PORT ST. LUCIE — For someone who described the last few months as “torture,” Fred Wilpon yesterday had a disposition as sunny as the sky.
After watching Johan Santana, Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey, among others, throw bullpen sessions on the first official day of spring workouts here, the Mets owner broke silence — he has done few interviews in recent years — and proclaimed his team ready for a big 2010.
In what could be construed as a warning shot to his manager and coaching staff, Wilpon indicated the pieces are in place and now must be molded into a winner.
“When you have very good and in some cases great players, it doesn’t necessarily translate into a good team,” Wilpon said. “So I think if they stay healthy, they have great players and now our people have to translate that into a great team.”
Wilpon also defended himself and son Jeff Wilpon against criticism that they did not spend enough money this winter. The team signed Jason Bay to a four-year contract worth $66 million that includes a vesting option for a fifth season, but did not address the starting rotation.
John Lackey, Joel Pineiro, Ben Sheets and Jason Marquis were among the starting pitchers who signed elsewhere.
“We are guided by our baseball people and our baseball people evaluated some of our pitchers as being as good as or better than what is on the market,” Wilpon said. “We went by what they [said]. Jeff follows them. Jeff and I don’t’ pick the baseball players, so that is what [the front office] wanted to do. They think the guys we have will prove to be better guys than some of the guys we passed up.”
The owner said Jeff Wilpon spent significant time this offseason looking for solutions to the Mets’ injury epidemic. Without providing specifics, Wilpon said he believes the team has made inroads on preventing future injuries.
He also blamed injuries for last year’s 70-92 nightmare.
“I challenge you to tell me one team of any sport that can lose 10 or 12 or 13 people and succeed,” Wilpon said. “You can’t.”
Asked specifically about the pressure manager Jerry Manuel and GM Omar Minaya face for the Mets to have a fast start, Wilpon said he did not want to broach the subject. Then he declared it a moot point.
“We’re going to get off to a fast start,” Wilpon said.
Manuel faced a similar line of questioning a day earlier and vowed not to make decisions early in the season that could affect the Mets’ ability to compete for the playoffs. The manager said he intends to give players their rest and not concern himself with trying to win in April and May to save his job.
What about potential fan backlash heading into this season?
“I’m always concerned when the fans are hurting the way we are hurting,” Wilpon said. “They want to love the Mets. There are millions of fans out there and they want to love the Mets and they don’t want to be disappointed. They want to see better production on the field, and I respect that. That’s our responsibility to do that.”
As for the idea Wilpon may have to sell the team because of financial troubles, don’t count on it.
“I’ve always said if it’s up to me and my family, we’ll be involved for the next generations,” Wilpon said. “I can’t say that for any other asset we own.”