The Mets 2015 Opening Day Roster

By Steven Inman

The 2015 season is finally here. Barring some sort of bizarre injury, here is your 2015 Mets Opening Day roster.

Starting pitchers: 

Matt Harvey will start Game 3 on the road as well as the Mets second Citi Field Game next week

1. Bartolo Colon

 2. Jacob deGrom

 3. Matt Harvey

 4. Jonathon Niese 

5. Dillon Gee

This is the order the Mets will go the first couple times through the rotation. The team will start arguably their worst starter on Opening Day in Colon. There are probably many reasons for this but the most public one at the moment is that way Harvey doesn’t start the home opener and will start the second Citi Field game which the Mets believe will maximize ticket sales. This is a clueless, idiotic way to run a franchise IF true, but hey its Opening Day so we won’t harp on the negatives today.

Relievers: 

Jenrry Mejia had a rough spring but will it carry over into the season?

6. Jenrry Mejia

7. Jeurys Familia 

8. Carlos Torres

9. Jerry Blevins

10. Alex Torres

11. Rafael Montero

12. Sean Gilmartin

13. Buddy Carlyle

Sean Gilmartin pitched well as Spring Training came to a close and will not be offered back to the Twins just yet, If he can make it all season on the Mets roster or DL he will become Mets property. The Mets didn’t want to lose Buddy Carlyle either who had an opt-out date coming up so the club elected to keep him and go with 8 relievers, Bobby Parnell and Vic Black will start the year on the DL but both should be ready to contribute at some point in the first half with Black likely ready soon. 

Starting Position Players: 

One thing to watch early on is if the Daniel Murphy-Wilmer Flores combo are able to sucessfully turn double plays

14. Travis d’Arnaud

15. Lucas Duda

16. Daniel Murphy

17.  David Wright

18.  Wilmer Flores

19.  Michael Cuddyer

20.  Juan Lagares 

21. Curtis Granderson

After much debate Daniel Murphy will in fact be ready for Opening Day and will meet his teammates in Washington for Monday’s opener. Terry Collins is planning on moving Murphy down in the order to get him more RBI opportunities but he is probably better off in his usual #2 spot in my opinion. 

Bench: 

22. Anthony Recker

23.  Ruben Tejada

24.  John Mayberry Jr. 

25. Kirk Nieuwenhuis

With the Mets carrying 8 relievers, they will go with a 4-man bench to start the season. Eric Campbell would have been the 5th man on the bench but was optioned to Vegas instead. Campbell even worked on catching this spring to make himself even more versatile. A four man bench isn’t the Mets brightest idea but it likely won’t stay like this for more than a few weeks. Collins would use Jacob deGrom as a pinch hitter should he use the rest of his bench first. 

 

Should be a fun season and Lets Go Mets!

Mets Projected 25-Man Roster Version 1.0

By Steven Inman

With Spring Training officially underway lets take a look at who is expected to make the Mets Opening Day Roster. With grapefruit league games not even starting yet, this group will change slightly. Injuries could also change who makes the cut to join the Mets against the defending N.L. East champs, the Washington Nationals on April 6th.

The Infield

The Mets infield appears set. Three of the four players have played key roles in previous seasons while Wilmer Flores looks to break out as the teams starting shortstop. This may not be the best defensive infield the Mets have ever had by any stretch of the imagination but they should be able to drive in some runs.

1. 3B David Wright

Daniel Murphy enters 2015 in a contract year and is highly unlikely to be resigned by the Mets

2. 2B Daniel Murphy

3. 1B Lucas Duda

4. SS Wilmer Flores

5. C Travis d’Arnaud

The Outfield

The Mets only made two major league signings this winter and they both happen to be outfielders. The Mets outfield was horrendous in 2014 and must improve, especially offensively if the club wants to be contenders.

6. LF Curtis Granderson

7. CF Juan Lagares

8. Michael Cuddyer

The Mets don’t have many quality options to replace Curtis Granderson if struggles again like he did in ’14

The Starting Rotation

The strength of this 2015 Mets club will be their starting staff. With a key member back from injury and plenty of starting pitching depth in the minors, expect this to be one of the better rotations in the National League.

9. RHP Matt Harvey

10. RHP Zack Wheeler

11. RHP Jacob deGrom

12. LHP Jon Niese

13. RHP Bartolo Colon

The Bullpen

This is where things get a little cloudy. The Mets bullpen is very much undecided thanks to Dillon Gee being the odd man out of the rotation. Gee is not pleased with going to the bullpen and has stated he would prefer to start somewhere. While we aren’t going to rule out a trade it is very unlikely at this point as most teams have their budgets set going into the season and don’t want to spend an additional $5 million on a back end starter like Gee in Spring Training.

While the Mets would love to see a second left-hander emerge into the bullpen out of camp, expect six right-handers to be in the Mets bullpen in Washington for Opening Day. The Mets will give Rafael Montero a shot to be a reliever in camp and that may be his only shot to pitch in the big leagues for the foreseeable future. Expect Bobby Parnell to help this group out in a couple months as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

14. RHP (CL) Jenrry Mejia

15. RHP Jeruys Familia

16. LHP Josh Edgin

17. RHP Vic Black

18.  RHP Carlos Torres

19. RHP Dillon Gee

20. RHP Rafael Montero

The Bench

After hitting well in his rookie season, Eric Campbell will likely see time in both infield and outfield corners this season

The Mets have had very weak benches over the past few seasons and expect 2015 to be no different. The team did a nice job in bringing in Jon Mayberry Jr. and as long as Terry Collins only plays him against lefties he should perform well. Expect Kirk Nieuwenhuis to make the club over a player like Matt Den Dekker as he is out of options. If Kirk does not make the club the Mets will most likely lose him to another team.

21. OF Kirk Nieuwenhuis

22. OF John Mayberry Jr.

23. SS-2B Ruben Tejada

24. IF-OF Eric Campbell

25. C Anthony Recker

Do you think we got the list right?

Mets 2015 Top Ten Prospect list by Baseball America

By Steven Inman

Noah Syndergaard should makes his MLB debut in 2015 (Photo by NY Post)

Baseball America has come out with their yearly top ten prospect list for every MLB Organization. The Mets are headlined by top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard who has been in trade rumors of late but is likely to stay Met property.

The big riser in the list in LHP Steven Matz, who didn’t even rank in the top ten last winter and is now right behind Syndergaard. Matz had a terrific year and could help the Mets in some role in the second half of 2015.

The prospect who fell the most was 1B Dominic Smith who was #4 last year but doesn’t appear in the top ten this winter. Smith struggled to hit for power in Low-A Savannah, a park that is very difficult to hit home runs in. 2015 will be a big year for the contact-first hitter.

The Mets of late have had mostly pitchers as top prospects, but the system has become much more balanced as six of the top ten prospects are position players.

Dilson Herrera and Rafael Montero are the only Met prospects on the list that have already made their big league debuts. Here is the full list.

Rank	Prospect	Pos.	Last Year
1	Noah Syndergaard	RHP	1
2	Steven Matz	LHP	–
3	Brandon Nimmo	OF	8
4	Dilson Herrera	2B	–
5	Kevin Plawecki	C	5
6	Amed Rosario	SS	7
7	Michael Conforto	OF	–
8	Rafeal Montero	RHP	3
9	Marcos Molina	RHP	–
10	Gavin Cecchini	SS	9

Expect Niese to be the Mets big trade chip this winter

By Steven Inman

Photo by NY Post

With Zack Wheeler and Jacob deGrom continuing to get better and better, expect LHP Jon Niese to be the pitcher dangled in trade talks this winter for a bat. Niese, 27, is 5-7 with a career best 3.24 ERA. Niese is also very cheap over the next few years thanks to a shrewd move by Sandy Alderson a few springs ago to lock up the young southpaw before he had established himself. The Mets can control Niese through the 2018 season at a discounted rate. Niese will make $7 million in 2015, $9 in 2016, followed by a pair of club options at $10 and $11 million each. So why would the Mets move Niese?

It is simple. The Mets simply don’t have room for all of their current pitchers.

Many teams will be concerned with Niese’s injury history but he has drawn interest in the past and the Mets could get the bat they are looking for in exchange for their lone left-hander. The Mets have had serious dialogue on trading Niese with teams like the Blue Jays and Padres in the past.

The Mets believe that their first pick in the 2009 draft from a few years ago Ward Melville’s Steven Matz could fill in as the left-hander in the rotation rather quickly. “One thing that’s becoming clear is the Mets wouldn’t be afraid to trade their only established lefty, Niese, in part because the highly-regarded {Steven} Matz is blossoming so quickly.” – John Harper of the Daily News. Matz is 8-7 with a 2.47 ERA in 116.2 innings between St. Lucie and Binghamton this season. He should make his debut at some point next season.

The Mets aren’t going to get a big bat from Colorado for Niese but perhaps they go to Chicago and see if they can pry a shortstop such as Starlin Castro, Javier Baez or Addison Russell away from the Cubs. (Most likely that’s the order the Cubs would be willing to trade them) Only time will tell.

If the Mets get an offer they like better for a Dillon Gee or Rafael Montero they could trade one of them for a bat instead of Niese but for now, it looks like Niese is the guy who could go. The Mets clearly need to trade for offense this winter.

 

Mets send up first wave of young arms

By Steven Inman

The Mets have begun to reconfigure their major league roster. Rafael Montero as previously reported here will officially start at Citi Field Wednesday night vs. the New York Yankees. To make room in the rotation, Jenrry Mejia was moved to the bullpen where he already looked very impressive in Monday’s come from behind win.

This is clearly the correct move as Mejia can now go back to dialing up the velocity in short relief outings. Mejia seemed to tire quickly through his starts. He’s held opponents to a sparkling .193/.258/.246 batting line when facing them the first time in a game this season. That line however, jumps to .245/.365/.415 when facing an opponent for the second time and a whopping .405/.500/.595 when facing opponents for a third time. His violent delivery also makes him have a much better chance of staying healthy out of the bullpen, an area where the Mets could use a live arm.

Montero gets the opportunity to show why the Mets have been so excited about him. Three years ago the Mets offered Montero $80,000 at a DR showcase game and now he will prepare to make his big league debut Wednesday. Montero will wear #50 and will likely be eligible for Super Two status.

That wasn’t the only call up as the Mets will also call up prospect Jacob deGrom. deGrom has been strictly a starter over his career but will be asked to join the pen. deGrom has been very effective in Triple-A and most scouts believe he should thrive in the bullpen where he like Mejia, can just dial up his fastball for short relief appearances. deGrom will wear #48 and is expected to be activated tonight as Gonzalez Germen was placed on the DL to make room.

Noah Syndergaard could also be up soon but he hasn’t been as effective at the Triple-A level and looks to need a little more seasoning in the minors. Bringing up deGrom and Montero shows the Mets don’t always care about arbitration clocks and that they want to win now. If only they could find a little offense now….

Mets may replace Jenrry Mejia in rotation with Rafael Montero

By Steven Inman

Photo by BaseballAmerica

After failing to get out of the 5^th inning in his last start, Jenrry Mejia may be removed from the rotation before his next scheduled start Wednesday according to Terry Collins. In that case Rafael Montero would take his place in the rotation according to team insiders. Montero is also scheduled to pitch again on Wednesday after throwing 5 1/3^rd hitless innings for Triple-A Las Vegas.

Talk about throwing a kid into the fire. If Montero makes his season debut Wednesday he will be doing it at home vs. the New York Yankees in the Subway Series. The Mets under Sandy Alderson and Terry Collins have had their top pitching prospects make their ML debuts on the road. If Montero makes his debut Wednesday and stays up for good he would be a Super Two player but not a free agent until after the 2020 season.

Sandy Alderson is still very reluctant to bring Montero up so this is far from a done deal.

While it would be very exciting to see Rafael Montero make his season debut in the subway series, it is very discouraging that the Mets continue to jerk around Jenrry Mejia who somehow is still just 24 years old. “I don’t want to be in the bullpen.” Mejia has told reporters on more than one occasion. Mejia was going to end up in the bullpen later in the year anyway as his innings limit is around 125-130 this year.

That being said it is clear that the Mets still have no idea what to do with Jenrry Mejia. Hopefully they don’t blow out his arm, moving him back and forth like the Yankees did a few years back with Joba Chamberlain.

Why aren’t the Mets executing the second part of their plan???

By Steven Inman

It’s pretty clear what Sandy Alderson’s vision for the Mets is. Acquire as much cheap young pitching as possible and use that young pitching to build up the rest of the team. Well with young talented right-handers like Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero it is pretty clear that the Mets have been putting their plan into the action. At least part 1.

The Mets have ignored the second part of their plan which is almost as important as part one.

The Mets now need to lock up their young talent.

I wrote a few months ago about how the Mets should lock up Zack Wheeler now while they still can on the cheap. You can check out that article here. That article took more backlash than anything I had ever written on BrokeMets. The majority said he needed to prove himself for at least another year or two before considering a contract extension. By then it will be too late.

Yes the Mets have some very nice pitching but by the time they will be ready to contend they will be going to arbitration and getting too expensive to keep. Plus they are going to need to find an offense eventually and power costs money.

As fans we need to stop dreaming of the day of the $140 million payroll again. We must assume that the payroll will stay in the $85-90 million range for the foreseeable future, because it will stay in that range whether we like it or not.  That shouldn’t be a deal breaker.

The Mets will not be able to afford keeping their top pitchers long term unless they get locked up now or very soon.

The Tampa Bay Rays have a payroll even lower than the Mets. Thursday vs. the Blue Jays their announced attendance was around 9,500. The Mets are worried when they get only 25,000 fans to a ballgame. The Rays aren’t making any money but they know how to run their organization. They lock up their pitchers long term. Matt Moore got a contract extension with the Rays after one month in the big leagues. Chris Archer has less MLB service time than Zack Wheeler and just signed a six year deal worth $24 million on Thursday. Baring an injury that deal will be a major bargain for the club. When they don’t sign their pitchers long term they lose them such as what is likely to happen with David Price and what could happen to the Mets.

The Mets should offer Syndergaard and Wheeler similar deals to what Archer got right now. They would get big time payroll relief when the team is ready to contend and could use that money to fix what looks like a very bad Mets offense.

It will be very difficult to extend Matt Harvey as he is injured and is a Scott Boras client. Boras always advises his top clients to test free agency.

Should the Mets begin part 2 of their plan?

Mets made right decision sending Syndergaard, Montero down

By Steven Inman

Photo by NY Post

The New York Mets announced their latest round of roster cuts and they included Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero. The two were both very impressive this spring but neither was expected to make the team. In fact Syndergaard basically said he knew no matter how well he pitched, he understood he would still be sent down. “I think no matter how well I threw during Spring Training, I think I still was going to go over to the minor league side regardless” Syndergaard told reporters today.

Could Syndergaard and Montero make the Mets better right now? Of course, however if they just keep them down until the last week of April, the team gains another year of control over them. The two should stay down until after that checkpoint. An extra year of them both is much more valuable than three weeks in April.

The Miami Marlins didn’t agree with that when they called up Jose Fernandez to make his major league debut last April. He pitched 5 scoreless innings against the Mets, in a game the Mets would come back and win on a walk-off. If the Marlins kept their rookie of the year down for just five more days, (one start) they would have an extra year of control over him. The Mets should keep their guys down until after April but not through the Super Two Deadline.

I never understood the whole Super Two Deadline. If a prospect is really that good to keep down for arbitration purposes, then why not attempt to lock up that player early on in their big league career? The Atlanta Braves did just that with Julio Teheran a few months ago which looks like a very smart move now with all of their other pitchers getting hurt. Teheran was just a rookie last year but now is likely to be the Braves Opening Day Starter.

We likely won’t see either Syndergaard or Montero until late June which would be past the Super Two deadline.

What should the Mets give up for Nick Franklin???

By Steven Inman

The Mets have been reported to be interested in SS/2B Nick Franklin of the Seattle Mariners. According to Adam Rubin of ESPNNY.com Franklin interests the Mets but they are concerned whether or not he could handle shortstop on a regular basis. Rubin also says the Mets discussed a deal for Franklin during the winter meetings in December. Franklin came up as a shortstop but moved to second base after moving to the big leagues. He has pop but got exposed in August and September after failing to adjust to off speed pitching.

I speculated in early December that Franklin would be made available and how he has a ton of upside for a team like the Mets. You can check out that article here. I speculated in that article that an Ike Davis/ Franklin swap would work for both sides. Since then the Mariners have added Corey Hart and Logan Morrison however. They are looking for young pitching in a deal for Franklin.

Franklin, 22, was decent last year defensively at second base but make no mistake about it, he would be a below average defensive shortstop. However he can make a name for himself in New York with his power. Sandy Alderson is actively searching for more power in his Mets lineup and Franklin could hit 20 homeruns in the majors if he is given 600 at bats. In 102 games last year for Seattle the rookie Franklin hit 12 homers with 45 RBI’s.

Franklin is a very confident kid who is a former top prospect. He can handle New York, the question is can he handle shortstop. In a book about the Class-A Clinton Lumberkings, someone asked Franklin about his attitude and he said the following “Some people think that I’m cocky or whatever…But I’m not. It’s just, I’ve never really failed. Why am I supposed to think that can happen when it never does?” Franklin said. Sounds like a kid who can handle New York to me, but the Mets shouldn’t give up a top pitching prospect for him.

The Mets should hold on to the Rafael Montero’s of the world, for now…. The Mets are going to need to keep these prospects for as long as they can in order to get the big bat that they are eventually going to need. (Such as Tulo or Cargo in Denver)

The Mariners don’t have a spot for Franklin right now with Brad Miller at shortstop and Robbie Cano entrenched at second base so the Mets don’t have to overpay with a Montero here. Instead the Mets may get away with a secondary pitching prospect such as Jacob deGrom or Cory Mazzoni.

What would you give up for Nick Franklin?

If Mejia is healthy, 5th spot in rotation is his to lose

By Steven Inman

Photo By Newsday

If all goes to plan, Jenrry Mejia will be the Mets fifth starter to start the 2014 season. The Mets plan on bringing in another starter on a minor-league deal for depth to compete in Spring Training but the Mets plan is to have Jenrry Mejia win the job in the Spring. Mejia was fantastic in his brief cameo last year and has #2 starter stuff when healthy.

The problem is he is rarely healthy and it is questionable if he would ever be able to pitch close to 200 innings due to his slender frame and violent delivery. Yes guys like Pedro Martinez and Tim Lincecum were able to win Cy Young Awards and anchor pitching staffs despite their sizes but they are once in a generation type pitchers. It remains to be seen what Mejia is.

Mejia is just 24 years old but has been the forgotten Mets prospect the past couple of years because of injuries. Remember he was once the Mets top prospect. If he can just stay healthy through the spring he will be the Mets 5th starter. Mejia gives the Mets some serious upside that they haven’t had from the back of their rotation in some time.

Mejia will compete with a veteran along with Jacob DeGrom for the 5th spot in the Mets rotation. Mejia has only been able to pitch less than 30 innings the past three years for the Mets.

If Mejia gets hurt in May or June that is where Rafael Montero and or Noah Syndergaard come into play but I don’t think either has much of a chance of making the Mets Opening Day roster despite what the Mets say publicly.