MLB

Sheffield wants to return next year

GARY Sheffield is coming back for one more year of baseball. The man who has never been afraid to fight is going to come back in fighting shape. He’s going to train with boxer Winky Wright and get down to about 210 pounds. His goal, he said, is to play 150 games.

He’s not closing the door on the Mets — they’ll have to close it on him, and that’s probably going to happen. If it does, he could land with one of the Mets’ biggest rivals, a return engagement with the Marlins. If not the Marlins, the Tampa native would love to sign with the Rays or even the Astros or Rangers.

Sheffield could become a thorn in the Mets’ or Yankees’ sides in 2010. A lot of people don’t like Sheffield because he’s never been afraid to approach baseball like a business and tell it like it is and demand to be paid market value.

“I produce,” he said.

As for what the snake-bit Mets have to do to become a relevant team again, Sheffield got straight to the point.

“No. 1 is health — dedication and health,” he said. “You’re going to get out what you put in.”

In a season of humiliations, last night’s 11-3 loss to the Braves was one of the worst. The “D” word, dedication, is key.

The Mets must dedicate themselves to being a team and not just a bunch of individuals wearing the same uniform.

“This team needs to focus on its identity,” Sheffield said. “Anybody can get hurt. But the line has to keep moving, even when there are injuries. You can’t have a team built on, ‘If these guys don’t come through, we’re going to lose.’ ”

That’s exactly what happened to the Mets this season. When core players went down, the Mets collapsed. The Mets can’t try to be the Phillies or anyone else.

“If you do that, you’re focusing on the wrong things,” Sheffield said. “You focus on what you need to be successful. This team needs to focus on what’s the identity of this team.”

The Mets have no identity. Before the game, a smiling Oliver Perez paraded through the Mets clubhouse, no clue of being a complete fraud.

The Mets were supposed to be about pitching and defense and doing the little things, but the Mets did not have any of that this season.

Sheffield is one Met who doesn’t have any problem hitting the ball out of this park, and last night during batting practice he was launching rockets 20 rows deep into the seats.

Say what you want about Sheffield, but he can still hit at age 40. He’s out to prove he can hit next season, when he will be one of the oldest players in the game. But he promised he is going to be in fighting shape so he can spend more time in the outfield.

Can Sheffield still be an effective slugger?

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” said the Braves’ Bobby Cox, who managed Sheffield in 2002-03.

“I like my chances,” Sheffield said.

The Mets were KO’d long ago, but Sheffield isn’t down for the count.

kevin.kernan@nypost.com