Reese Kaplan -- Spring Training Begins in About a Month...

It's still early January yet the majority of Mets fans who are still suffering from their post-Correa quandary. We've all gone back and forth over the pros and cons of what happened during the negotiation. Now is not the time to beat this well worn set of arguments into a bloody pulp.

Instead, let's think about what will happen a month from now when Spring Training is set to begin and thoughts of baseball start first and foremost in Port St. Lucie where there is no snow, no ice and no multi layers of winter wear to tolerate the weather. Having visited there in February one year it's a break from the harshness of New York, but it's not exactly swimsuit weather either (particularly for night games).

So let's look into the crystal ball (with the current roster as it stands in mid January) and try to think a bit about what will be on the evaluation radar in south Florida.

Starting Pitching

While we all know the projected starting rotation of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Jose Quintana, Kodai Senga and Carlos Carrasco, last season was a rough lesson in not being prepared for injuries rendering your planned rotation unavailable. As I recently pointed out, a full 25% of the games last year were not started by the people intended.

Consequently, the Port St. Lucie period of professional baseball preparation is going to be a great time to see how prepared Tylor Megill and David Peterson are after bouncing between the starting rotation and the bullpen last season. Both seemed a bit more polished as starters, but it's difficult to get in those turns on the mound in the first inning if everyone else is healthy.

Behind them, you have Jose Butto who is a moderate level pitching prospect with a lot of minor league experience. As a career mostly starting pitcher, he's been in 102 games, 89 as a starter. His 3.92 ERA doesn't jump off the page and since he's turning 25 before the season begins, it would appear his future is as a reliever or a trade chip. He shows excellent control and could be a useful piece wherever he winds up.

After that, the Mets do not have very many would be starters worth long looks. Yes, you could throw Joey Lucchesi or Tommy Hunter or John Curtiss into the mix as well, but if you're reaching down for latter stage pitchers to start games for the big club, then something has definitely gone wrong.

Relief Pitching

No one is disputing the pedigrees of Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino or David Robertson. As long as they are healthy, everyone knows what to expect. Drew Smith is close but he's not logged a great many innings in his career.

The biggest unknown here is reliever Brooks Raley, most recently plying his craft in Tampa. He cracked the majors twice for a handful of games in 2013 and 2014, but then was not seen in the big leagues until the COVID-shortened season of 2020. He was good at striking people out and showed decent control, but never really put it together.

Then came his wondrous 33-year-old season in 2022 when everything just clicked for him. He appeared in 60 games, maintained a WHIP under 1.00, an ERA of just 2.68 and struck out four times as many as he walked. The question for the Mets front office is whether he was a classic late bloomer who found whatever it was he had been missing the past, or if it was an outlier season not likely to be repeated.

Beyond the new southpaw, the rest of the Mets bullpen is going to be a battle of folks whose names you do know and ones you don't. Among the contenders will be Steven Nogosek, Zach Greene, Elieser Hernandez, Jeff Brigham, Bryce Montes de Oca, Stephen Ridings and Taylor Saucedo. Yup, they could probably use another proven arm to join the top 5.

Rookie Hitters

Any way you slice it, the fans are going to be salivating to see the at-bats from Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos. Everyone is well aware of their capabilities. Baty and Alvarez have the least AAA experience while Mauricio hasn't even ascended that far yet. Vientos is the one most qualified to come north yet he barely gets mentioned in the same breath as the other three. The Mets need to figure out what they've got, whether they should be promoted or used as parts of trades.

The rest of the younger hitters the Mets will play in Port St. Lucie will likely be in the B games rather than in the primary ones. Yes, a decision point needs to be reached on Khalil Lee, but pretty much anyone else in Spring Training games is a castoff player who is not likely major league material anymore.

Filling Out the Roster

Right now the club is pretty thin both in outfielders and infielders. Everyone expects Luis Guillorme to come north once again, but after the top three outfielders it is a barren cabinet. Darin Ruf can theoretically play the outfield but most folks are banking on a DFA or very minor trade being made to get him out of the dugout once and for all. When Correa was in the conversation it appeared the Mets had a surplus of riches on the infield, but now between Eduardo Escobar, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos the Mets have multiple third basemen but none of whom seems a lock to make anyone forget who they had envisioned playing the hot corner.

The catcher position is another one filled with uncertainty as no one knows if Francisco Alvarez is poised to face the challenge of day-to-day game calling as well as facing the increased caliber of pitching in the majors. For now you know newcomer Omar Narvaez and returning Tomas Nido will be there. If the Mets choose to carry three catchers, then it becomes doubly difficult to figure out the DH position when you have folks like Daniel Vogelbach occupying a seat on the bench but never playing the field nor against left handed pitching.

What are you looking to see when Spring Training begins?