The Mets made a splash yesterday, and not just with the major-league opening of sparkling new Citi Field.
Shaking up both their outfield and clubhouse practically on the eve of Opening Day, the Mets landed 40-year-old slugger Gary Sheffield three days after his abrupt release by the Tigers.
JETER, WRIGHT IN CHARITY BATTLE
PHOTOS: The Mets Take Citi Field
The signing, which came just hours before the Mets hosted Boston in the first of two weekend exhibition games at their new 42,500-seat stadium, is contingent on a physical. Sheffield is scheduled to join the team today and could be on the Mets’ Opening Day roster Monday in Cincinnati.
Financially, it is a low-risk move because the Tigers will pay $13.6 million of Sheffield’s scheduled $14 million salary and the Mets can release him if it is obvious the former Yankee has nothing left.
On the field, assuming Sheffield still can play in light of recent shoulder and knee injuries, he brings a powerful right-handed bat to a Mets lineup dominated by lefty hitters. He also is on the verge of history, standing at 499 career home runs in 21 major-league seasons.
But the Mets will be Sheffield’s eighth team, and there is a perception in baseball that the outspoken nephew of Doc Gooden can be a chemistry problem in the clubhouse. That perception prompted the Mets to contact all of Sheffield’s former teams this about his personality, as well as gauge the feelings of key players such as Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado.
The verdict, according to GM Omar Minaya, was that the Mets don’t have much to lose and potentially much to gain by adding the nine-time All-Star.
“Everything across the board, everywhere we checked, all the teammates that have played with Sheff, said this guy is about winning and he’s for the team,” Minaya said.
Minaya added that Sheffield — who reportedly chose the Amazin’s over the Phillies and Reds — made no demands on the Mets as far as at-bats or playing time.
“All he said was, ‘Thank you for the opportunity,’ ” Minaya said. “He said, ‘I want to go out there and play and I want to show what I can do.’ ”
Jerry Manuel plans to use Sheffield primarily in right field, which means less playing time for Ryan Church and Church’s backup, Fernando Tatis. Manuel added that Sheffield won’t be an immediate presence. Sheffield will need at least several days to get into outfield playing shape after spending the past two years as a DH.
Manuel signed off on the move after Manuel’s former boss with the Marlins, Detroit manager Jim Leyland, said Sheffield’s release this week simply was because the Tigers looking for more flexibility from Sheffield’s roster spot.
“When you can add that type of historic bat, then that’s a tremendous acquisition for a dominant left-handed hitting team,” Manuel said. “If he can be close to what he’s been, that would be a tremendous, tremendous help for us.”
Just how much Sheffield has left is questionable. He hit just .225 with 19 homers for the Tigers in 418 at-bats last season and was hitting .178 in the Grapefruit League this year when he was released.
Sheffield’s arrival is another sign the Mets aren’t convinced the lefty-hitting Church is the answer in right field — at least against lefty pitching — and that they still wonder how healthy Church is after two serious concussions last season.
Church shrugged off Sheffield’s looming arrival.
“He’s more than welcome,” Church said before last night’s game. “He’s a great player. It’ll just be another piece to this team. Whatever happens, happens.”
bhubbuch@nypost.com