While the official schedule has not been released, the New York Mets should be set to play their long-awaited Opening Day on the weekend of July 24th. We know Jacob deGrom will be on the mound and Pete Alonso will be starting at first base, but the roster as a whole is going to look a lot different this year.
Instead of the expected 26-man roster, teams are going to start this season with 30 players at their disposal. If the league can keep their teams generally healthy amid the COVID-19 pandemic, that roster size will slowly be dwindled down to 28 players a few weeks after the start of the season, before ultimately settling back to the typical 26-man roster.
Still, this opens the opportunity for many players on the Mets roster, as it is truly going to take the entire organization to be successful in this shortened season. Here is our prediction for the Opening Day roster.
Starting Lineup
- Brandon Nimmo CF
- Jeff McNeil 3B
- Pete Alonso 1B
- Michael Conforto RF
- Yoenis Cespedes DH
- J.D. Davis LF
- Robinson Cano 2B
- Wilson Ramos C
- Amed Rosario SS
All of the offseason debate about who will start in left field with the return of Yoenis Cespedes is suddenly moot, as he now is likely to become the full-time DH. The ability to include both Cespedes and J.D. Davis’ bat in the same lineup surely lengthens things out, as there really in no hole in this group.
Starting Rotation
- Jacob deGrom
- Marcus Stroman
- Steven Matz
- Rick Porcello
- Michael Wacha
Throughout the offseason, and into spring training, there was plenty of discussion surrounding which of the six starting pitchers would make the Mets rotation. Unfortunately Noah Syndergaard went down with Tommy John surgery, which now makes for a clear starting five.
Marcus Stroman and Steven Matz will need to build off of solid campaigns last year and the Mets will hope to see a pair of comeback years from Porcello and Wacha.
Bench
The Mets 40-man roster is stock full of pitchers, leaving not many options to fill out a six-man bench with the inclusion of the designated hitter.
New York will surely carry two catchers, with Tomas Nido and Rene Rivera being the obvious choices. Ali Sanchez will likely be seen at some point, but he is one member of the 40-man roster that could see a lot of time on the taxi-squad.
Jake Marisnick and Dominic Smith were always set to be big parts of this team and an expanded roster all but guarantees Luis Guillorme a spot. Finally that leaves us with Jed Lowrie. Maybe all of this time away has healed Lowrie of his injuries, but it can’t be assumed that will be the case at this point.
Instead, top prospect Andres Gimenez likely finds himself making his MLB debut this season, as he could be a very useful contributor off the bench with his great defense and speed as a pinch runner.
Bullpen
- Edwin Diaz RHP
- Seth Lugo RHP
- Dellin Betances RHP
- Jeurys Familia RHP
- Justin Wilson LHP
- Brad Brach RHP
- Robert Gsellman
- Daniel Zamora LHP
- Walker Lockett RHP
- Stephen Gonsalves LHP
There really is no surprises when you look at the top seven of this projected bullpen. Assuming health, each of those pitchers will make the roster and take on a lionshare of the relief work.
For the final three pitchers in this 10-man bullpen, there really was an endless amount of options. The Mets could go with more experienced guys like Paul Sewald, Chasen Shreve or Erasmo Ramirez (the latter two are on minor league deals); or they could even dip in to the prospects and see if a pitcher like Franklyn Kilome‘s stuff plays up out of the pen
Ultimately I went with Daniel Zamora to add a lefty specialist. Then closed it out Walker Lockett and Stephen Gonsalves, as both have experience as starters and could be used as long men.
With all of this being said, a lot can change over the course of the next month. There will surely be positive COVID tests and injuries that arise that will change the Mets roster. For now though, this is a pretty fair representation of what the Mets will look like Opening Day.
