Morning Briefing: Mets Set For Delayed Opening Day

Good morning, Mets fans! We might have had to wait an extra day, but we can finally say happy Mets Opening Day!

Today the Mets take on the Milwaukee Brewers in their first game of the season and their Citi Field opener. It will be left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana (0-2, 6.19 ERA in five spring training appearances) on the mound for the Mets against right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta (0-1, 7.20 ERA in four spring appearances) on the mound for the visiting Brewers.

The Mets in 2023 finished the season 75-87, fourth in the NL East under then manager Buck Showalter. Now under the management of first-year manager Carlos Mendoza, the Mets will look to start their 2024 campaign off strong as they look for success with the ultimate goal of a postseason run. The chase for their third World Series championship starts today!

Happy Opening Day, Mets fans!

Latest Mets News

According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, Michael Tonkin and Yohan Ramirez earned the final two bullpen spots on the Mets’ Opening Day roster.

The Syracuse Mets will begin their season today at 2:05 p.m. ET. Per Michael Mayer of Metsmerized Online. Joey Lucchesi will be on the mound for Syracuse.

Per SNY, Mets owner Steve Cohen will hold an Opening Day news conference this morning at 11:30 A.M EST live from Citi Field. SNY will have coverage on their social media channels.

Citi Field released the transformation of their new Mets Team Store.

Latest MLB News

The Mariners signed Nelson Cruz to a one-day contract so he can retire as a Mariner, the team announced.

Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, according to a source, in accordance with an agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association, Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been placed on administrative leave through June 1. His status could change before that depending on the court proceedings of his criminal case in the Dominican Republic. But until then he will remain on administrative leave through June 1. Franco has been on paid administrative leave since six weeks prior to the end of the 2023 season due to allegations of a sexual relationship with a 14-year old. With those allegations still remaining and unresolved, MLB and the Players’ Association agreed to keeping Franco on administrative leave for at least the next two months.

According to John Ourand of Puck News, DirecTV signed a deal with MLB to broadcast Colorado Rockies games. They will also carry Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres games. Hulu and Live TV will carry MLB Network games beginning on Thursday, March 28.

According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Mike Ford has signed a minor league deal with the Cincinnati Reds.

MLB Pipeline releases a full breakdown on Jackson Courio and Wyatt Langford who made their MLB debuts on Opening Day.

Per Post-Gazette Sports, Jackson Wolf and two other San Diego Padres players were designated for assignment on. The other players were Canaan Smith-Njigba and Ali Sanchez.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic released a story he wrote titled, “The Dodgers’ billion-dollar spree: secrets, rumors, and Brad Paisley’s Pappy Van Winkle” with Fabian Ardaya.

Andrew C. Golden of the Washington Post reported that per a source, Nick Senzel broke his thumb fielding a ground ball pre-game.

According to Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com, Minnesota Twins infielder Royce Lewis left Thursday afternoon’s game with an apparent leg injury that the Twins called a “right quad injury.” He received imaging on Thursday evening and the Twins were awaiting results of the MRI. In his first at-bat of the day, Lewis hit his first home run of the season.