PORT ST. LUCIE — If this Byrd doesn’t fly north with the Mets, he expects to be roadkill.
“I kind of look at it as a last chance,” Marlon Byrd said yesterday. “If I don’t make this team, I don’t see many other chances in baseball. That’s the way I’m playing, like it is my last chance.”
In a patchwork Mets outfield, the 35-year-old Byrd has more than a decent chance of sticking. Even so, Byrd is out to prove the last two seasons have been an aberration from a solid 11-year major league career.
Byrd was playing for the Cubs in 2011 when he got drilled in the face by an Alfredo Aceves fastball at Fenway Park, sidelining him from May 21 to July 2. Last year, Byrd had played horribly by his own admission with the Cubs and Red Sox, before he failed a test for performance-enhancing drugs and was suspended for 50 games.
Over the last two seasons he’s batted a combined .260 with 10 homers and 44 RBIs, after making the NL All-Star team with the Cubs in 2010. That season he batted .293 with 12 homers and 66 RBIs.
“Everyone forgets 2011 was kind of a wash: I got hit in the face and I missed six weeks and tried to come back and I was behind,” Byrd said. “Then, 2012 was a bad year altogether. I couldn’t hit, my fielding was so-so and then I had the suspension. I look at 2012 as a wash: My year wasn’t good and I took something I wasn’t supposed to.”
That something was Tamoxifen, a drug used to treat male breast enlargement. Byrd said he failed to check if the drug was banned by MLB.
When Byrd’s suspension ended in late August — he had been released by the Red Sox two weeks before the June 25 announcement of his failed drug test — he was surprised to find no market for his services.
“I thought a team might pick me up for the playoff run, but I got no job offers, so I was like, ‘I have to go play,’ ” Byrd said.
His chance came in Culiacan, Mexico, over the winter. Byrd hit .318 with 16 homers and 48 RBIs, good enough to receive a minor league contract from the Mets.
It’s early, but Byrd — who is 3-for-8 (.375) to begin the exhibition season — has impressed manager Terry Collins with his attitude and swing.
“When you’re a veteran like he is and you go to winter ball, that tells you something: The fire still burns,” Collins said.
“If the skills are still there, we’ve got ourselves a player, and from what I’m seeing so far he can still play.”
What has the manager seen?
“Huge power,” Collins said. “Big-time power, which would be a great factor in our lineup.”
The assumption has been Collins envisions the righty-hitting Byrd as part of a platoon in right field with Mike Baxter. But the manager made it clear he could also see Byrd emerging to win the job outright this spring.
“It’s nice to say you’ve got the perfect platoon situations,” Collins said. “You can do that in one or two spots on your team, but I would hate to do it in three or four spots, then it gets rough.”
Byrd is keeping his expectations more modest.
“My goal is to try to be one of 25 men flying up to New York, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “I’m a veteran guy, you can use me anywhere you want. It really doesn’t matter.
“We have so many young guys and it’s going to be nice, hopefully if I make the team, it’s going to be nice watching these guys and helping them develop.”