As the World Baseball Classic gets into full swing, the Mets' spring training facility is nearly empty.
With the late addition of Fernando Tatis to replace injured Alex Rodriguez on the Dominican Republic's roster, the Mets increased their MLB-high number of representatives in the WBC to 16. Included among the departures: four starting position players (Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes and David Wright), the two pitchers at the back end of the bullpen (Francisco Rodriguez and J.J. Putz) and one member of the rotation (Oliver Perez). "That's fine," Mets general manager Omar Minaya said. "We like the Classic."
Manager Jerry Manuel already identified one thing the WBC has prevented him from doing: testing new lineup combinations. Manuel had floated the idea at the beginning of camp of batting Reyes in the No. 3 spot in the order this season. The likelihood is Manuel would have backed off and used Reyes as his primary leadoff man rather than Luis Castillo during the regular season anyway. But Manuel indicated the WBC all but assures the restoration of Reyes to No. 1.
With Alex Cora and Tatis (who had been playing third base in Wright's absence) gone for the WBC, the Mets have to borrow from minor league camp just to complete games. Reese Havens, a 2008 first-round pick who played in the short-season New York-Penn League last season after signing, is expected to be liberally borrowed from the minor league complex for Grapefruit League games the next couple of weeks, while 17-year-old Wilmer Flores also may be on loan.
Among current members of major league camp, Jose Valentin, Ramon Martinez and Jose Coronado are among the few players capable of playing the left side of the infield.
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