Photo by James Farrance Photography

On the eve of Mets’ 2020 Opening Day, their second-year GM Brodie Van Wagenen talked to reports about a variety of different topics.

The former agent opened the talks with a statement, “We have a group of players that are excited to start the season, we’re excited, we’ve got cutouts of the fans in the stadium, we’ve got an Opening Day game on national TV, and we are ready to roll. I don’t know about anyone else, but we are in a New York state of mind.”

Mets Not Naming 5th Starter

Van Wagenen was asked about if Corey Oswalt (on the Mets 30-man Opening Day roster) – given how the roster played out – was going to be the Mets fifth starter in the wake of the Marcus Stroman calf tear, “As far as who’s going to be starting on that fourth or fifth game depending on how he (Luis Rojas) sets his rotation, it’s not predetermined who that’s going to be.”

With Stroman out, the Mets rotation would seem to look like Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz, Rick Porcello, Michael Wacha, and Oswalt for the time being.

Surprise Addition of Andres Gimenez on Roster

When the Mets released their Opening Day roster on Thursday, the big surprise was shortstop prospect Andres Gimenez being included. The 21-year-old has played just 37 games above A-Ball, but he is on the 40-man roster.

BVW explained the thought process behind carrying the youngster on the 30-man roster, “It’s simple, ever since I same here, we made a commitment that we are going to try to win every single game. And Andres is a player that we felt like on Opening Day gives us a chance to help us win games, he can win games with his speed and he can win games with his glove.”

Gimenez is on the 40-man roster (which is currently full), while other speed options like Ryan Cordell and Johneshwy Fargas are not.

Brodie Unsure of Stroman Injury 

Stroman, the Mets no. 2 starter, was placed on the injured list on Wednesday with a calf tear but Brodie is unsure of the seriousness, “I don’t know what grade the tear is, I would leave it to the doctors to try and sort through that. It’s a really disappointing for him, he’s work so hard. He suffered this injury when he got hit by the line drive and then jumped of the mound – in the athletic-way he always does – to cover first base and it’s something he thought he was going to be able to get through.”

Marcus took to Twitter on Thursday morning to address the injury, calling it a “super minor setback” and that he’s not “even worried slightly”.

Still No Answers on Jed Lowrie

The Mets placed infielder Jed Lowrie on the injured list earlier this week with left knee discomfort, something that has no lingered since last February for the veteran. He was scheduled to get a second opinion from David Altchek recently, but that didn’t answer anything, “We are still searching for those answers, we don’t have a very clear cut picture.”

Lowrie had been playing in simulated games (doubled off Jacob deGrom in one) with a balky knee brace. As the Mets pushed him to do more, the pain became too much.

“It’s effectively inconclusive of what is causing that type of pain.”