Mets news you may have missed: Spring training, contracts, and center fielders

The Mets released their list of non-roster invitees on Feb 13. Here’s a cheat sheet for which position players you should watch out for!

With Tim Tebow having announced his retirement from Major League Baseball on Feb 17, the Mets minor league is now free of distractions.

Fans will now be able to seriously examine the talent in their farm system while management can use his roster spot for someone with a legitimate chance at making the pros – and more importantly – someone who can contribute to the future success of the team.

However, the main NRIs to keep an eye on include top prospects: SS Ronny Mauricio (No. 1), C Francisco Alvarez (No. 2), 3B Brett Baty (No. 3), RHP Matt Allan (No. 4), OF Pete Crow-Armstrong. (No. 5), and 3B Mark Vientos (No. 7).

Their ages range from 18-21 and they’re each expected to begin the season playing A-ball in Port St. Lucie. Although their ETA’s in to the majors are at least 2-4 years away, their invitations will allow fans to get a glimpse of what the future Mets roster could look like while they play alongside the team’s current crop of stars.

Since the roster is already determined, by and large, with the team’s first full-squad workouts scheduled for Monday, Feb 22, time will ultimately tell just how deep or thin the Mets minor league affiliates are with their talent levels.

On the flip side, this Spring will primarily play a vital role in shoring up their bullpen.

Pay close attention to how this list of relievers perform; especially after a money wrench was thrown into the team’s would-be bullpen plans for this season with a major injury to arguably their most reliable arm.

Although the Mets focused much of their time and attention on other areas of the field this winter, it’s possible that a strong spring training from the list of pitchers on their non-roster invitees list could make a tangible difference in how they finalize their bullpen.

Veteran LHP Jerry Blevins immediately draws the eye when thinking of a reliable southpaw to bring in late in games. Entering his age 37 season, however, it will be interesting to see how he performs in crowded camp as he trains for a spot on the major league roster. Same goes for RHP Jerad Eickhoff, RHP Trevor Hildenberger.

Conversely, RHP Oscar De La Cruz, RHP Arodys Vizcaíno, RHP Ryley Gilliam, RHP Jared Robinson, and LHP Tom Windle each bring a range of minor league experience that could prove useful to the team and generate healthy competition.

The Mets also signed LHP Mike Montgomery and RHP Tommy Hunter to minor league deals with invites to spring training.

Regardless of who earns the remaining spots on the roster, one positive I can see is that the Syracuse Mets will be loaded with MLB experience this season; so that even after camps close, the front office will still have options if/when injuries force some players on the IL, which inevitably happens.

Case in point: due to the news released earlier this week about a “loose body” in Seth Lugo’s right elbow, the Mets learned that they would be without their star reliever until earliest, May.

The follow-up news that ace reliever Trevor Rosenthal signed with the Oakland Athletics on a one-year, $11 million dollar deal meant another option the Mets had been linked to was off the table. As a result, the stale rumors that Jeurys Familia and Dellin Betances were being shopped around seems like any such deal would do more harm than good with so many of their bullpen options dwindling.

In hindsight, it also doesn’t help that they designated Corey Oswald and Brad Brach for assignment just before Lugo was shut down. Both were leaned on heavily to carry the load during their two seasons in New York.

Fortunately, the front office has kept tabs on two of the top remaining starting pitchers on the market, SP Taijon Walker and SP Jake Odorizzi. And never has it seemed so necessary that they sign at least one of those pitchers. As it stands today, the front office has about $20 million in payroll to maneuver below the luxury tax.

Despite pitchers and catchers having already reported this week, I expect the front office has one or more moves up their sleeves. Signing Walker or Odorizzi should be that move.

It’s important to consider that no matter what happens during the weeks leading up to Opening Day, it has been an incredible offseason for the Mets. In fact, according to The Athletic, the orange and blue are the most bet-on team to win the World Series!

Therefore, despite missing out on a few free agents, it has to be said that the organization’s new regime has done several things right in their first offseason.

Former Mets Watch

With players all around the league still on the move, let’s take a look at where some former Mets have landed.

Apart from the team’s outlier 2015 season, recent Mets history has been a bleak one, filled with letdowns, mediocrity, and journeyman players. But with those painful memories still comes a certain degree of interest about where some of these players have ended up.

This week, fans were received such an update, as SP Matt Harvey, OF Jay Bruce, and LHP Justin Wilson all signed to new teams.

In this week’s posting of Former Mets Watch, ‘The Dark Knight’ goes to Baltimore while Bruce and Wilson switch to the dark side of the city.

In yet another team change for the Mets former ace, Harvey signed a minor league to join the Baltimore Orioles farm system. The power-hitting, Bruce also inked a new minor league deal with the New York Yankees.

Back in 2016, the Mets traded for Bruce at the Trade Deadline, hoping to get the same mid-season spark they received from their acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes the season prior. But unlike then, his acquisition did not catapult them on an incredible playoff run, nor did it carry them to their first pennant in 15 years (at the time).

Then, after a brief stint with the Cleveland Indians, he returned to New York in 2018 before being traded in the offseason as part of the infamous Edwin Diaz/Robinson Cano trade to Seattle. He soon found himself playing in Philadelphia during the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

Coincidently, it appears Mets fans will see him playing alongside their former left-handed reliever Wilson, who also agreed to a new deal that will see him wearing pinstripes rather than black tops this season (fingers crossed on the latter).

Updating contract extensions

Meanwhile, the Mets announced that they expect to discuss contract extensions with Michael Conforto and Francisco Lindor soon.

If the front office was serious about ‘not being done’ yet before the season starts, then these are the two deals that take priority over any other transaction.