{"id":36071,"date":"2025-02-23T02:09:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T02:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=36071"},"modified":"2025-02-23T02:09:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T02:09:01","slug":"three-mets-takeaways-ahead-of-the-teams-first-spring-training-exhibition-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=36071","title":{"rendered":"Three Mets takeaways ahead of\u00a0the team’s\u00a0first spring training exhibition game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014 And now it is time for games.<\/p>\n

Limited in these early weeks to activities vaguely resembling baseball, the Mets will advance to the games portion of spring training Saturday when they open their Grapefruit League schedule by hosting the Astros.<\/p>\n

Clay Holmes will be on the mound (for about three innings) and Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso will be in the lineup (before getting Sunday off).<\/p>\n

Yes, the game will be on SNY, with a 1:10 p.m. first pitch.<\/p>\n

If exhibition action isn\u2019t enough \u2014 if you\u2019re eager for the real thing come March 27 \u2014 know this: By the end of the weekend, spring training will be one-third over.<\/p>\n

Here are three takeaways from Mets camp:<\/p>\n

1. The rotation situation seems risky<\/h2>\n

Frankie Montas\u2019 seemingly innocuous triceps discomfort during his first bullpen session wound up being a high-grade right lat strain. He is out until at least mid-May.<\/p>\n

Immediately losing a noteworthy offseason rotation addition underscored the Mets\u2019 reality: Their group of starting pitchers does not feature a lot of sure things.<\/p>\n

The personnel uncertainty is straightforward. Paul Blackburn, Griffin Canning and Tylor Megill are competing for the fifth starter spot. While only one will win, it\u2019s possible that another will head to the bullpen as a long man\u00a0 until the Mets want to add a sixth starter in mid-April.<\/p>\n

Among the four slots accounted for, there are plenty of questions. Can Kodai Senga stay healthy, and if so, how will he fare after missing basically all of last year? Can Sean Manaea repeat his career year? How will Holmes\u2019 transition from reliever go? Will David Peterson regress after posting a 2.90 ERA in 2024?<\/p>\n

To the extent that those can be answered at this point, signs are positive. Senga seems happy and healthy. Holmes is the most built up of any Mets pitcher. But real games will bring real answers.<\/p>\n

2. Quiet is good<\/h2>\n

In Year 2 of the David Stearns-Carlos Mendoza regime, pretty much everybody knows each other, expectations, the routine. That is very much welcomed. For an organization that endured so much upheaval and turnover in recent years, stability and familiarity feel like luxuries. The Mets climbed the get-to-know-you learning curve last year, so now they can get to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot different. You\u2019re not meeting 20 people every day,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cYou have a foundation now. That makes things a lot smoother, especially in the early going. So from that end, it\u2019s a lot different. But you still gotta be able to connect, you still gotta be able to talk to people and challenge them.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Juan Soto is a game-changer<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s true for the lineup, for fans attending workouts in much larger numbers than in the recent past while hoping to catch a glimpse, and even for his new teammates, who sometimes seem in awe of Soto\u2019s star status and talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t usually get impressed easily with BP. I saw three swings yesterday and they were 111 [mph], 111, 114, and I was very, very impressed,\u201d Brett Baty said. \u201cI think he is [one of] . . . if not the best hitter in the league . . . It was rising line drives. It was some of the best BP I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soto has blended into the clubhouse seamlessly in his first week in orange and blue, in particular joshing around with other Latino players, including Lindor, Starling Marte, Jose Siri, Francisco Alvarez and Ronny Mauricio.<\/p>\n

\n

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of \u201cHometown Hardball,\u201d a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mets advance to the games portion of spring training Saturday when they open their Grapefruit League schedule by hosting the Astros.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nThree Mets takeaways ahead of\u00a0the team's\u00a0first spring training exhibition game - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=36071\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Mets takeaways ahead of\u00a0the team's\u00a0first spring training exhibition game - 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