PORT ST. LUCIE — The unusually cool Florida weather isn’t severe enough to freeze a human brain, so go ahead and hold David Wright accountable for what he said yesterday.
“We’re expecting to go out there and win the National League East and go deep in the playoffs and win the World Series,” Wright said, a day before Mets pitchers and catchers were required to report to spring training. “That is the expectation I’ve gotten from the guys who are here early, and I [expect] this team is to get back to where we are winning the National League East.”
Wright’s comments came in reply to a question about how the Mets’ expectations might be different arriving in spring training following a 70-92 season, as opposed to the previous two camps, when the team was trying to shake off September collapses.
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“We have a championship-caliber team and a team that is going to be right up there at the end and compete for the National League East,” Wright said.
The Mets are perceived as a middle-of-the-pack NL East team, at best. At worst, they could be on the same course as last season, when they became irrelevant by late July. But Wright doesn’t care about outside opinions — and hopes his teammates have the same mindset.
“I hope it’s not the outside, underdog role that gets guys fired up,” Wright said. “I hope it’s the embarrassment of last year. I hope it’s not being able to close the last two years before that. That’s enough motivation without having to play the underdog role.
“I don’t like the underdog role, anyway, when guys use that. I hope everybody’s confidence or expectations are that we’re one of the best teams in baseball.”
Why does Wright believe the Mets can be champions? He cited having the same core players from 2006, when the team came within a game of the World Series, and the addition of Jason Bay to help bolster the lineup.
Jose Reyes, who has returned to camp healthy after missing most of last season with hamstring and knee issues, backed Wright yesterday.
“The team that we had in 2006 and ’07, it’s kind of the same team [now],” Reyes said. “We have to be that way. We have to think that way.”
But the Mets will be without Carlos Beltran for at least the first month of the season as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery, and there are plenty of questions about the rotation behind Johan Santana. Bay was the only significant offseason acquisition.
“Just because we didn’t make a lot of moves in the offseason doesn’t mean the ones you did make weren’t good,” Wright said.
As confident as Wright is about his team’s chances, he said the Phillies deserve their due after going to the World Series for a second straight year.
“Nobody said it’s going to be easy, but we have got to find a way to dethrone those guys,” Wright said. “But for us, with how Jose looks and just with a lot of people with something to prove, I like our chances. It’s a combination of optimism and confidence I have in this team.”