TIRED OF BEING THE 3RD WHEEL

Cabrera might stay if Mets find him one position

CINCINNATI — Asdrubal Cabrera may not be able to play shortstop anymore, but he can play a fine third base. And he is solid at second, too. The real issue is that the 31-year-old admittedly does not like to play either position, and the Mets need to consider that heading into the offseason.

The Mets were fully expecting Cabrera to be on their roster after the trade deadline passed at midnight Aug. 31. Ironically, the guy who demanded a trade back in June when he was moved out of shortstop will likely be the only veteran asset the Mets were not able to sell off.

Now, they have to think about whether they are going to pick up his option for next season.

Cabrera, who was obviously less than thrilled back in June, expressed that he would be happy to be back with the Mets in 2018.

“Yeah, absolutely. I love this team. We have good balance now of young guys, going to be a good team next year,” Cabrera said Thursday after the Mets’ 7-2 loss to the Reds at the Great American Ball Park. “Everybody is hopeful.”

But what role will the Mets want him to play if they pick up his option? After his regression from 2016 to this season, can the club risk $8.5 million to see his game drop off again?

The Mets are facing a lot of hard questions going into 2018, and bringing back Cabrera is not an easy answer for any of them.

David Wright was back in New York, expecting to see the team doctors on Thursday, according to a Mets source. The third baseman, who has been trying to come back from 2016 neck surgery, was shut down for at least the third time in his attempt to get back on the field. Most troubling about Wright’s latest setback was that scouts who watched him said that he cannot hit with his shoulder/neck issues, which threaten to force him out of the game.

Wright has already admitted to several people close to him that he will most likely have to switch positions.

So the Mets are very likely going to need a third baseman for 2018.

A good third baseman like Mike Moustakas, who tops the list of free agents available at that position this winter, is going to cost a lot of money. They could look to make a trade for a third baseman, but they don’t have the prospects available in their farm system to make a big trade without dipping into their stash of major league pitchers.

So picking up Cabrera’s option is probably their quickest and easiest route to making sure they have a veteran infielder in the lineup next season who can play third.

Cabrera can accept that, even though he admitted that second base is a more comfortable position for him. But if the Mets pick up his option, he would prefer it be for one position.

While the club has embraced the idea of versatility in players, Cabrera has not. He said Thursday that while he understands the team needs him to play multiple positions the rest of this season, he would prefer to play just one next year if he is back.

“Absolutely, I mean, I think when you play with one position, you come every day to work for that,” Cabrera explained. “It’s hard when you come here and have to go look at the lineup to see where you are going to work now. It’s hard to play two positions, personally, for me. I got to use different gloves. That’s really hard, third base glove is a little bigger.”

After being moved from shortstop, where Cabrera was a disaster this season in 45 games — committing 11 errors — he has been solid at second base in 32 starts. He has been just as good at third, where he has made 22 career starts — all of them this season.

“Outstanding. He’s made plays at third base like he’s played there a lot and he’s only played there (this year),” Terry Collins said. “I think one of the things we want to make sure Asdrubal did is show everybody, including us, that he could be a guy who played around the infield.”

The problem never was proving that Cabrera could play around the infield, though. The issue is that he doesn’t want to.