MLB

Questions abound for ‘maybe’ Mets

The Mets took a pass on John Lackey and ended up with Still Lacking.

Even with the $66 million spent to upgrade the lineup with Jason Bay’s addition this offseason, the Mets will open spring training on Thursday in Port St. Lucie facing significant questions. Simply put, a fragile starting rotation could put the Mets in jeopardy of a second straight losing season.

The Red Sox signed the best free-agent starter on the market, Lackey, to a five-year deal worth $82.5 million before general manager Omar Minaya even got involved. The Mets also missed on Joel Pineiro, Randy Wolf, Ben Sheets and Jon Garland, among others.

So the Mets will enter camp with a top-tier ace in Johan Santana followed by a bunch of maybes: Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, Oliver Perez, Fernando Nieve and Jon Niese. Can the Mets win with that bunch?

“You’ve got to have more consistent guys behind Santana,” an NL executive said. “You’ve got to have that big No. 2 — you hate to use numbers — but you’ve got to have some solid starters throughout that can give you innings and kind of save the bullpen from wearing out.”

With the starting rotation an obvious source of concern, here are the other big issues facing the Mets heading to Port St. Lucie:

Can David Wright regain his power stroke?

Nobody has more misty water-colored memories of Shea Stadium than Wright, after last season’s Citi Field power outage.

Wright went from 33 homers and 124 RBIs in 2008 to 10 homers and 72 RBIs last year. So a lineup that missed Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes for most of the year was essentially without a fourth All-Star.

The Mets are expecting the old Wright this season, but you can only wonder how he’ll respond if he goes a few weeks without a homer at Citi Field. Maybe the best the Mets can hope for is Wright at least remembers how to clear the fences on the road without striking out 140 times, as he did in 2009.

Is Daniel Murphy an everyday first baseman?

Keith Hernandez has been on the scene to teach Murphy around the bag, but the Mets’ bigger concern is whether Murphy will hit enough.

The team could live with the 12 home runs he hit last season if Murphy can boost his anemic .313 on-base percentage. Murphy will get a shot to prove he can handle lefties, but if he stumbles, Fernando Tatis could assume the majority of those at-bats. And if Murphy is a total bust, Mike Jacobs or Ike Davis could see significant playing time at the position. Regardless, the Mets will enter the season resigned to the fact they won’t be getting 30 homers and 100 RBIs from their first baseman — numbers they counted upon during Delgado’s tenure.

Is Bay worth the $66 million?

The Mets were the only team that seriously pursued the free-agent slugger after questions arose about his knees. Bay’s high strikeout totals and mediocre defense are also a cause for alarm bells.

On the flip side, Bay has legitimate power that shouldn’t be affected by Citi Field’s vast dimensions and will bring another professional presence to a clubhouse already populated by high-character individuals such as Wright, Jeff Francoeur and Alex Cora.

Will Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel survive the season?

The answer to this hinges largely on the four questions above. It’s clear Minaya’s hands were tied by ownership this offseason, as the Mets never made a splash within the rotation and allowed themselves to get outbid for a player the general manager coveted, Bengie Molina. But if the Mets are under .500 at Memorial Day, it’s Minaya and Manuel, still working with one of the highest payrolls in the majors, who will be held accountable. Manuel did a solid job after replacing Willie Randolph in 2008, but no manager could have steered last season’s ship to respectability. Manuel knows the team needs a fast start this year, if for no other reason than to minimize the questions he’ll face from the media about his job security.