If the season started today, the Mets OF would be a joke.
Anyway, if the season started today, I would expect the roster to look something like this:
C: John Buck
1B: Ike Davis
2B: Daniel Murphy
3B: David Wright
SS: Ruben Tejada
LF: Lucas Duda
CF: Captain Kirk
RF: (Open Competition) Mike Baxter
BN: Anthony Recker
BN: Brandon Hicks
BN: Colin Cowgill
BN: Justin Turner
BN: Jordany Valdespin
SP: Johan Santana
SP: Jon Niese
SP: Shawn Marcum
SP: Dillon Gee
SP: Matt Harvey
P: Frank Francisco
P: Bobby Parnell
P: Josh Edgin
P: Jeremy Hefner
P: Robert Carson
P: Greg Burke
P: Jeurys Familia
Let’s talk about the locks. The following players are pretty much guaranteed to be on the roster for Opening Day: Wright, Buck, Tejada, Murphy, Davis, Santana, Niese, Marcum, Gee, Harvey, Parnell, Francisco and probably Duda.
That leaves the rest of the roster open for competition. d’Arnaud and Wheeler most likely do not break camp with the team. They are both close, but could use some extra time in the minors getting used to each other (and delaying free agency by a full year). TDA will probably be with the team either in May or June and Wheeler probably in June or July.
The OF is the hardest part of this team to place. In most other scenarios, Duda shouldn’t even be guaranteed a job but things are so mysterious for this crew that he can pretty much bet on a job in April. That leaves Baxter. Cowgill, Kirk, Puello, Valdespin, den Dekker, and apparently Lutz and Turner in an open competition for the remaining spots.
If Dekker has a good spring, he could easily squeeze into center where I have Kirk listed right now. Baxter extrapolates as a bench player better so this would knock Kirk over to right, or Duda back to right. Valdespin in winter showed more patience, so if he has a good spring, he could weasel his way back into the mix. With the lack of depth the Mets have at OF, I wouldn’t mind carrying him on the bench to start to act as a spark plug like he did for a stretch of the season last year.
The bullpen is another area that is mostly question marks. Francisco is reluctantly the closer, although Parnell could edge him out. Everyone else it will be a full competition. Hefner has an inside track as the probable long man unless someone else is brought on.
Pitchers and Catchers is still over two weeks away, therefore this will probably change a bit before then, especially if the Mets can some how land Bourn.
