How is the roster shaping up with Opening Day exactly a week away?
Checking in on health and competition with spring training drawing to a close. Plus, the Mets win and a couple of positive injury updates...
What’s up with the Mets? 🌴
The Mets beat the Astros 8-2 at CACTI Park on Wednesday afternoon a week out from Opening Day (box)
LHP David Peterson was dominant again over five scoreless innings, giving up two hits with three walks while striking out four
RHP Edwin Díaz tossed a scoreless sixth inning with two hits allowed and one strikeout
RHP Ryne Stanek, RHP Joshua Cornielly and RHP Reed Garrett all hurled perfect innings, combining for five strikeouts
LHP A.J. Minter endured a rough outing, allowing two runs on two hits, including a home run and a walk with two strikeouts
2B Brett Baty went 2-for-3 at the plate with a triple, a double, one RBI and a run scored. He also made a couple of really nice defensive plays at second base
1B Pete Alonso hit his first home run of spring - a three-run bomb in the sixth inning to blow the game wide open
The Mets took advantage of a number of Houston errors to score runs throughout the game, with OF Juan Soto, OF Brandon Nimmo and 3B Mark Vientos also all recording a RBI
Injury Updates 🏥
LHP Sean Manaea (right oblique strain) is continuing his throwing progression and is now up to 90 feet
OF Jesse Winker (calf cramps) is doing fine and is expected to get some at-bats on Thursday
Stories from Port St. Lucie… 📰
Christian Scott isn’t fazed by the slew of elite young arms he’s in competition with for an eventual spot in the rotation (New York Post)
Hayden Senger has waited for his opportunity in the big leagues a long time, and the catcher is hoping that wait pays off this spring (New York Post)
Pete Alonso is eying history and wants to reach the 500 home run plateau before he calls it a day (Newsday)
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (10-13) at Nationals (12-12)
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches - West Palm Beach, FL
Starters: RHP Kodai Senga (0-0, 3.38 ERA) vs. LHP Shinnosuke Ogasawara (1-2, 7.56 ERA)
When: 6:05 PM EST
Where to Watch: N/A
Performing a roster competition / health check with spring coming to a close… ✍️
We are exactly a week away from Opening Day.
Doesn’t spring training go fast when we are all having fun?
Okay, so spring has actually dragged a little, but the finishing line is now very much in sight, and the Mets will be playing games that actually count a week from today.
As such, now feels like a perfect time to check in on the expected Opening Day roster, in addition to the team’s slew of injured players and the final few battles for roster spots.
Let’s start with the bullpen.
Dedniel Nuñez is feeling good after throwing on Tuesday, according to manager Carlos Mendoza, while A.J. Minter got another inning under his belt in Wednesday’s win over the Astros, even if it was a rough one. If both Minter and Nuñez are ready for Opening Day, then four relievers are essentially duking it out for one available spot in the bullpen. Danny Young would make the most sense given that he’s a lefty. Plus, he also doesn’t have an option.
However, Max Kranick has been a revelation this spring, and the Mets have been impressed with what he’s produced. And why wouldn’t they be? The righty has pitched to a 1.93 ERA this spring, striking out 12 and allowing just two earned runs over 9.1 innings. Kranick has certainly earned a chance to be on the Opening Day roster, but the only roadblock standing in his way would be if the front office feels he’s better off being stretched out as a starter down at Triple-A. If Minter and / or Nuñez aren’t good to go for Opening Day, however, that might give Kranick a real opportunity to impress at the big league level and make it hard for the team to send him back down again. Huascar Brazobán and Tyler Zuber also in play for that final spot and are names to watch.
There has been an open competition for the backup infielder job all spring, and Brett Baty will seemingly begin the season at second base with Jeff McNeil hurt. Baty has certainly earned it. He’s authored a terrific spring (again), including another impressive outing on Wednesday, which included a double, a triple, an RBI, and a run scored, in addition to looking competent in the field.
With McNeil on the shelf, the Mets will also need to carry one of Luisangel Acuña or Donovan Walton on the Opening Day roster. It would arguably make much more sense for the Mets to send Acuña back to Triple-A to allow him to play every day, therefore carrying Walton, who is a lefty bat and who can offer more versatility across the infield at this point. However, in order to do that, they would need to make a 40-man roster move, and it is hard to see who they would cut right now (remember - they need to make a 40-man move for a backup catcher too, see below on that).
Therefore, it would probably be easier for the Mets to keep Acuña up and use him as a righty-lefty platoon without having to make another 40-man roster move.
After all, the Mets are going to have to DFA one of Austin Warren, Justin Hagenman, or Kevin Herget, as well as perhaps placing Frankie Montas on the 60-day IL, in order to make space for Jakson Reetz or Hayden Senger on the roster. Both Reetz and Senger are battling it out for the backup catcher role, with Francisco Alvarez on IL to begin the year.
Senger is a really cool story given that he spends his off seasons stacking shelves at a Whole Foods in Tennessee. Senger has waited a long, long time for his opportunity in the big leagues, and he could have the edge to be the backup to Luis Torres to start the year considering his skills behind the plate. Granted, he’s hitting just .177 this spring, but Reetz has hit just .118, so the Mets might be tempted to hand the backup job to Senger and go with the better defensive ability.
Brandon Nimmo played in the outfield on Wednesday and came through the outing fine, while Jesse Winker is expected to be okay after suffering some calf cramps. Therefore, we are probably likely to see both Alexander Canario and José Azocar get cut from camp soon.
Of course, things can change in an instant in baseball, and any more injuries would force the Mets into making more moves.
However, as things stand, the final few pieces are falling into place and we should have a better idea of what the Opening Day roster will look like by the time we reach the end of the weekend.
Around the League 🚩
The Dodgers swept the Tokyo Series after beating the Cubs 6-3 on Wednesday, with Shohei Ohtani hitting his first home run of the year
More than 25 million people across all platforms watched Game 1 of the Tokyo Series, making it the most-watched MLB game ever in Japan
The Astros stuck with the space theme after unveiling their new City Connect uniforms on Wednesday (MLB.com)
Marcelo Mayer - one of the Red Sox’s big three prospects - got his first taste of second base on Wednesday and impressed with an RBI triple in his first at-bat
Can you imagine where we'll be if Baty can carry this spring into the regular season? Holy smokes.
And I'm sure the midnight oil is burning as they discuss Kranick. He could step into the 'pen right now, but they might not want to waste a potential front-line starter for the stretch run by keeping him up. By the time Montas is healthy and works through the process with the Pitching Lab, it's going to be August at the earliest, and most likely September.
Plus, there's no way to know whether Frankie will turn out as hoped, anyway. I'm sure the plan was to get him straightened out during Spring Training à la Griffin Canning, but now he's going to be months behind.