Mets sign ex-Nats star....Now Who Is The Fifth Starter Out of Camp?

 

   The Mets added another piece to the puzzle yesterday, as former Nationals ace John Lannan agreed to a low-risk one-year contract with the Mets, and will battle for the position of the fifth starter. He currently agreed to a minor-league contract, but other people competing are also on the same type of contracts as well. Exact terms were not made available, but the news broke around midday when Adam Rubin tweeted it, and it was confirmed on the official team Twitter page about an hour later. The Mets also resigned SS Omar Quintinilla to a minor league deal, officially marking him into his third stint as a Met. Some fans were fired up, in a negative way, that he may still become the starting shortstop on Opening Day, or sometime this season, despite also agreeing on minor-league terms and conditions. GM Sandy Alderson had said earlier this winter that the team planned to "upgrade the shortstop position" and now fans are calling him out again for doing so. Most media personnel explain that it is a depth thing, and that all teams have such deals to fill out minor league rosters. It isn't clear if Omar will be in major league camp later this month, but Lannan will, as he was officially invited to Spring Training upon agreeing to his contract Saturday.

    Other popular candidates competing for the fifth-starter gig include the injury-prone Jenry Mejia, youngsters Jacob deGrom and Rafael Montero (highly unlikely they'd make it in April ahead of top prospect Syndergaard's debut which is expected around June or July), and some other arms that will land up making the Las Vegas roster, or in the bullpen. Another question mark lies towards the future of hard-throwing Gonzalez Germen, who spent streaks of greatness with the Mets bullpen in stints last August and September. Bobby Parnell expects he's healthy enough to remain the team's closer, and he reassured fans of that last week by saying he is the team's closer, and that nothing has changed. Last year's rookie Vic Black-acquired when John Buck and Marlon Byrd were shipped to the Pirates--could be in consideration for the setup man's role. That waiver trade also included the Mets acquiring second base prospect Dilson Herrera, and they now have an abundance of prospects over there too. Another young middle infielder is LJ Mazilli, known as Lee Mazilli's son, and a terrific player over the last four years at the University of Connecticut (Storrs, Conn). After being drafted, Mazilli spent his first year in professional baseball with the Brooklyn Cyclones. He will also be in minor-league camp, and we will see where he is positioned, though it is likely he will get a second year for the Penn League member Cyclones.