Mets pitchers and catchers have arrived!

The first official workout for pitchers and catchers is Wednesday. Also, a discussion about a significant part of the Mets evolved culture

Image courtesy of the New York Mets

What’s up with the Mets? 🍎

• Mets pitchers and catchers began reporting to Mets spring training in Port St. Lucie on Monday - their first official public workout is tomorrow

• Dylan Covey - who was outrighted off the 40-man roster last week - has elected free agency instead of accepting an assignment to Triple-A Syracuse

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Rumor Mill 💨

• Alex Bregman has several multi-year offers, and is likely to make a decision soon (ESPN)

• The Cubs are among those expressing interest in free agent INF Justin Turner (Athletic)

“I think we are the best lineup in baseball. We have Petey. We have a little bit of everything. We have hitting guys. We have power hitters. We have everything. We have the best lineup in baseball, so we can fight with any team.”

~ Francisco Álvarez

All in the family… ✍️

There’s a topic I’ve been thinking about over the last few weeks, which has gone a little unnoticed, but I believe is playing an important role in the evolution of the Mets right now. And since we’ve hit another lull before spring training officially gets underway tomorrow, now is the time to talk about it.

For all of the money and financial flex the Mets and their owner, Steve Cohen, have and have the ability to use to lure in free agents, there might be a tool that has an equal amount of power in their recruitment pitches.

The one thing we have heard consistently from players, whether they’re new to the organization or they’ve been retained, is the word, “family.” And that word has taken on an important meaning for this franchise.

Clearly, they’ve developed a different kind of workplace atmosphere than they had in the past. It seems as though, for the players and on-field staff at least, this is a new kind of family-friendly environment for the players, knowing full well the job demands that the players are away from them for at least half of the regular season and for most of their awake hours during the day and night when they’re at home. So, they’ve made it inclusive for them in an effort to keep these families connected as much as possible while they work.

That’s an important and underappreciated challenge professional athletes routinely speak about during the season, but often go unappreciated and unnoticed by the public, yet it’s something, when you think about it, we hear about from players in one form or another over the course of the year. In the end, these are simply human beings who have lives and families and private issues like the rest of us. They just happen to be public figures and super talented at a sport, so we don’t always view them in that manner.

But the Mets have clearly remembered that part. And in listening to Ryne Stanek yesterday from Port St. Lucie, Sean Manaea during his press conference a few weeks ago, JD Martínez during his appearance on Jon Heyman’s and Joel Sherman’s podcast last week, and of course Juan Soto in December (among others), they all talked about how important it was for the Mets to have created a family-friendly atmosphere, have ensured their families were being treated well, and engaged their families as much as possible at the ballpark on game days to make them an active part of the franchise and the workday for the players.

Of course, money always talks, and they’re not always successful with this recruiting pitch. But it’s clear that part of their cultural transformation has been to help ease this burden on the players and keep these families connected as much as possible in what is can otherwise be a long time away from one another.

That’s not to say the Mets didn’t involve player families in the past. I don’t want people to think there has always been some kind of barrier between the players and their families. It’s just clearly different and their ability to involve their families is perhaps more evolved than before, and something they might’ve recognized needed some modernization over the last few years.

Make no mistake - I don’t pretend to feel bad for professional athletes. Money aside, this is what they’ve signed up for in this part of their lives. It comes with sacrifice, I am sure it comes with a lot of personal pain, and whether or not they understand that at the beginning of their careers, they’re all told about that at some point. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still endure hardships, they don’t miss their families, and they don’t get a little homesick at times.

Again, these are human beings - they’re just a lot richer than most of us.

But the Mets deserve credit for trying to bridge that gap. It’s clearly making a difference in their recruiting engine, and maybe it’s going to help make a long-term difference in the club’s performance.

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Around the League 🚩

• Former Giants GM Farhan Zaidi has returned to the Dodgers as a special advisor (Athletic)

• The Reds will honor Pete Rose with a sleeve patch in 2025 (ESPN)