We’ve nearly made it. Spring training is now firmly in the home stretch and Opening Day is less than a week away for the New York Mets.

With less than a handful of Grapefruit League games remaining, we have a pretty good idea of what the Opening Day roster will look like and there is very little still up in the air.

As such, now is the perfect time to round up the good and the bad from the last full week of spring training with games that actually matter rapidly approaching.

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SWING FOR THE FENCES

The fact that there were still tickets available for Opening Day at Citi Field tells you all you need to know about the general feeling around the 2024 season for the Mets. Expectations are low and most fans acknowledge that a heck of a lot will have to break right just for this team to be in contention for a Wild Card spot. There are just too many question marks hovering above every aspect of this roster.

However, president of baseball operations David Stearns sent a jolt of excitement through the fanbase and sent a clear vote of confidence to the clubhouse with a grand slam of a move on Thursday. By signing a proven slugger in J.D. Martinez, Stearns has raised the ceiling considerably on what this team could achieve in 2024, while also giving fans a real tangible reason to buy tickets, spend on merchandise, and get behind this team from the get-go. The Mets are a better team than they were on Wednesday, and fans now have a real reason to be excited about the 2024 season.

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STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

This has been a pretty sweet week for the Mets. In addition to signing Martinez, they also got positive news on ace Kodai Senga. Senga’s latest MRI came back clean and he has now been cleared to resume activity. He’s expected to begin throwing again within the next week. At this point, that’s the best possible news for everybody concerned and it shouldn’t be too long before Senga is back in that rotation. After all, if the Mets are to stand any chance of making the postseason, they will need a healthy and effective Senga atop their rotation.

STAKING HIS CLAIM 

We’ve talked ad nauseam this offseason about Brett Baty and his make-or-break 2024 season. You really can’t overstate just how important this year will be in terms of Baty proving that he’s good enough to stick in the big leagues. Well, he’s certainly made notable strides toward accomplishing that goal throughout spring training. With a couple of homers this past week, Baty is now hitting .250/.327/.477/.804 with three home runs, a double, four walks, and six RBIs. Baty has also increased both his velocity and pull percentage, meaning that several key aspects of his game are trending in the right direction. Expected to be the starting third baseman on Opening Day, Baty now has a real opportunity to provide the Mets with some real stability at the hot corner. Something they haven’t had since the David Wright days.

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Photo Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

UNCERTAIN FUTURE

The biggest loser on Thursday in the wake of the Martinez signing was undoubtedly Mark Vientos. The young DH has now seen his path to regular playing time wiped out. With Martinez filling a long-time need at DH, and Baty expected to be the Mets’ starting third baseman, there doesn’t appear to be a full-time spot for Vientos anymore. What that means long term is still very much up for debate. However, just as he did on Friday by blasting a two-run homer against the Yankees, Vientos should continue to get the opportunity to fight for his long-term future in Queens. With Martinez set to begin 2024 in the minors, there should be an opening-day roster spot for Vientos and a chance for the righty-bat to prove to everybody that he’s worth keeping around. Both in the short and long term.

QUESTION MARKS 

There were always going to be significant question marks looming over both the rotation and the bullpen in 2024, and that hasn’t changed as we get closer to Opening Day. The starting rotation, which leads MLB in ERA (3.13), has started to show signs of regression down the home stretch, as has the bullpen. Tylor Megill and Adrian Houser both struggled in their last starts, while you can never be quite sure what you are going to get from that bullpen on any given day. Luis Severino has been excellent, however, posting a stellar 1.00 ERA in nine spring training innings, and he may have to carry this starting rotation until Kodai Senga returns.

Having Edwin Díaz back healthy is certainly a boost for the bullpen. But, again, there are just too many ifs when it comes to the pitching in general, and a lot will need to go right if both the starting pitching and the bullpen hold up and provide the kind of pitching needed to battle for a Wild Card spot. That is a big if.

OBSTRUCTION CONFUSION 

We’ve not even reached Opening Day yet there is already some contention over certain rules and the way MLB is aggressively trying to enforce them. During the Mets’ game against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, Francisco Lindor stuck his glove down in an attempt to rob a base runner of a stolen base, only to be called for an obstruction violation. Watch the play below before we continue.

It just didn’t make any sense. I mean, how on God’s green earth is that obstruction? Just how? It was a routine play that Lindor makes constantly, and there is no way the shortstop was blocking the entire bag. Those are big bases, remember, and at least half the bag was open for the runner. There will have to be a lot of clarity on the way MLB is looking to enforce this rule, or else chaos could ensue in the opening weeks of the 2024 season. If an opponent ends up scoring the winning run in a game on that kind of violation, then that is going to, and rightly so, drive people nuts. You just hope that this egregious example can be learned from, and maybe officials won’t be so aggressive in calling it once the regular season begins. Let’s hope so anyway.