PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — For the first time in his Mets managerial career, Terry Collins has some real weapons at his disposal.
And he is going to use them. The addition of Michael Cuddyer with a healthy David Wright, the continued development of Lucas Duda, Juan Lagares and Travis d'Arnaud, along with the experience of Curtis Granderson and Daniel Murphy will make a difference in 2015.
"I really like our team,'' Collins told The Post this week. "I am so excited. There were always big missing pieces in the past. Now there's not. We're not going to put a number on it, but we're going to win. I don't think that there is any question that we should be playing in October next year.''
Collins already is planning ahead and, depending how everything goes in spring training, the Mets could go with this lineup:
Lagares, Granderson, Wright, Duda, Cuddyer, Murphy, d'Arnaud, Wilmer Flores and then the pitcher.
Look for Cuddyer to play right, where he is most comfortable, and Granderson to move to left. Against certain lefties, Cuddyer will shift to first, with John Mayberry Jr. in right.
"The signing of Mayberry really helps us,'' Collins said.
"Sure, everybody could use another bat, but the bat we need is No. 5,'' Collins said of Wright, who is returning from a shoulder injury and will start hitting next month. "Cuddyer is a great signing, but believe me, when David gets healthy, that's the difference. If he has a bounce-back year and does what he has done in the past, our lineup is completely different. That takes a lot of heat off the other guys.''
Collins believes the lineup will show new life with Kevin Long as hitting coach and Pat Roessler as assistant.
Starting pitching, of course, with the return of Matt Harvey, and the rebuilt young bullpen, have Collins most excited.
"Every night, we've got somebody who can compete on that mound,'' Collins said. "When you've got guys who night after night compete, you don't go into big losing streaks. It's tough to beat those kind of guys every night."
Collins is looking at Harvey like Bruce Bochy looks at Madison Bumgarner.
"Exactly,'' Collins said. "He's got the competitiveness of a stinkin' bear. Matt and I just met a couple of days ago in New York and talked about how important it is for him to understand that we've got to be careful.''
The Mets are considering a plan in which Harvey is held back at the start of the season, perhaps until the home opener at Citi Field on April 13. Also, expect Harvey to be shut down for a few weeks in the summer as well to limit his innings, following his return from Tommy John surgery.
October is already on Collins' mind.
"I don't want it to be one of those things, where you have to limit [Harvey] to five innings. Number one, there will be a fight,'' Collins said with a smile while considering Harvey's super-competitive nature.
Collins laughed and said, "Can you imagine Game 3 of some playoff and you say to [Harvey], 'Give me five.'
" 'Five? You're not big enough to take the ball out of my hand.'
"I love that attitude he brings and it spreads. Guys want to top each other.''
Collins raved about both Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom, the NL's rookie of the year.
"I can see Zack watching deGrom and Harvey, saying, 'I can do that. Matter of fact I might be able to do better than they do.' So now he steps up. This kid has grown up.''
As for Noah Syndergaard, it's likely he will start the season at Triple-A Las Vegas. Then when Harvey gets down time in the summer, Syndergaard can come right in and go from there.
"And now all of a sudden Matt is strong for September and going into October,'' Collins said.
For the first time in his five years as Mets manager, Collins is thinking big.
You can't blame him.
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