After a few weeks of spring training, fans have a bit better sense of how the 25-man roster will look early in the season. For this edition, I am going to essentially do the opening day roster, though it will be tough to predict whether or not someone like Vic Black will be on it. If not an April 6th roster, a first week 25-man should look something like this:
C- Travis d'Arnaud
1B- Lucas Duda
2B- Daniel Murphy
SS- Wilmer Flores
3B- David Wright
LF- Michael Cuddyer
CF- Juan Lagares
RF- Curtis Granderson
SP- Matt Harvey
SP- Jacob deGrom
SP- Jon Niese
SP- Bartolo Colon
SP- Dillon Gee
CL- Jenrry Mejia
SU- Jeurys Familia
RP- Vic Black
RP- Carlos Torres
RP- Buddy Carlyle
RP- Rafael Montero
LOOGY- Sean Gilmartin
Back-up Catcher- Anthony Recker
MI- Ruben Tejada
4th OF- Kirk Nieuwenhuis
LF vs. Lefties- John Mayberry Jr.
UT- Eric Campbell
Notes:
- I still think Montero should be in the #5 and Gee should either be traded or placed in the bullpen. Montero is better...plain and simple. However, few signs point to that happening unless Gee gets hurt.
- If Vic Black cannot be ready for the start of the season, the Mets could bring a second lefty along. If that is the case, my guess is Scott Rice gets the nod over Jack Leathersich and Dario Alvarez--neither of whom are impressing this spring and are young and have options.
- Bobby Parnell joins the bullpen some time in April, likely knocking Carlyle back to Triple-A. One thing to watch with Carlyle: If he is not on the major league roster come June, he can opt out and find employment elsewhere.
- Eric Campbell gets the nod over guys like Danny Muno, Matt den Dekker and Matt Reynolds. Fans will want Reynolds over Tejada but Tejada has had a very good spring and has shown the ability not only to be able to handle second and third base, but also play them well. All three go back to Las Vegas but all three likely see time in the bigs in 2015.
- One scenario for Cesar Puello: If Vic Black is delayed a bit at the start of the season, perhaps the Mets could add Puello to the 25-man roster and go with six bench players instead of five. This gives the Mets just a bit more time to figure out what to do with him. A lot can happen in a couple weeks of baseball and the extra body--especially one as capable as Puello's--would be welcome on the Mets 25-man roster instead of some other team's.
- Recker vs. Monell. I know, Monell is the hot ticket this spring after hitting three homers. However, backup catchers are all about defense for me and Monell has not proven to be all that great a defensive catcher. When d'Arnaud has a day off or comes out late in a ball game, I want the best defensive option in there because I can count on the defense being good. I can't count on Monell hitting this well every day, especially coming off the bench cold once a week. I much prefer Recker and his cannon even if Monell hits another three homers this spring.
--SG
16 comments:
If Murphy starts out on the DL -- and I think Black is almost certainly on the DL -- how do you so it playing out?
Muno is suddenly getting some love but personally I'm not feeling it.
James Preller
James -
Morning.
Stephen may not be available today so I'll take a stab at your question.
I see Matt Reynolds starting at SS, Ruben Tejada at 2B, Wilfredo Tovar as utility, and Thornton or Montero as the 4th/5th righty
You may be right overall, Steve.
Mets like to go with incumbents and then shift guys up and down to minors, so Recker may start in NY over Monell. If Recker hits, he stays, but if he persists in hitting .160, and Monell is hitting, he could get the call up then.
Recker likely better defensively, but catching involves a lot of rest for your starter, so we'll see.
Same with Tejada - unless they were to trade Tejada before the end of spring, who has done really well since his 1 for 13 start, Reynolds and Muno may go west to Vegas if Murphy is OK by opening day. If Tejada hits lousy like the past few years, then the hotter hand of Muno or Reynolds gets called up. I see that happening by mid-year, but baseball is a strange game; if Ruben is hitting .290, it may be hard to dislodge him.
Leathersich may be headed back to AAA, as they may feel iffy about which Jack would show up if they put him in real games, but forget his first 2 outings for a minute: in his last 5 outings, 3 innings, 3 K's, zero walks and zero runs, 1 hit. If he started spring like that, everyone would be getting excited. he's got a few more games to show if the latter streak is the 2015 Jack.
Mack, having Reynolds start at SS assumes Flores' foot is a problem into opening day?
Flores seems to be saying he'll be OK before opening day. Hopefully he is not putting his foot in his mouth with that one.
Flores will not make that decision and Mets trainers are always conservative.
Plus there will be plenty of room on the 40-man to activate Reynolds, even if he's only in Queens for a short time.
Mack, if Reynolds is opening day SS, I won't be complaining! Flores for the long haul, but it would be great to see Matt crack the glass ceiling so quickly.
Monell is only a career. 264 hitter in 8 seasons. He couldn't have lasted that long without solid Defense.
@Anon
A Career .264 hitter at Catcher is pretty darn good. Even poor defensive catchers could stick around with that average and the power he brings
FYI....Adam Rubin just reported that
Matt Reynolds is now the favorite to win the 2B job pending Murphy starting the year on the DL.
Also Danny Muno has now entered the fray for the 5th bench spot and could unseat Campbell.
Rubin still believes Campbell is the favorite.
Chris -
I will be absolutely thrilled if Rubin is correct and Rafael Montero makes the pen.
I haven't changed my stance here... a back end pen of Montero, Mejia, and Familia is, in my opinion, potentially the best 1-2-3 punch they could have.
Mack you were out there very early with Montero in the pen - I'd love to see that.
Muno in the mix over Campbell - very interesting, but makes sense, since he is a true middle infielder.
I still am disappointed that a guy he reminds me a little of (switch hitting Wally Backman) sat him so much under Wally in AAA last year vs. journeyman Seratelli. If Danny had 150 or 200 more AAA at bats, he would be that much more ready if called upon. Poor Mets decision making there.
"Poor Mets Decision-Making"? Is there any other kind, Tom?
Monell should be there for his left handedness as much as his superior power.
Muno instead of Campbell makes too much sense for it to happen.
Montero should be starting eventually, but I can see both the Mets' and Mack's perspective. You start Gee, you set him up to be traded as a starter later. You put Montero (the better pitcher) in the pen at least until Vic Black and/or Bobby Parnell are ready. Then you decide again about Montero vs. Gee in the rotation. Until then, I won't lose any sleep over Montero being banished to the bullpen where it's weak right now.
My final thought? "Trade high" on Ruben Tejada's hot spring. There's got to be a club in need of a middle infielder.
Reese -
Tejada is still young and could use a new home to start his 'mental game' over.
Remember... 80% of this game is mental and the other 20% is all in your head :)
Oh...
And one more thing...
Ian Desmond will be the Mets 2016 SS.
Lethersitch results in Pretend Games is no foundation to start him on the 25 man....he's in camp for a "Looksee- Then Go Proove it Assignment". He simply is DQ'd from high leverage 1 and 2 batter/men already on base situations---he needs a clean sheet whole inning role, given the walks.
This team cannot give away April games with big guesses and manipulations around anything other than BEST 25...that needs to be the 95% RULE, versus the Roster Crap of the last several years.
I would really like another LHB on the bench.
Monell would do that if you could really trust Campbell to handle an emergency inning.
Otherwise Muno (Switch) or den Dekker over Campbell.
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