Reese Kaplan -- Opening Day is Sneaking Up Fast for Everyone

The season will be starting for real soon and all of the conjecture, speculation, opinions, injuries and, oh yeah, facts...they will all be pushed aside when the wins and losses start to count in the quest for October baseball.

Yes, there are questions to be answered.  Will Brett Baty both show enough with the glove and his range to warrant an assignment to play second base every day place of the still injured Jeff McNeil?  

We are seeing Baty getting regular innings at that position which is interesting because all of the sudden no one is hyping on Baty’s often anemic bat which has continued to be solid and now they have shifted their lack of confidence to how he will harm the club on the field.

What’s interesting to observe is that Luisangel Acuna is not getting the reps at second base that many felt the club would need to see in order to determine their temporary April course of action while the IL is occupied.  It may indeed be that they are already comfortable with the skills Acuna brings to the field.  

In his case it’s more a question of his batting.  He looked good in his very brief September substitution for Francisco Lindor and continued his offensive competency in Winter ball.  So in his case you’d think they’d want to see how he performs offensively, the exact opposite of the challenge facing Baty.

Then there are the limping wounded duo of Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte.  Both are appearing regularly in games now as the time is short before the umpires bark, “Play ball!” before the games start on the 28th.  Neither appears to be 100%, but with the questions that exist on the offense overall it’s encouraging to see them playing at all and offering up whatever they can while they continue healing.

Everyone assumes that the outfield is pretty much set between this pair, the center field pair of Jose Siri and Tyrone Taylor, and the near billionaire in right field in Juan Soto.  Everyone knows the corners of the infield along with Francisco Lindor.  Luis Torrens will be the catcher with his backup as yet unidentified.  It could be one of the minor leaguers or someone acquired late who was a cut from another club (like Tomas Nido).

What is much less clear is the names and roles for various pitchers still auditioning for a space on the roster heading out of Florida.  Obviously you have Clay Holmes now at the top of the diminished rotation, followed in some pattern with David Peterson and Kodai Senga.  

Most people feel that Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill temporarily make up the 4 and 5 slots in the starting rotation with perhaps both Paul Blackburn and Max Kranick heading up the long roles in the bullpen.

Now the rest of the bullpen is still a bit in the air.  Obviously Edwin Diaz is the closer.  Then you have Ryne Stanek, Jose Butto and Reed Garrett for sure.  Somewhat less certain due to health are A.J. Minter and Dedniel Nunez.  Add it up and that’s eight relievers to go with 5 starters.  That amount would enable the Mets to carry just 5 players on the bench. 

For now it would appear the opening IL includes Francisco Alvarez, Nick Madrigal, Jeff McNeil, Christian Scott, Drew Smith, Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas for sure.  Depending on the recoveries of some of the other pitchers mentioned, some possibilities in the pen could be Huascar Brazoban, Danny Young and Tyler Zuber, all of whom are pitching to a 3.00 ERA or better.