For the first time in his young Mets career, David Stearns has arrived in Port St. Lucie, Florida, for the start of spring training. The 38-year-old was hired in October as the club’s new president of baseball operations after a year working in European football. The experience, he said, opened his eyes to how other sports tackle similar situations that they face in baseball.

Now, he’s back to baseball and ready to work. Stearns sat at his podium on Monday with a smile of excitement and said, as his opening remark, “Welcome to spring training.”

And so begins another baseball season, with pitchers and catchers having reported to Clover Park and the Mets having released an official spring training roster. Stearns is maintaining optimism and high expectations for this beleaguered Mets team, which placed fourth in the NL East last year.

“I think we’ve gotten deeper as a club, and that’s something that probably hurt us a little bit last year,” Stearns said. “When some of the guys at the top of the roster went down, it was tougher for this team to backfill… I think we’re positioned well right now to handle the inevitable uncertainty that a major league season brings.”

The Mets might not have been as engaged in bidding for the high-profile free agents as some fans had hoped, but Stearns did fill out this roster with depth pieces in a variety of areas. He added Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Adrian Houser to the starting rotation, relievers like Jake Diekman and Michael Tonkin to the bullpen, and players like Joey Wendle, Zack Short and José Iglesias to the infield mix. And, just a few hours earlier on Monday, the Mets announced their latest addition, veteran outfielder Ben Gamel.

It might not be the flashiest bunch. But it’s enough that Stearns feels confident with how the roster stands. That being said, he hasn’t conceded that he’s done with the roster quite yet.

“I think increasingly, the offseason extends into spring training now, and I think that’s the case this year as well,” Stearns said. “There will be transaction activity unquestionably throughout the industry in the coming weeks. It may extend until March. But we feel good about our team.”

The Mets’ plethora of options should support the unpredictability of the season, and all the injuries that come with it. Even just hours into the first official spring workouts, the injury bug is already infecting the clubhouse. Reliever Kyle Crick, a non-roster invitee the Mets signed on Feb. 1, has a calf strain and will miss most or all of camp, Stearns said.

David Peterson is still on the sideline too. The former first-round pick, who’s still trying to prove he belongs in the big leagues, underwent surgery to repair the labrum in his left hip in November. The typical return for his specific procedure is six to seven months. Stearns said that Peterson is still on track, and he remains hopeful that Peterson will return during the summer.

Ronny Mauricio is also down and had to get right knee ACL reconstruction surgery in January. Mauricio is still in the early stages of his rehab, per Stearns, and is unlikely to return this season.

In positive injury news, Starling Marte is healthy and should be able to make an impact in the Mets’ lineup. He played only 86 games last year and posted a career-low .625 OPS. Stearns had a chance to watch Marte play in Dominican winter ball this offseason, boosting his confidence that Marte will be able to contribute.

“It was clear watching him play that he was healthy,” Stearns said. “The game I was at, he was playing right field; he had to handle a number of balls down the right field line. And he got there easily. It looked like Starling Marte moving in the outfield. So that was very encouraging.”

Marte should easily be penciled in as the Mets’ starting right fielder if all continues to go well. But the roster still has areas where the Mets are going to need to work things out, and that’s a big part of what spring training is for.

Stearns highlighted the last couple spots in the bullpen as an area that will need to be completed. The big “addition” in the bullpen, so to speak, is the return of a healthy Edwin Díaz. The Mets brought Adam Ottavino back, too. But after the top two guys, there’s a lot of room for mixing and matching. In addition to the previously mentioned Diekman and Tonkin, the Mets have a host of relievers that includes Brooks Raley, Drew Smith, Phil Bickford, Reed Garrett, Grant Hartwig, Jorge López, Johan Ramirez and Sean Reid-Foley on the 40-man roster, in addition to a handful of non-roster invitees. Some of these arms will make the roster by default, but some will have to prove themselves over others in camp.

The bottom of the Mets’ position player depth chart will be another area to keep tabs on. The Mets didn’t sign a starting DH, so it’ll likely be a battle between DJ Stewart and Mark Vientos, and potentially others depending on how they decide to arrange things. The bench isn’t locked in place yet either, with options like Yolmer Sánchez and Trayce Thompson in the fold. There’s a lot of roster competition that will take place over the next several weeks.

“That’s going to be exciting,” Stearns said. “And we also know that things change over the course of camp. There’ll be injuries that pop up inevitably that change how we look at certain roles.”

Stearns said he likely won’t drill down these tougher roster decisions until the second week of March.

Also continuing to be a theme on Stearns’ mind will be star first baseman Pete Alonso, who’s entering his walk year in his age-29 season. Alonso is represented by agent Scott Boras, who typically is able to get his clients to free agency. Stearns acknowledged this reality, while also noting that the Mets have dealt with similar situations before and come out fine in the end.

For now, Stearns’ message to Alonso is to focus on the task at hand.

“Let’s go out and have a great year together,” Stearns said. “You go out and have a great year. Let’s have a great year as a team. And if we do that, the organization and Pete are going to be set up very well going into the offseason.”

And that’s what Alonso, and the Mets, should have their eyes planted on. Alonso is one of the team’s best players, a dynamic hitter with the star power to help this team surprise its doubters. It’s a different feeling in this year’s camp than last year’s — after a disappointing season, the weight of high expectations has been lifted in exchange for a team that needs to earn the fans’ trust.

But that’s what Stearns is setting out to do. And it’s not just him; he said the players share that sense of optimism, and he doesn’t feel like he needs to foster it out of them.

“We expect to compete for a playoff spot and have exciting baseball at Citi Field in September and October,” Stearns said.

And the quest to achieve these goals started Monday.