Meet the Mets

New faces and rejuvenated veterans are all over camp

Throughout spring training, SI.com will feature regular dispatches from Sports Illustrated staffers assigned to scout camps in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues.

By Jeff Pearlman, Sports Illustrated

Team: New York Mets

Site: Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Weather: Warm and meaty, low 80s

Player I Saw Whom I Really Liked: Tsuyoshi Shinjo. On the day regulars were due to report to camp, Shinjo arrived in a white stretch limousine, prompting one Met to say, "Here comes Hollywood." A chef would need a John Goodman-sized jar of mustard to cover this guy. And yet, even though Shinjo is a lifetime .253 hitter with as much business in a roll-up limo as Corey Haim, the Fukuoka, Japan native is a fantastic side act to the dull circus that is spring training. Shinjo signs every autograph, smiles for pictures and is almost never seen without ridiculous bright orange legwarmers wrapped around his wrists. Yeah, he's a fourth outfielder. Yeah, he's a borderline major leaguer. But fun's fun. And Shinjo is fun.

Around The Horn: New Mets left fielder Cliff Floyd has been the talk of the town. Nobody reported in better shape, and nobody's been stinging the ball with more authority. Should the Mets stay in the race, Floyd looks primed for an MVP-type run. ... (Super) Joe McEwing has switched uniform numbers, from 47 to 11. Did Tom Glavine, the new No. 47, ask McEwing for the digits? "Hah!" says McEwing, who is as good-natured as they come. "The Mets asked me what uniform number I wanted to change to. How could you blame them? [Glavine] is a legend, and he's earned that number." McEwing first met the two-time Cy Young winner five years ago while honeymooning with his wife, Julia, in Maui. "We were sitting down, and I looked across the table," he says. "There was Tom." McEwing picked 11 because 4+7=11. ... Non-roster invitee Bobby Munoz is the biggest baseball player I've ever seen. As he walked through the Mets clubhouse in a green shirt, I thought someone must have ticked off Bruce Banner. ... Don Baylor is serving as manager Art Howe's bench coach. It's a complete reversal from Baylor's days as a skipper in Colorado, where Howe held the bench coach position. ... Although the Mets would have gladly received a pair of used slippers from Tampa for shortstop Rey Ordonez, they instead received infielder Russ Johnson, a born-again Christian famous for asking the Rays to remove "Devil" from their nickname. Johnson's a longshot to stick. ... The wife of 22-year-old pitcher Pat Strange delivered a baby boy last week. The couple named their son Brian Cole Strange, after former Mets prospect Brian Cole, who died in a car accident last spring. Strange and Cole were close friends, and the right-hander became choked up while speaking to the media about his child. ... The New York Post's Mike Morrissey perfectly summed up the Mets' plan to move defensively inept Roger Cedeno from left field to center when the beat writer wrote, "Putting Roger Cedeno back in center field is like giving Phil Donahue another talk show. Executives think it's a great idea because it worked once before, but the general public isn't eager to watch." Cedeno is a great guy with terrible outfield instincts. Don't be surprised if Shinjo is starting by June. ... Outfielder Jeromy Burnitz arrived in camp without his trademark lamb-chop sideburns. After hitting 19 homers and batting .215 last season, perhaps he feared The Ghost of George Foster. ... When he signed with the Mets this offseason, Jay Bell spoke with a starting job-or-bust bravado. Since arriving in camp, however, he's been fantastic in working with 25-year-old Ty Wigginton, the likely starter at third base. Bell is a front-runner to land a backup gig. ... There is nobody in baseball faster than Mets outfielder Esix Snead. Unless he learns to hit, though, he's a cup-of-coffee major leaguer. ... David Cone, once a longshot to stick on the roster, now seems to have 50-50 odds on making the club. Jason Middlebrook and Mike Bacsik are fighting for the fifth starter's gig, but Cone could sneak into the bullpen. Or, if neither youngster impresses, the veteran might crack the rotation. ... Rookie shortstop Jose Reyes has been sidelined by a strained left quad.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jeff Pearlman will check in periodically with reports from his tour of spring camps. Click here to send a question to his Spring Training Mailbag.

 

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