5 as long as I get the ball every fifth game," Santana says (and we're pretty sure he won't be No. 5 ... or Nos. 3 or 4). "I'll be ready to go and do my job. I've got a lot of respect for Pedro. He's one of the best. Whoever has the chance to throw the first game, I'm pretty sure we won't go wrong with that."
3. Paul Lo Duca (now with the Nationals) is out as catcher, Brian Schneider is in. And you can be pretty sure that Schneider, who hit .235 with six homers and 54 RBI last season in Washington, won't quite match Lo Duca's 2007 output for the Mets (.272, nine homers, 54 RBI). That's part of the plan for the Mets, who wanted to upgrade defensively behind the plate. But Schneider wasn't their first choice ... or their second. The Mets' initial target last winter was free agent Jorge Posada, who wound up, predictably, re-signing with the Yankees. The Mets viewed him as the perfect combination of offense and defense. Their second choice was Yorvit Torrealba, but that didn't work, either. So here's Schneider, though he may not be as much of a downgrade offensively as many think: He did compile a .326 on-base percentage, compared with Lo Duca's .311.
4. Second baseman Luis Castillo underwent offseason knee surgery and hopes to live with a lot less pain this season. He played through it in 2007 and, as the summer wore on, still compiled a better on-base percentage after the All-Star break (.372) than before (.352). The Mets signed him to a four-year, $25 million deal in November. "He had a lot of pain while running last year, and he should be running without pain this year," Mets general manager Omar Minaya says. "We'll have to go slow with him in spring training, let him build it up."
5. The Mets are hoping for a rebound season from reliever Duaner Sanchez, who missed 2007 completely following a cab accident in 2006 that caused a serious shoulder injury. Sanchez threw on Saturday as the Mets pitchers and catchers worked out for the first time, and club officials liked what they saw. "I've been hearing all winter that he was throwing the ball good and that he's lost weight," Randolph says. "I couldn't wait to get down here and see. I think he was trying to hump it up today and I'm thinking to myself, 'Easy, easy.' I'm sure he was trying to impress. But he threw his changeup, and his fastball had a little bite to it."
