MLB

Ruben Tejada’s spring just keeps getting worse

VIERA, Fla. — Terry Collins keeps putting Ruben Tejada on the field, despite the fact the shortstop was a disaster both offensively and defensively last season — something that hasn’t changed this spring.

Although it’s certainly in part because Collins and the Mets have no real option — despite Wilmer Flores’ presence at short earlier in the week — the manager let loose with his strongest defense yet of Tejada.

Tejada made another dreadful error against the Nationals on Thursday and afterwards, Collins took the beleagured shortstop aside and told him to relax. Then, the manager gave him a message.

“Quit worrying about the little things,” Collins said he told Tejada following the Mets’ 7-5 win over the Nationals at Space Coast Stadium.

Collins’ talk went something like this: “You’re the shortstop here. Your name and number are going to be in the lineup, so you’ve just got to be the player we know you can be. … Two years ago, you were the talk of the town. You had a bad year [last year]. Big deal. Everybody has a bad year. Guys in the Hall of Fame had bad years. So move on.”

There’s no sign that’s happening, as Tejada showed early in Thursday’s game, again scouted by the Mariners — who have Nick Franklin available if the Mets decide to make a move.

In the bottom of the first, Tejada was unable to come up with Zach Walters’ routine grounder to his left. Tejada denied the pressure he is under thanks to his woeful play and speculation regarding his status contributed to his defensive lapses.

“It’s nothing like that,” said Tejada, who has made three errors this spring. “Errors happen. Everybody makes them. I’ve had a couple this week and I’m probably going to keep working, [stay] mentally positive and keep playing hard.”

Whatever his method, it has been a recipe for disaster. He blamed the latest miscue on the way he went after the grounder.

“I tried to catch it with two hands to my glove side,” Tejada said. “It’s better with one hand, especially with two outs and a man on first. The next one, I’ll make with one hand and make sure I get an out at second.”

With the Mets seemingly willing to give Flores a shot at short — not to mention free agent Stephen Drew lurking — Tejada’s future hardly seems secure.

He had a lengthy session with Wally Backman and Tim Teufel in Port St. Lucie working on his defense Tuesday, but so far it hasn’t paid dividends.

Tejada’s performance at the plate hasn’t been any better. Hitless in three at-bats Thursday, he’s down to .067 for the spring.

He led off the game with a hard liner to third that was caught by Walters, part of the reason why he felt he had made some improvements offensively.

“Much better today,” Tejada said. “I took a couple of pitches and stayed in the zone. I didn’t try to do too much.”

But the results — in all facets of the game — haven’t been there.

Collins refused to speculate why Tejada’s problems haven’t gone away, but he sounded as if he believed the shortstop would be able to turn things around.

“I can’t answer what he’s thinking,” Collins said of Tejada’s mentality. “I just know he’s a better player, especially defensively. This guy took over for a wounded All-Star [Jose Reyes] three years ago and played brilliantly, so we know it’s in him.”