Reese Kaplan -- Spring’s Midway Point: Who’s NY-Bound?

As the team enters the closing weeks of spring training, some folks are making it easy for BVW and Mickey Callaway regarding coming north to Queens to start the season.  Others are on the bubble and others are doing what they can to play themselves out of a job.

With the injuries to Jed Lowrie, Todd Frazier and now Drew Smith, it opens up a few more spots than perhaps were initially thought to be available.  Roster considerations got easier with the somewhat surprising release of TJ Rivera this week.  So who’s looking like they’re getting airline tickets printed to La Guardia?

Dom Smith almost has to be on the plane.  He’s hitting the ball, smiling from ear-to-ear, fielding his position well and shown a renewed emphasis on conditioning.  Combined with his now-treated sleep apnea and the fact he’s already on the 40-man roster, I think you can expect him to play 1B on Opening Day.  Hopefully his solid play continues for another three weeks so we can have a latter-day Ike Davis trade happening.

Pete Alonso, however, is likely headed to Syracuse despite what BVW had said about the top 25 players coming north with the team.  That’s just simply a matter of smart business.  Since the CBA allowed this loophole to let teams manipulate service time to gain an extra year of financial control, pretty much all teams do it, holding back their best prospects who appear headed for big money in the future, by demoting them for the first 3 weeks of the season.  I fully expect the, ahem, frugal Mets to do the same.

J.D. Davis has proven to be a work-in-progress with his glove and his range, though his arm is certainly major league caliber.  He’s hitting .324 but the fact he’s appeared at DH in some games suggests there are some very real concerns about his defensive limitations.  Then again, given the injuries, his positional versatility and the fact he would earn minimum wage suggests you’re looking at the latter day Wilmer Flores or dare I say it, TJ Rivera.

Jeff McNeil was slowed longer than expected by his wrist scrape but followed up his return to the lineup with his first long ball of spring training.  Perhaps it’s the concern for Davis’ glove or perhaps they want to see what Carlos Gomez has left in the tank, but it was not a pleasant revelation to see McNeil starting to get reps at 3B.  He’s played a ton of 3B in the minors but not OF.  I would think they would want him to play every available inning in the OF to see whether or not he’s a viable solution out there.  But then again, logic and Mets are rarely used in the same sentence.

I suggested earlier in spring training that the Mets would take Luis Guillorme north with them and people disagreed.  He was always a stellar fielder who sometimes struggled with his bat.  He entered Bizzarro World this spring, kicking the ball around but hitting well over .400.  His primary competition is slick gloveman Adeiny Hecchavaria currently hitting .125 and veteran Danny Espinosa hitting a woeful .053.  Bringing Hecchavaria north would cost a delta of $2.5 million over keeping Guillorme and the Wilpons have been known to place cost above all else.  I stand by my early roster decision, but hey, Guillorme would make sense, so I’m probably wrong. 

It’s too soon to make definitive evaluations of newcomer Carlos Gomez or nearly always injured Travis d’Arnaud, but I would think they are both on the outside looking in at this point.  The outfield appears to be set with Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Juan Lagares, Keon Broxton (out of options) and depending on your perpective, Jeff McNeil or J.D. Davis.

The infield is set with one of the aforementioned options starting at 3B. Guillorme on the bench, and two spare outfielders and a spare catcher (likely Devin Mesoraco).  A third catcher would be possible but only until a deal could be struck to move d’Arnaud elsewhere.  More likely it will be an eight-man bullpen to avoid having to make decisions.

The no-brainers include Edwin Diaz, Jeurys Familia, Justin Wilson and Seth Lugo.  Then you have the likely duo of Robert Gsellman and Luis Avilan.  The next group includes Rule V underperformer Kyle Dowdy, hard throwing Tyler Bashlor, soft tossing Tim Peterson (perfect this spring!), journeyman southpaw Hector Santiago and 30 year old NRI Ryan O’Rourke.  Daniel Zamora started off a bit roughly and likely will be sent to pitch regularly at the AAA level which he skipped last year.  Jacob Rhame and Paul Sewald have done nothing to put themselves in the conversation.  Personally I would advocate Bashlor and Peterson, leaving Santiago to start in the minors.  That would make for an eight-man pen which I think would last just until the injuries and Pete Alonso force roster changes by the end of April.

Your thoughts?