Close friends or not, David Wright has no sympathy for Paul Lo Duca if what the Mitchell Report says is true.
Speaking at a charity event in New Hyde Park, Wright yesterday said his ex-Mets teammate deserves “a harsh penalty” if allegations against him in last month’s explosive report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball can be proved.
Lo Duca was accused of using human growth hormone and steroids before coming to the Mets in 2006, which explains why the Mets shrugged when the veteran catcher signed with the Nationals this winter.
“He’s a guy I would go to battle for any day, but when you’re talking about steroids, you’re talking about something that’s illegal,” Wright said of Lo Duca. “Steroids are something I could never – no matter how close of a friend it is – condone.”
The Mets’ All-Star third baseman said he keeps in touch with Lo Duca, although Wright has not broached the subject of HGH or steroids.
“I’d like to think that maybe there’s some fabrication [about Lo Duca in the report], or maybe it’s not all true,” Wright said. “But I’ve said it from day one – whether it’s my best friend in the game or whoever, if they get caught . . . using performance-enhancing drugs or steroids, there should be a harsh penalty.”
Johan Santana and the Mets’ epic collapse last September also were on Wright’s mind yesterday. He continues to follow the Mets’ interest in Santana, the two-time Cy Young left-hander who reportedly also is being pursued by the Yankees and Red Sox. Wright would welcome Santana’s arrival, but only on the right terms.
“If it costs giving up your farm system for the next five or 10 years, that’s [too] hefty a price,” Wright said. “I’ve faced Johan and know how nasty he is, so I would be the first to welcome him with open arms. But we have a young, core group of guys.”
Wright isn’t entirely sure the Mets need Santana, even after blowing a seven-game lead over the Phillies in the final 17 games last season.
If the Mets have the right attitude, Wright said, then the front office’s relative inactivity this winter and last season’s meltdown can become distant memories.
“I hope [the memory of the collapse] kind of carries over,” he said. “I want guys to remember what it was like going through those last couple of weeks in September, then from the first pitch of spring training bury teams. We need to play with that mindset; that [every game] is the last game of the season, and we need to win to get in the playoffs. I want to take that out on teams from the first pitch of spring training.”
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The Mets have invited 37-year-old reliever Ricardo Rincon to camp with a minor league deal. The lefty spent last year in the Giants’ system after appearing in just five games with the Cardinals in 2006 before tearing the labrum and rotator cuff in his pitching arm.
bhubbuch@nypost.com