Reese Kaplan -- There's a 2020 Season, Too!

While it may be parka weather where you are, today is the official reporting day of the rest of the NY Mets position players to join the pitchers, catchers and early arrivals who began their workouts last Monday.  Between the Carlos Beltran fiasco and the Steve Cohen thanks, but no thanks, a lot of folks may have forgotten there’s actually a 2020 baseball season to be played.  Towards that end, let’s look at some of the things to watch during this Florida baseball pre-season.

Starting Rotation

If you asked the average Mets fan who was going to be starting every 5^th day, you’d likely get back a popular response of dual Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, Cy Young talent not-yet-realized in Noah Syndergaard, playing-for-a-contract Marcus Stroman, erratic-but-talented lefty Steven Matz, and newcomer off a previously big contract, Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello.  

On paper this rotation looks pretty formidable with no quibbles from anyone about the top three.  Matz and Porcello will, however, be watched closely to see what is going to emerge from Port St. Lucie.  Remember, Porcello won the Cy Young Award for Boston back in 2016.  Since then he’s been healthy, I’ll give him that.  He has a marginally positive record but it’s accompanied by a 4.79 ERA over a three-year period.  For some unknown reason the NY Mets felt he was worth a $10 million deal for the 2020 season.  Granted, it’s less than half of what he used to earn but probably double (or more) what he’s worth.  Paychecks dictate playing time, so you can write his name into the rotation in ink.  

Southpaw Matz is much more team-friendly at $5 million and is a couple of years younger.  Some folks are advocating moving him to the bullpen where another lefty arm certainly couldn’t hurt.  However, that opens up the 5^th starter slot to the likes of Michael Wacha who can’t seem to stay healthy, Corey Oswalt who can’t seem to stay competitive, or Walker Lockett who can’t seem to find a spaghetti western that would appreciate his name for one of its featured characters. 

Bullpen

They say that the league is maximizing bullpen options at eight, so it’s pretty easy to figure out the majority of this roster already.  You have closer Edwin Diaz, would-be closer Jeurys Familia, would-be starter but highly effective in the pen Seth Lugo, Justin Wilson, Brad Brach and wildcard Dellin Betances.  There are six slots filled already.  In addition you have the returning but unimpressive Robert Gsellman, hopefully healthy Michael Wacha, plus an assortment of fringe prospects, including Paul Sewald, Jacob Rhame, Daniel Zamora, Stephen Gonsalves, Drew Smith (if his arm is attached), Tyler Bashlor and the extra starters named above. 

Infield

Assuming you have hard wired into your plans an infield of Pete Alonso at 1B, Robinson Cano at 2B, Amed Rosario at SS and Jeff McNeil at 3B, there’s not a lot of room at the inn.  No one knows what to make of the versatile but brittle Jed Lowrie.  There’s always room for the solid glove of Luis Guillorme.  After that it’s a bunch of guesses.

Outfield

Here the Mets have too many bodies and not enough roster slots.  Assume you will have some combination of Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, JD Davis, Yoenis Cespedes, Jake Marisnick, Dom Smith and various warm bodies who used to play in the big leagues or who are not yet ready to do so. 

Catchers

Wilson Ramos is not known as an ironman, so what they got out of him offensively and durability-wise in 2019 was a pleasant surprise.  Don’t bank on a repeat and remember there are some pitchers pretty vocal about not liking him behind the dish.  You have the balsa wood hitting Tomas Nido, unproven Ali Sanchez and somewhere off in the distance NRI Rene Rivera.  Yeah, there’s some room for improvement here. 

Manager and Coaches

It’s not quite a whole new ballgame here, but there have been enough changes that you wonder how things will gel.  Without a significant addition to the offensive roster the club isn’t likely to perform any better unless both of the walking wounded from last year heal up and find playing time.  The pitching might be a tad better if you get rebounds from the bullpen guys.  The club has the potential to be somewhat better than they were in 2019 but nothing is screaming World Series just yet.