PORT ST. LUCIE — David Wright understands the need for caution, in general terms, but doesn’t want to be confined by a preconceived notion of how many games he should play this season.
The Mets third baseman will take it slow in spring training after missing most of 2015 rehabbing from spinal stenosis. Just don’t try telling him 130 games should be his ceiling for this season, as general manager Sandy Alderson has suggested.
“If I feel good and I’m producing and it’s something that is not hurting my back or hurting the team, then I want to be out there,” Wright said Friday before Mets pitchers and catchers held their first official spring workout. “If it’s 130 games, great. If it’s 140 games, even better. I would like to play as much as I can, but I have to be smart about it. I need to be mature and become better at being honest with how I feel.”
Wright plans to sit down with manager Terry Collins in the next few days and may include the team’s medical staff in an effort to receive as many opinions as possible.
The goal is to keep Wright healthy all year after three straight seasons in which he has missed significant action. Last year’s nightmare for Wright began with a pulled hamstring in April that soon turned into lower-back stiffness. After receiving the diagnosis of spinal stenosis and undergoing extensive physical therapy and rehab, Wright returned to the team in August and remained in the lineup for two-plus months, including the postseason. In 38 regular-season games, he had a solid .813 OPS.
“We’re talking about something, we won’t know how it’s going to take place and what’s going to happen during the season, because he feels real good now,” Collins said. “I put down some ideas and we’re going to see what floats. I told him the other day. Like David said, ‘If I’m playing good and I feel good then I’ll play.’ We have to do a better job of monitoring some off days, but how many, how long, right now I can’t answer that.”
Wright said he understands the importance of honesty with team officials and the need to rest on days when his back is barking. He spent part of the offseason in Los Angeles, undergoing physical therapy to strengthen the muscles in his lower back.
“It’s tough to put it into numbers, but I would say there’s a few good days sprinkled in, a few bad days sprinkled and the vast majority of days are somewhere between the two,” Wright said.
“I had no idea what to expect last year, no clue. Now I kind of know what I’m up against, and I would say that experience helps me. I kind of know now. I think spring training will be a good test for me to figure out what exactly I need to do to prepare for a game on a daily basis.”
As he prepares for the season, Wright said his message to teammates is don’t be content with last year’s magical run to the World Series.
“Let’s follow the lead of the Royals, where they came so close and came back even more hungry the next year and won the World Series,” Wright said.
The Mets captain also was asked about taking back New York from the Yankees.
“We were fortunate last year to win the National League, but that’s more important for us than trying to dethrone the Yankees,” Wright said. “The Yankees are such a tremendous organization, such a tremendous franchise, and that should be the last thing on our minds. We should worry about the National League East, because that is where we’re No. 1 right now.”