As the Mets get ready for Opening Day against the Milwaukee Brewers on March 28 at Citi Field, they’re about to depart Port St. Lucie and what was a relatively uneventful spring training — until Thursday night.
That was when the Mets signed J.D. Martinez, pouncing on a one-year deal that was too good to pass up. In the process, New York added a legitimate DH to protect Pete Alonso, and threw the Opening Day roster into a bit of flux.
Aside from Thursday’s excitement, with the exception of the injury to Kodai Senga that is expected to keep him out until some point in May, pretty much everything in spring training went as expected.
The Senga injury opened up a spot in the starting rotation and will test the Mets’ depth early on.
Elsewhere, the battle for the final few spots in the bullpen recently came into focus, and will likely be driven in part by who’s out of options and who isn’t.
The Mets will also have to determine what their plan is now with Mark Vientos, and how much the Martinez signing will impact him.
Following our roster predictions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, here is our final Mets 26-man roster prediction for Opening Day…
REGULAR LINEUP
Francisco Alvarez: C
Pete Alonso: 1B
Jeff McNeil: 2B
Francisco Lindor: SS
Brett Baty: 3B
Brandon Nimmo: LF
Harrison Bader: CF
Starling Marte: RF
J.D. Martinez: DHÂ
There was never much doubt about who the regulars would be, and the Martinez signing locks down the DH spot.
McNeil’s status came into question as he dealt with a bicep issue, but he is back and good to go.
And while there was a “competition” at third base, the belief all along — once Ronny Mauricio was ruled out for most, if not all of the season — was that it was Baty’s job to lose. And Baty has earned the third base spot.
With Martinez now entrenched as the DH, Vientos’ slot on the roster could be in question (more on that later).
STARTING ROTATION
Jose Quintana: LHP
Luis Severino: RHP
Sean Manaea: LHP
Adrian Houser: RHP
Tylor Megill, RHP
The Mets will have to weather the storm a bit as they wait for Senga to return, but the rotation — with Quintana, Severino, Manaea, and Houser all having been average or better pitchers throughout their careers — should be solid.
Megill will nab the final spot and have a chance to turn the flashes he’s shown over his first three big league seasons into something more sustainable.
In Triple-A Syracuse, Jose Butto and Joey Lucchesi will be ready if help is needed.
But the most intriguing thing about the Mets’ starting pitching depth this season is the trifecta of prospects who are on the cusp of their big league debuts.
Those prospects are Christian Scott, Mike Vasil, and Dom Hamel, who all have major league ETAs of this season.
The one with the highest upside is likely the 24-year-old Scott, who tore through three levels of the minors last season while posting a 2.57 ERA and 0.85 WHIP, striking out 11.0 batters per nine and ending the season with Double-A Binghamton.
BULLPEN
Edwin Diaz: CLS
Brooks Raley: LHP
Adam Ottavino: RHP
Jake Diekman: LHP
Drew Smith: RHP
Jorge Lopez: RHP
Yohan Ramirez: RHP
Michael Tonkin: RHP
While Shintaro Fujinami is one of the Mets’ most electric relievers when he’s right, his spot on the Opening Day roster was never guaranteed due to the fact that he has minor league options remaining.
And Fujinami’s incredibly wild outing toward the end of spring training — filled with walks and wild pitches — punched his ticket to the minors to start the year.
With Fujinami not a factor for Opening Day, it means the Mets have two slots to fill beyond the locks which are Diaz, Raley, Ottavino, Diekman, Smith, and Lopez.
Tonkin, who was solid with the Atlanta Braves last season and is capable of pitching multiple innings at a clip, gets one of them.
The other is a battle between three pitchers who are out of options — Sean Reid-Foley, Phil Bickford, and Yohan Ramirez.
Reid-Foley might have had a leg up, but he’s been slowed by a tired arm. So we’ll give the final spot to Ramirez, who was acquired from the Chicago White Sox during the offseason.
BENCH
Joey Wendle: INF
Tyrone Taylor: OF
Omar Narvaez: C
Mark Vientos: DH/INF
With only four bench spots up for grabs, there wasn’t much for the Mets to determine here — until the Martinez signing shook things up.
Wendle and Taylor were always locks — as was the backup catcher spot, which will go to Narvaez.
That means that the only real question is the final spot, a choice between Vientos, Zack Short, DJ Stewart, Luke Voit, and Jiman Choi.
It’s hard to see Short or Voit making it, and Stewart can be sent down to the minors without the Mets running the risk of losing him. That means they could be left with this question…
Do they carry Vientos in order to play him at third base against some lefties, DH him when Martinez needs rest, and be the main power bat off the bench? Or do they start him in Triple-A where he can play every day and take Choi instead?
It can be argued that it would be better for the Mets to keep Vientos, and better for Vientos to get the run in Triple-A. But Vientos is more valuable to this Mets team than Choi, and that’s what the determining factor should be.
