New York Daily News

HERE’S THE PITCH

After Tanaka, Yankee rotation has many more questions than answers

- BY KRISTIE ACKERT

PORT ST. LUCIE — A new glove is in the air for David Wright.

After saying in December that Wright would not be moved to first base to accommodat­e his struggles throwing last year, the Mets seemed to have softened on that stance a bit. Terry Collins said Tuesday that the Mets are not planning on Wright doing any work at first base this spring, but added that Wright could learn how to play the position fairly quickly if the club decides to move the Captain to the other side of the diamond.

The Mets third baseman, who is coming back from June surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck, has already been able to run and swing a bat this spring, but has yet to throw a baseball.

Wright has not been asked by the Mets about a possible switch, but says it’s something he’d be willing to do.

“I am open to do anything that helps this team win,” Wright said. “It hasn’t been brought up to me, I haven’t been approached about it, so I guess until somebody comes up and says we think this is best for the team that you go over there and take some ground balls I am not sure how much it’s worth diving into.

“Right now, I am a third baseman and I will go out there and practice at third until someone tells me not to.”

Wright has taken ground balls at third base and worked on getting his body back into baseball shape.

But, throwing a ball is a huge hurdle for a third baseman, and something not nearly as vital when playing first.

While the Mets have

said they expect Wright to be their Opening Day third baseman, much of that plan will hinge on how he clears that hurdle and progresses through spring training.

“He hasn’t thrown in a long time, so we’ve got to get that arm back,” Collins said. “That’s why we’ve got to be careful, because if you force it, tendinitis can pop in there in a second. So, we’ll bring him along slow on the throwing side.”

“He’s one of those kinds of guys, if we decide he needs to get some ground balls at first base, that stuff can be done late in spring training,” Collins said. “He’s such a good athlete he’d catch on to that easy.”

There was concern about Wright’s ability to throw across the field even before he went down with the neck injury.

Last season, Wright dramatical­ly struggled to throw, dropping his arm down significan­tly to accommodat­e the discomfort. While Collins thinks that the pain from the herniated disc in his neck contribute­d

to his throwing issues, Wright said he was not sure. And he won’t really know the difference until he begins throwing again. “I have been put on a shoulder strengthen­ing program, that should be wrapping up here soon,” Wright said. “And then I go on to a throwing program, which for position players shouldn’t take that long to get going if everything is OK.” There was no set date for him to begin throwing, but Collins gave a vague “later this week,” and Wright said “soon.” For the second straight spring, Wright is working his way back from a major issue related to his spine. In 2015, he missed 115 games after being diagnosed with spinal stenosis and spent most of the first half of the 2016 spring slowly working his way through basic drills. He began to feel discomfort in his neck then and only got through 37 games before needing surgery. So, it is hard for the Mets to actually know what type of player they will be getting back this year if the now 34-year-old Wright remains healthy. Over the past two years, Wright has played in just 75 regular-season games. He hit a career-low .226 with a surprising 55 strikeouts in 137 at-bats last season. Wright, however, said that his own expectatio­ns for himself have changed, but have not been lowered. “You are accustomed to playing at a certain level. That is the bar you set for yourself. I may have to temper expectatio­ns for maybe the time I am out there,” Wright said, “but I don’t have to (temper) expectatio­ns for when I am out there as to the type of player I can be, should be and have been.”

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