While everyone’s attention has been focused on the World Baseball Classic and the shocking revelation that Barry Bonds probably used steroids, some other baseball has been played down in Florida.

As things go, the distractions of the spring have been small mercies – spring training is essentially meaningless, and anything that keeps such information as the fact that Mets farmhand Zac Clement (I’ve never heard of him, either) is hitting .500 in two at-bats is for the best. There are actually some interesting things going on in Port St. Lucie, though, not all of which bode well for the NL East’s presumptive favorites.

First and most obviously important is the ongoing drama surrounding Pedro Martinez’s injured toe, which has prevented him from carrying out his full conditioning program and from throwing more than two sessions from a mound.

As is hopefully understood by all, this really is a serious problem, both in its own right (the key to any pitcher’s success is his legs, which generate drive, and the key to that is the way a pitcher plants and pivots his foot) and because of the possibility that in compensating for the injury Martinez might damage his arm.

Should Mets fans be worried? Probably not. Their team’s ace has been pitching at a Cy Young level despite diminished physical capacities for years, and the admirable caution he’s displayed leads one to believe he won’t take his turn in the rotation until he’s ready. Far better to miss a couple of April starts and deal with the attendant hysteria than give in to the kind of misguided machismo that leads to irreparable damage.

Next most important are the injury issues surrounding Carlos Delgado (elbow tendinitis) and Cliff Floyd (kidney problems). Floyd has a clean bill of health now, but the problem is worth bearing in mind; Delgado has been limited to five at-bats because of the wonky joint. These are big concerns, especially in Delgado’s case. He’s a terrible defender and runs poorly, to the point where all this takes a decent chunk out of his value. For the Mets to really field a dominant team, he needs both to hit and be on the field for 150 games.

This is especially true because GM Omar Minaya, for all his virtues, has yet to prove he can fill a gaping hole in midseason. The prospect of both Victor Diaz and Xavier Nady being in the lineup for long stretches isn’t the worst thing one could conceive, but it’s far from ideal.

And speaking of Nady and Diaz, that remains one of the three interesting battles in camp. The two have had quite a few at-bats; Diaz is hitting .268, Nady .394.These numbers are meaningless – there’s no correlation between performance in spring and performance in summer, and even if there were, 50 at-bats wouldn’t be enough to base a judgment on – but quite bad for Diaz, who in an ideal world would get more playing time, since he has a bit more potential.

As is, Diaz will have to impress to make the team. He has options left, and the Mets need a defense-oriented outfielder who can pinch-run on the bench. Diaz needs to force the team to make room for him, and that’s not happening.

The other interesting positional battle is at second base, where no one has really staked a claim. The Mets badly want Kaz Matsui to earn the job, but the widely loathed bust is hitting .184. Again, it doesn’t mean much, but when your job is as imperiled as Matsui’s is, you really need to do better.

Jeff Keppinger and Anderson Hernandez have both essentially done what they do, which is hit singles; Hernandez is more athletic and has been playing short with Jose Reyes away at the WBC, and looks to be the better bet between the two to make the club.

That may not be fair – Keppinger’s a bit more big-league ready – but it’s also not something that’s going to make a whole lot of difference. The important things are that Bret Boone is gone (give thanks, Mets fans) and that Minaya is, barring an unexpected Robinson Cano-type great leap forward from Hernandez, probably going to have to make a trade, which we’ve known since last summer.

The last battle is for the no. 5 starter’s slot. Brian Bannister, a soft-tossing righty with four pitches and the reputation for control and awareness that usually goes with being such a pitcher, has yet to give up a run in nine innings. Aaron Heilman, the favorite, has given up one. Bannister has some potential, but at his absolute best he’s going to do what Jae Seo did last year. More likely, he’ll put up a 5.00 ERA if given any time in the rotation. The key isn’t what he does, but whether the staff feels Heilman is more valuable in the bullpen.

It’s a hard call – there’s reason to think Heilman can succeed as a starter, but two-pitch pitchers rarely do. Again, the real solution is probably the open market. That, again, so much rides on something Minaya has yet to prove he can do has to have Mets fans frazzled, though the fact that Carlos Beltran has looked every bit the player he was before last year in the WBC should help them from chewing their nails off completely.

tmarchman@nysun.com