LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Captain America can toss aside his shield and attempt to become Iron Man.
David Wright is the latest Mets player questionable for Opening Day after tests in New York yesterday revealed the third baseman has a “moderate” left rib cage strain, an injury that surfaced while he was playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
Wright, nicknamed “Captain America” for his heroics during the WBC, will rest for the next three-to-five days and then determine what activities he can resume. He officially withdrew from Team USA yesterday. Wright joins Johan Santana, who is building up strength in his shoulder and hasn’t yet made his Grapefruit League debut, among the Mets’ sidelined.
After the Mets’ 5-2 exhibition victory over the Braves yesterday, manager Terry Collins said he probably shouldn’t expect to have Wright for the April 1 opener against the Padres at Citi Field.
“You saw what happened to Murph, I mean Murph’s been out a month,” Collins said, referring to Daniel Murphy, recovering from a similar injury. “Last year David had it, he missed a month. Jason Bay missed a month. I’m trying to be optimistic in knowing this kid is as tough as he is, but I’m sure that it will be two-to-three weeks.”
Collins said he will begin evaluating Justin Turner at third base. For the spring, Turner is batting .259 with five RBIs.
“I want to see Justin over there,” Collins said. “He’s shown that he can certainly hit at that level, so he’s going to go over there.”
Zack Lutz, Brandon Hicks and Brian Bixler also are possibilities.
“There will be a lot of guys getting some third-base time in,” Collins said.
At the WBC — where he was scratched from the lineup before Thursday’s game against the Dominican Republic — Wright said he had been dealing with soreness for about a week. But that was news to general manager Sandy Alderson, who said the Mets didn’t become aware of the situation until Thursday.
“David had hoped it would go away and it didn’t,” Alderson said. “He felt a responsibility to deal with it, and when we were alerted we took what we thought was the right course off action.
“David is a guy that doesn’t overreact to things. He’s committed and when he makes commitments he wants to execute on them and carry them out. I’m sure he felt a responsibility to Team USA and this was a difficult development for him to accept, but in the final analysis we felt this was the right thing to do.”
Wright became a WBC hero with the grand slam he hit against Italy that helped resurrect Team USA after a surprising loss to Mexico. For the tournament, Wright hit .438 with 10 RBIs.
Last year Wright missed half of spring training recovering from a rib cage injury, but said he doesn’t believe this setback is related. Wright also missed two months of the 2011 season recovering from a stress fracture in his lower back.
Wright is expected back at the Mets’ spring training complex today.
“From the medical standpoint it’s a moderate strain, which is a good thing,” Alderson said. “Let’s just see where it takes us.”
Mets training day
Cool dude
Lucas Duda hit a monstrous home run against Tim Hudson leading off the second inning. It was Duda’s second homer this spring.
Baxter blues
Mike Baxter went 0-for-3 and is batting .111 this spring. He left three runners on base yesterday.
Today’s schedule
Shaun Marcum, Jeurys Familia and Pedro Feliciano are among the Mets pitchers scheduled to face the Marlins in Port St. Lucie.
Caught my eye
After recent struggles pitching an entire inning or more, lefty Josh Edgin was used for one batter yesterday. He retired Freddie Freeman and was removed.