MET NOTES

PORT ST. LUCIE – When the Mets lost John Franco, they lost more than their longest-tenured player. They also lost their captain. And Willie Randolph doesn’t have any plans right now to name a successor.

“Right now I don’t think it’s necessary,” the new manager said yesterday. “I’m learning my team right now. And I just always feel every player should take it upon himself to be the captain. What I mean by that is, go out and lead in your own way. Players pick up on leaders and captains and stuff anyway.

“After a period of time if I think it’s necessary, we might address that. . . . We’re all trying to get to know each other. We’ll feel the rhythm of that as we go and players usually step up and do certain things and players watch and take the lead on that.”

Randolph said he is not against having a captain, only that “It’s just something I haven’t even thought about.”

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One of Randolph’s rules involves cutting down on the loud music in the clubhouse. Mike Cameron, who last year seemed to like the music loud, joked yesterday, “I’m going to tell Willie, you always say you’ve got to have rhythm when you’re dancing. Hitting is like rhythm, so we need some music. I know you’ve got to be respectful and all that, but it’ll be a long year if we have to go a year without music.”

Asked how flexible he is about the rule, Randolph replied, “A standard is a standard.”

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Cameron said he harbors no resentment towards Carlos Beltran for taking his center field position, saying, “I’m a hell of a guy, man.” Cameron, who’s recovering from wrist surgery, also estimated that he’s at between 65-70 percent. Randolph said it’s too early to speculate whether Cameron would play center on Beltran’s days off . . . Pedro Martinez signed autographs for kids for approximately 35 minutes yesterday, eliciting an appreciative roar and a round of applause when he finished. Pedro responded by waving to the fans.