Gary Sheffield Joins the Mets, Promises He'll Behave

NEW YORK -- This is the thing about Gary Sheffield that people don't get. He really isn't a bad guy. He's not a clubhouse cancer or a bad teammate or any of the things people seem so comfortable calling him when they bring up reasons he shouldn't be on their team. I've known Sheffield for 14 years -- seen him at his best and worst in Florida and New York. He can be tough on a GM, and sometimes on a manager, but he's been pretty well liked and well respected by the people he's played with, because he more or less keeps to himself in the clubhouse and is a very tough player.

So when he shows up today at Citi Field and says he's going to be fine with the part-time role for which the Mets have signed him, I think he means it. I am certain that he believes it to be true.

I just don't think it is.
"I realize I'm at a point in my career where I'm not the marquee guy to come in here and demand anything," Sheffield said at his ultra-smiley news conference after the Mets' exhibition loss to Boston at their new ballpark. "I want to win a championship. And if it takes me coming off the bench to do that, then that's what I'll do."

Good stuff. Exactly the kind of stuff Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya want to hear coming out of Sheffield, who's parted ugly with the Brewers, Marlins, Dodgers and Yankees (and possibly some other teams I may be forgetting) during his combustible career. And if it turns out to be true -- if Sheffield really is going to be happy as a pinch-hitter and/or platoon right fielder with Ryan Church, then the Mets will be better for it. He may not be the right-handed power force he once was, but he'll still strike enough fear in the hearts of opponents that he'll affect games, force late-inning pitching changes...stuff like that.

But like I said. I've known this guy 14 years, and I've never known him to truly believe there was another player more worthy of playing time (or money) than he was. Sheffield thinks very highly of himself as a player. He once told us, when he was with the Yankees, "I've been the best player on every team I've ever been on. You can look that up."

We did. Let's just say it was a stretch.

At the time he was speaking, for example, he was in a clubhouse with Alex Rodriguez.

But I digress, and I shouldn't, because there's a real point to be made here.

There are two ways this can turn out for Sheffield and the Mets. Either he'll play well, and therefore play a lot (maybe even full-time, except for the final innings of games in which the Mets lead and need to play defense, which he can't do), or he'll play poorly and they'll have to cut him.

If he plays well and doesn't play much, he's sure to complain about it. It's who he is. He's a very self-centered person, but not a malicious one. He won't put other players down or say they shouldn't play. He'll just say he should. And it'll be because he believes it to be true.

Sheffield was all charm today in Queens. He said he'd have been content to retire with 499 career home runs because he just wanted to get past the 493 with which his childhood friend Fred McGriff retired. ("Most home runs in the neighborhood," he said, laughing.) He said he was flattered that David Wright (Mets), Jimmy Rollins (Phillies) and Dusty Baker (Reds) had all made recruiting calls to try and get him to sign with their teams after the Tigers cut him earlier this week.

Manuel, the Mets manager, said Sheffield wouldn't play the outfield until the team had a chance to work him out there a few days -- before Wednesday's night game in Cincinnati and then next weekend in Florida -- and Sheffield said that was fine with him. Hasn't played outfield in two years. Needs to re-learn the ropes, especially if he's going to handle the quirky, spacious patch that is right field at Citi Field.

"I have seen it, and I may need to drop about 15 points," he said.

He even addressed his reputation for being a malcontent.

"When you produce, you expect to be paid accordingly down the road," Sheffield said. "And when that doesn't happen, that's when the other stuff comes."

The Mets have a hammer here. If Sheffield does't produce, or if the "other stuff" that has chased or followed him out of previous stops starts to bubble up, they can cut him. The Tigers are paying his salary anyway, so the risk is minimal. He's a bigger right-handed threat than Fernando Tatis, who's the current right-handed half of that right field platoon, and Tatis is probably better suited to the right-handed pinch-hit role than Marlon Anderson, who's likely to be cut to make room for Sheffield.

And he's not going to blow up the clubhouse, because that clubhouse isn't all that wonderful to begin with and that's not what Gary Sheffield does.

What Sheffield does is hit the ball hard and think very highly of himself. He says some things to get himself in trouble, but he's no team-killer. This move is harmless all around, and it could be a real good one if things break right.

It's just ... well ... much as I like the guy, with Sheffield, it never seems to end well.