PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Sandwiched between Tuesday's intrasquad game and Thursday's opener, Wednesday's workouts were a bit abbreviated as Mets players prepared for the long month ahead. The biggest news out of camp? Yoenis Cespedes reportedly had his newly-purchased grand champion hog slaughtered in advance of an upcoming feast. The Mets later noted, in a statement, that Florida law requires hogs bought at auction to be slaughtered. "It's just the rule," the statement read. "The pig is not a pet."
Other news and notes Wednesday:
Wheels up
Zack Wheeler returned to the slope of a mound for the second time since Tommy John surgery, after debuting there on Saturday. The Mets are still targeting July 1 for Wheeler's return to big league games.
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Grandy's back
For the second straight day, Curtis Granderson participated in conditioning and fielding drills away from the main group. That's just a precaution; the conjunctivitis symptoms that forced Granderson to miss Monday's workout have subsided, and the Mets expect him to play in Friday's Grapefruit League home opener.
Anything you can do …
David Wright and Cespedes had a bit of fun during batting practice on the main stadium field. Toward the end of their session, the two set up a game: seven swings each to hit a ball off the batter's eye in center field.
Wright went first, cranking a pitch off the bottom of the blue wall with his first swing. He wound up hitting it twice, heckling Cespedes as two of the outfielder's subsequent homers flew just to the right of the target.
But on his final swing, Cespedes launched a ball over the batter's eye entirely -- a shot that those nearby guesstimated at 450 feet. He flipped his bat and howled with delight.
Nearby, Wright simply shook his head.
"We're even," he said.