The goal of every Spring Training/Summer Camp — or whatever you want to call the preseason — for MLB teams is to stay as healthy as possible. So far, the New York Mets have been successful in this regard, which I saw as I look around for some wood to knock on.

For years, the Mets’ most prevalent storyline has been that the rotation was expected to bring the goods. The biggest concern was whether there was enough firepower in the rest of the roster to not waste above-average production from their starting hurlers.

New York’s starting staff is once again projected to be among the best in baseball this season. This area of the roster just doesn’t seem to be as deep as it has in recent years.

We all collectively had our hearts in our throats when Jacob deGrom exited a recent intrasquad scrimmage with back tightness. Thankfully, the two-time defending National League Cy Young award winner escaped unscathed after getting an MRI. While his ramp up to Opening Day looks different than originally planned, he’s still preparing to take the mound Friday afternoon at Citi Field against the Atlanta Braves.

Any team — regardless of how deep the roster is — would be sent reeling from their ace getting injured. At least momentarily. For the Mets, though, there’s definitely more of a delicate balance with their rotation due to that aforementioned lack of depth.

Noah Syndergaard has already been lost for the year because of Tommy John surgery. Having deGrom and Marcus Stroman at the front of the rotation is still a formidable one-two punch, but it puts more pressure on the backend of the staff to be productive, too.

Thankfully, Michael Wacha has looked good, Rick Porcello put together a solid outing against the New York Yankees on Saturday, and there’s hope Steven Matz keeps the momentum going from his strong 2019 finish.

But if any of them gets hurt? The Mets could be in some trouble. There are some options to draw from, like Corey Oswalt, David Peterson, and Erasmo Ramirez. The overall depth just isn’t as good as it was at the start of Spring Training in March when it appeared Wacha was going to be in the bullpen.

When comparing this part of the roster to others, this potential issue comes to light even more.

Before Robinson Cano suited up Saturday night, there was some concern over his status for the immediate future. That would’ve created an issue for manager Luis Rojas, but mostly because he’d have to decide who fills in where. In that situation, Jeff McNeil could slide into second, J.D. Davis into third, and there’d still be plenty of options to fill the final outfield spot to join Brandon Nimmo and Michael Conforto. While Tomas Nido doesn’t compare to Wilson Ramos‘ offensive capabilities, it wouldn’t be crushing to the lineup if Buffalo’s personal matters linger into the regular season. Having the designated hitter being a full-time option now will also generate even more lineup flexibility for New York.

The position player area of the roster certainly feels well equipped to withstand any future injuries because of the depth created, and the same can be said about the bullpen.

There are a number of health and production question marks among the group (like Dellin Betances, Edwin Diaz, and now Robert Gsellman), but this appears to be another deep group. While Jared Hughes and Brad Brach are both on the injured list, there are still a number of healthy and proven-to-be- effective arms ready to pick up any potential slack.

Expectations are high for the Mets entering this shortened campaign. MLB.com has ranked their lineup, bullpen, and starting rotation all among the league’s 10 best when looking at projections. In order to make good on those expectations, player health needs to remain relatively intact. With just a 60-game season on the horizon, any extended period of absence will prove costly if there’s not sufficient depth in place behind that particular player.

In most cases, the lineup and bullpen appear ready to withstand most of what could come their way in this specific situation. The same can’t be said about the rotation, though. If Syndergaard was still on the active roster, this would be a different discussion. If the Mets ponied up the money and retained Zack Wheeler, this would be even more of a different discussion.

Neither of those things are true, making deGrom’s presence at the top more crucial than ever. New York has relied on its ace’s reliability since the moment he made his big-league debut, so hopefully that trend continues through 2020 (and beyond, of course).