Wright expects to be ready by Opening Night

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Despite the fact that David Wright won't appear in a Grapefruit League game until at least next week, the Mets' third baseman said Monday that he is confident he will be ready by Opening Night.
"You're still talking about a long ways away," Wright told reporters, a day after manager Terry Collins revealed that his third baseman was nowhere close to playing in games. "I think that this could be beneficial to me because I'm getting really good work in. … There were some things that I felt I need to work on mechanically fielding, and I wouldn't be able to do that along with getting ready for a game."
• Spring Training information
Wright's absence from the first two-plus weeks of Grapefruit League games is by design. Because he rested longer than normal this offseason in an effort to take as much strain as possible off his back, Wright is three to four weeks behind where he would normally be at this point in Spring Training. So rather than rush into meaningless games, he would prefer to prime his body on the back fields before amassing the at-bats he needs later in March.
"I'm looking at it in the positive side where I'm a little late getting into games, but I'm getting some work in that I normally wouldn't be able to get in," Wright said.
Wright was diagnosed with stenosis, a career-threatening narrowing of the spinal column, last May. He returned to the Mets in August, hitting .289 with five home runs in 38 games.