Reese Kaplan -- Spring Training's Early Observations

So far the late Spring Training has revealed a few stories for media consumption.  Jacob deGrom looked healthy.  Dom Smith took Max Scherzer deep (twice!) during his opening stint for the preseason Mets.  Jeff McNeil has been named the starting second baseman.  Robinson Cano has apologized to teammates and media before assuming his new-found role as the Mets Designated Hitter.  Pete Alonso is apparently unharmed from his horrific truck accident in which his vehicle flipped three times. Starling Marte is doing outfield drills while awaiting for his oblique situation to resolve itself.  Taijuan Walker is working his way through his knee surgery and may not be ready for Opening Day.  

What we're not yet hearing is solid feedback about the bats and arms that need to show improvement from 2021 or justification for the new and larger paychecks obtained for 2022 (and beyond).  Is Francisco Lindor the player he was in Cleveland?  Is Eduardo Escobar ready to assume what appears to be a starting role at third base?  How is Mark Canha?  What about the oft-injured Brandon Nimmo?  Did James McCann look like the player he was in 2020 and the past, or more like the one we saw in 2021?  

On the pitching side of the equation, other than health, no one is worrying about the abilities of the killer duo of starting pitchers at the top.  Newcomer Chris Bassitt has the baseball card stats to be highly impressive in his role, but with his home having been primarily Oakland for the past several years he's a bit of a stranger and folks don't know yet how good he can be.  Carlos Carrasco's 2021 needs to be classified like Kevin James in Paul Blart, Mall Cop -- just pretend it never happened.  Is he healthy?  Will his late surgical correction put him on another late start and a season beginning without adequate preparation?

Then there's the bullpen.  Edwin Diaz is what he is -- incredibly difficult to hit unless he gets derailed.  Trevor May, Miguel Castro and Seth Lugo are more often good than bad.  No one knows what to make of senior fireman Adam Ottavino.  Chasen Shreve is a nice late addition but he's in on a minor league deal with no guarantee he's coming north in April.  Drew Smith has shown flashes of great competence but he's had his injury woes as well.  Everyone expects at least one more bullpen move to be made before the season begins.  

For the bench no one knows what to expect because it's not clear who will be on the team and who may be departing in trades.  J.D. Davis is healed from his hand injury.  Dom Smith showed he still has the longball stroke.  Tomas Nido and Luis Guillorme are what they are.  It would seem there is room for some improvement here as well.  

The biggest change for the Mets, however, is less about their new GM or free agent additions.  It is the hand of a highly experienced manager in Buck Showalter.  It was a virtually unanimous round of applause heard around the Mets world when he was named skipper.  After having endured losers like Luis Rojas and Terry Collins, plus the mixed bag efforts of serial sexual predator Mickey Callaway who engaged in his harassment of female reporters during his Indians, Mets and Angels days.  He's on baseball's ineligible list.  Oh yeah, there was that guy leading the cheating for the Astros, Carlos Beltran.  It's not been a good managerial era for the Mets, so Buck Showalter was a breath of maturity, experience and good public relations.  Now it's time to convert that hiring decision into playing winning baseball.