PORT ST. LUCIE — Terry Collins flipped the Byrd yesterday at the idea a right-field platoon will be necessary for the Mets in 2013.
With the arrival of Marlon Byrd at spring training, the Mets manager made it clear he can envision the 35-year-old veteran claiming right field on a full-time basis. Byrd joins a list of players that includes Mike Baxter and Andrew Brown, among others, competing for playing time in right field.
“If you’re talking about a guy who’s in this camp who has a chance to make a huge difference, besides Lucas Duda, it might be Marlon Byrd,” Collins said. “This guy was one of the best players in the National League not very long ago. If he’s the same player he was in Chicago a couple of years ago, we might have found ourselves the right fielder.”
Byrd, who was suspended 50 games last season for failing a drug test, batted only .210 with a homer and nine RBIs split between the Cubs and Red Sox. He is three years removed from an All-Star selection with the Cubs, when he hit .293 with 12 homers and 66 RBIs.
“If Marlon Byrd is the same offensive player he’s capable of being, we don’t need to platoon,” Collins said. “We’ve got that guy.”
As for his failed drug test last year, Byrd said he didn’t know Tamoxifen — which is used to treat enlarged breasts in males — was on the list of banned substances.
“I think you have to be an idiot to test positive, and I was one of those idiots,” Byrd said. “It’s something stupid. It wasn’t trying to cheat. It’s a banned substance, but not a steroid. If you do your homework you shouldn’t test positive.”
* General manager Sandy Alderson will make a final decision Monday if Johan Santana can pursue pitching for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. But Santana says he has already been told the Mets would prefer he doesn’t participate.
“They don’t want me to play,” Santana said. “I’m not going to go against their will. We’ll see what they have to say, but chances are I will not be able to participate.”
* Jordany Valdespin and Wilfredo Tovar, the remaining position players not in camp, are expected to report today. Jenrry Mejia remains in the Dominican Republic awaiting a work visa.