PORT ST. LUCIE — Let’s kick things off with the most recent Pop Quiz question, coming to us from Jerry Jacobs of Manhattan:
Name the Hollywood legend who wore a Cleveland Indians uniform on a 1963 Sports Illustrated cover.
Greetings from Mets camp. This morning, Mike Puma and I chatted with Mets bench coach Bob Geren, who was recalling his Yankees days. The 1991 Yankees, for whom Geren played 64 games, went 71-91, and that record — combined with the rules of the time by which American League and National League teams took turns selecting — gave the Yankees the sixth overall pick in the 1992 amateur draft. That pick, Derek Jeter, had his retirement news conference Wednesday at Steinbrenner Field.
“I’m glad to have played a part in Yankees history,” Geren said with a smile.
Anyway, I wanted to add leftover and/or follow-up information and/or insight and/or nonsense to a few recent Mets columns.
— For Wednesday’s Post, I wrote about the Mets’ farm system and its impressive abundance of arms. I had a lengthy chat with Paul DePodesta, the Mets’ vice president of player development and amateur scouting, about the system as a whole and individual players. It was so lengthy that I couldn’t fit it all in the column.
I asked DePodesta about Rafael Montero (23) and Jacob deGrom (25). Both pitchers accrued time with Triple-A Las Vegas last year, which puts them in the mix for this year’s Mets.
“Montero is certainly close,” DePodesta said. “He spent a good chunk of last year [16 starts] in Triple-A, 90 innings [actually 88 2/3], similar to what [Zack] Wheeler and [Matt] Harvey had when they came up.
(Note: Wheeler threw 101 2/3 innings at Triple-A, and Harvey 110 innings)
“That said, he got to Triple-A at a younger age, in terms of overall experience. Harvey got there quick, too, but he had three years at North Carolina that Montero didn’t have. He’s certainly close.
“Jake can be close, too. Jake has really flown through the system. He was mainly a shortstop in college, didn’t pitch until 2010, missed ’11 with Tommy John surgery, started ’12 in [Low-A] Savannah and finished last year in Vegas. Certainly he’s close, but in terms of pitching years, he’s very young.”
DePodesta also mentioned Cory Mazzoni, Logan Verrett and Jack Leathersich as pitchers who could help the 2014 Mets. I inquired more about Leathersich, a fifth-round selection in 2011, since I was intrigued by his crazy minor-league career rates of 15.2 strikeouts and five walks per nine innings.
“He’s an interesting guy,” DePodesta said. “I think he led all of professional baseball [last year] in strikeouts per nine. And it’s left-handed. There’s something there. We’ve pushed him really aggressively through the system. We’ve tried to get him to the point where he’s challenged. Through Double-A, it wasn’t happening. He was able to keep striking everybody out.
“Finally, in Triple-A, it was like, ‘OK, there were some things I need to do to get to the highest point.’ It’ll be interesting to see that adjustment he makes this year.”
I checked with my new best friend Matt Eddy of Baseball America to confirm whether DePodesta was correct about Leathersich leading all of baseball last year in strikeouts per nine innings. He was, among pitchers who tallied at least 56 minor league innings. But Leathersich also ranked third overall with his 6.94 walks per nine innings, and Eddy alerted me to the lefty’s .232 batting average against and 7.87 hits per nine innings, neither of which is exceptional for a reliever.
In all, DePodesta pointed out, this big-league camp features seven players from the 2011 draft, the first Mets draft run by Sandy Alderson and DePodesta: Top pick Brandon Nimmo (discussed more in the column), second-round pick Mazzoni, third-round pick Verrett, Leathersich, eighth-round pick Daniel Muno, 19th-round pick Dustin Lawley and 35th-round pick Chasen Bradford.
I asked DePodesta whether Noah Syndergaard could help the Mets this season. He replied: “I certainly think he could. The ideal situation that you get to, just as an organization overall, is guys get here and they’re just pounding-on-the-door ready. Not a matter of, ‘We have a need, so you’re next in line.’ It’s, ‘Hey, we can’t hold this guy down any longer.’ ”
Finally, DePodesta estimated that this year’s Triple-A Las Vegas team would feature about 75 percent homegrown Mets, a high percentage for a team’s affiliate closest to the big leagues. You usually see more journeyman types there.
— On Tuesday, I wrote about Ruben Tejada, Stephen Drew and Mets ownership. On Wednesday, Joel Sherman wrote why the Yankees need Drew. Clearly, both New York teams could benefit from Drew’s presence, yet there’s the opposite of a bidding war going on.
In spring training free agency, which stars Scott Boras every year, the owners — or owners’ representatives — seem to play a greater role. That’s because most clubs already have blown through their budgets and executed (or not executed) their winter vision.
So as Boras tries to find a taker for Drew on a two-year contract with an opt-out after the first year, the key players are the Yankees’ Hal Steinbrenner, the Mets’ Jeff Wilpon and the Red Sox’s Larry Lucchino. Steinbrenner has made it clear — even in an email to Joel — that the Yankees’ money spigot is all but turned off for now.
Wilpon would be the person to authorize an increase in Mets payroll beyond the current $87 million, which is essentially the same as last year’s level, in order to sign Drew. Same goes for Lucchino and the Red Sox, who haven’t yet changed their stance on Drew even with Ryan Dempster’s de facto retirement giving them more financial flexibility.
I still think Drew winds up back with the Red Sox. But that’s more of a hunch than anything else.
— On Monday, I wrote about Matt Harvey and his desire to rehabilitate in New York and the Mets’ desire to keep Harvey in Port St. Lucie.
What I should have included — but didn’t realize — is Harvey has some say in this matter.
According to Article XIIIH(1) of the Basic Agreement: “A Club may direct a Player to perform prescribed rehabilitation work for an injury during the championship season at a rehabilitation facility at one of the following three sites: (a) in the Club’s home city; (b) on the road with the Club; or (c) at the Club’s spring training facility; provided, however, that a Club may not direct that a Player perform prescribed rehabilitation work for an injury at its spring training facility for a period of more than 20 days without the Player’s written consent.”
So the Mets can’t force Harvey to stay in Port St. Lucie beyond 20 days without Harvey’s consent.
Now, the Mets’ clear preference is for Harvey to be in Port St. Lucie most of the time. How stridently would Harvey challenge this? Could this erupt into a full-blown disagreement between the Mets and Harvey, who is represented by Boras?
We’ll have our answer in the coming weeks.
Your Pop Quiz answer is Bob Hope, who owned a share of the Indians. If you have a tidbit that correlates baseball to popular culture, please send it to me at kdavidoff@nypost.com.