PORT ST. LUCIE – The goal of the Mets, to be playing meaningful games in September, won’t be met if it’s only Kaz Matsui and Mike Cameron who make them better.
The premise of a dramatically better defense has only one leg to stand on if one of Jose Reyes’ legs keeps giving out. OK, 500-plus at-bats from Cliff Floyd will beat 365 of a season ago, but you look at an unproven bullpen and a rotation with four holdovers and it’s scary. Even if Tom Glavine does better, at age 38 how much better? Can Al Leiter win 15 again at that same age?
If Mike Piazza doesn’t turn the clock back three years, no one is paying to see him play first base for 30 games. The only reason to watch a team coming off 66 wins is to see young players provide hope, but besides Reyes, who?
Maybe it’s the guy presumed to be merely keeping the hot corner warm for a better prospect.
Ty Wigginton, the 124th third baseman in Met history, hit 11 homers and drove in 71 runs last season, trivial power numbers suggesting he’ll be the answer to a trivia question after David Wright becomes No. 125.
But Wigginton, who was drafted in the 17th round, was never touted as a top prospect or hit more than 21 homers in the minors, refuses to believe his ceiling is low, so he inspires the Mets to stop ducking their heads.
Wigginton did a nice job learning a position he had barely played in the minors through a depressing season with a cerebral approach that should improve his production.
“The biggest difference up here is the advance scouting,” he said. “The next team knows if you are going through a stretch where you aren’t hitting a certain pitch and you have to find a way to fix it right away.
“I went back and looked at tape of myself from ’02 and ’03 and there were differences. I don’t know how they got there, but they did. In ’02, I could drive it a lot better.
“I’m looking to go into the left-center gap more instead of right-center. Also, work the count better. I want to say ‘first pitch, it it’s not middle-in, I’m taking it.’ Or ‘middle-away, I’m taking it.’
“I also think I wore down because I wasn’t able to lift weights because of a shoulder problem.”
For all those reasons, the Mets think one of their hardest workers will hit 20 homers, drive in 90-95 runs. For which team is the ultimate question Wigginton refuses to ask himself.
“First day I got called up, Bobby Valentine said to me ‘Kid, its one thing to get to the big leagues, but harder to stay,’ ” recalled Wigginton. “If I keep improving there will be a spot for me here somewhere.
“It was fun having David in camp because we pushed each other. [Ultimately] they might move him [to another position], or move me, but I’m going to make it hard on them.
“I’ve never been the top prospect and in a lot of ways I’m glad, because it left that burning desire for improvement. Being in the majors didn’t make last year happy. It was by far the toughest I’ve ever had. We were just showing up, not expecting to win.”
No question, this kid’s elevator goes all the way up. If the Mets had more like him, they might rise faster.
