Posted: Sunday March 26, 2000 05:23 PM
TOKYO (AP) - Rickey Henderson will find out shortly whether the long trip to Tokyo was merely a detour on the way to Detroit. The Tigers want him, and the New York Mets are listening. Henderson has heard the trade talk, too. "It doesn't bother me," the 41-year-old left fielder said Sunday. "If they don't want me here, fine. I've been in this game too long, and I know I can't play unhappy. If they're unhappy with me, trade me. "But if they're going to do it, I just wish they'd done it before we came over here." The Mets, who open the season Wednesday night against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome, are interested in Detroit outfielder Bobby Higginson. The Tigers reportedly asked for Henderson and pitcher Dennis Cook, but were rejected. The New York Yankees also are interested in Higginson. Mets general manager Steve Phillips said his cell phone - a new one he got when he arrived in Japan - has been busy. He said a deal before the opener was possible, though he would not mention any specific player by name. "I've been talking to a fair number of general managers," Phillips said. "The time difference over here has not been a problem. We've been able to reach each other fairly easily." And how would a player feel about making the trip to Tokyo for nothing? "That would end up being his new club's problem," Phillips said. Henderson is baseball's career stolen base leader with 1,334. He swiped 37 last season in his first year with the Mets and hit .315, and his .417 on-base percentage was the best among NL leadoff men. But he rankled Mets management and his teammates last October when he supposedly was in the clubhouse playing cards with Bobby Bonilla during the final innings of a Game 6 loss to Atlanta that knocked them out of the National League Championships Series. Henderson is signed through this season and wants a contract extension. Even before this trade talk surfaced, he was not happy with the prospect of making the 7,400-mile trip from the Mets' spring training camp in Port St. Lucie, Fla., to Japan. "The flight wasn't that bad," he said. "I slept a lot." Henderson, a 10-time All-Star, needs 184 hits to reach 3,000. It likely would take him until 2001 to get it - he's never gotten 180 hits in any season in his 21-year career. Henderson is fifth on the career runs list (2,103) and third in walks (1,972). He has played in the postseason seven times. "You need to have a leadoff man and a guy who runs if you want to win," he said. "If they trade me, they don't have a leadoff man. But if they do, I'll just go somewhere else and win. "I still have goals, things I strive for. I still want to play." Higginson slumped to .239 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs last season after three big years in Detroit. The Mets think he'll bounce back, and likely would trade Henderson to get him. "It doesn't matter," said Henderson, who has played for Oakland, the Yankees, Toronto, San Diego, Anaheim and the Mets. "The game is still the game, wherever it's at. And right now it's at Tokyo."
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