Mets announce 25-man roster

Prior to their final Spring Training game, the Mets announced their 25-man roster – with no surprises among the names heading north.

Here’s how it shakes out:

Position players (12): Travis d’Arnaud, Lucas Duda, Daniel Murphy, Wilmer Flores, David Wright, Curtis Granderson, Juan Lagares, Michael Cuddyer, Anthony Recker, Ruben Tejada, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, John Mayberry, Jr.

Starting pitchers (5): Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Bartolo Colon, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee.

Relief pitchers (8): Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Familia, Carlos Torres, Alex Torres, Jerry Blevins, Sean Gilmartin, Rafael Montero, Buddy Carlyle.

The Mets hinted on Friday that they would likely be carrying eight relievers and four bench players, and confirmed that with their announcement on Saturday.

Left off the roster due to the club carrying one less bench player is Eric Campbell, who will be sent to Triple-A Las Vegas.

With Daniel Murphy set to join the team on Opening Day in Washington, D.C., both Daniel Muno and Matt Reynolds were reassigned to Las Vegas.

Also reassigned to Las Vegas was catcher Johnny Monell, who had a strong spring but was never a good bet to beat out Anthony Recker for the backup job.

The Mets also noted that they plan to place both Bobby Parnell and Vic Black on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 27.

Black (shoulder) is expected to be activated in time for the Mets’ game on April 12.

Thoughts:

As is noted above, there weren’t any surprises here.

After the Mets made it known that they planned to carry eight relievers and four bench players, it was easy to ascertain how the 25-man roster would shake out.

I wrote yesterday that I’m not in favor of the eight reliever/four bench player plan, but there are two main reasons why the Mets are going with that alignment for now.

For one, Buddy Carlyle has an out in his contract that he can exercise if he’s not on the 25-man roster.

Second, with Dillon Gee in the rotation and Rafael Montero in the bullpen, the Mets have a glut of relievers, with two (Black and Parnell) due back soon to make things even more crowded.

I’ve said this a handful of times, but the only way the Mets can really clear this glut is by trading Dillon Gee and moving Rafael Montero into the rotation, thus opening more room in the bullpen.