Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, Mets fans!

The Mets’ first home spring training game is Sunday at 1 p.m. on SNY. Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling will all be on the broadcast with Steve Gelbs contributing on-field reporting. The boys are back.

Now let’s get into the morning briefing.

Latest Mets News

Dominic Smith, Nick Plummer and Luis Guillorme powered the Mets to a 6-2 win over the Washington Nationals in their first spring training game. The three aforementioned Mets crushed first-inning homers off Josiah Gray en route to an easy first win. Guillorme also played part in a sweet cutoff play that stopped a double from turning into a triple.

Buck Showalter described Showalter as a “regular irregular.”

“We don’t have someone who can do what he does,” he said.

The Mets cut Thomas Szapucki from major-league camp today. He’s the second cut, alongside Jordan Yamamoto. They were cut with the expectation they’ll continue to be extended as starters at the minor-league level–something difficult to do in two weeks of major-league spring training games when you’re working on extending guys like Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt.

Latest MLB News

Jorge Soler, one of the heroes of the 2021 Atlanta Braves World Series team, signed a three-year, $36 million deal with the Miami Marlins. He’ll likely slot in as the team’s designated hitter and part-time outfielder.

Here is some other MLB news in a neat format:

  • The Cubs signed pitcher Drew Smyly to a one-year major-league deal
  • Phil Gosselin signed a minor-league deal with the Braves
  • Ryon Healy, who hasn’t played regularly in the bigs since 2019, signed a minor-league deal with the Rays (which means he’ll hit like 18 homers next season)

Latest on MMO

John Sheridan touches on why Michael Conforto would still be a good option for the Mets despite their free-agent signings.

Mojo Hill looks at what the Mets bullpen may look like on Opening Day.

Brian Wright looks back at some memorable Mets yearbook covers.

On This Date in Mets History

On this day in 1993, the Mets signed Octavio Dotel out of the Dominican Republic. He was then traded six years later, along with Roger Cedeno, for Mike Hampton, who later left for Colorado. The Mets got a compensatory pick out of Hampton leaving. The Mets used that pick on David Wright.

Dotel later pitched for 14 MLB teams in 15 seasons. His longest stay was with the Astros.

Recent Met Brad Hand also turns 32 today. Happy birthday, Mr. Hand.