NY Mets Opening Day roster prediction 2.0: Francisco Lindor all good, final decisions

New York Mets Opening Day is less than two weeks away. Clarity on a few of their final roster decisions is still up in the air. The Mets have a few different bullpen choices and a bench spot to decide on. Different from some previous years, there isn’t even certainty as to who gets into the starting lineup with an ongoing right field battle.

It’ll be Freddy Peralta vs. Paul Skenes before we know it. When the Mets break camp, will this be what their team looks like?

Predicting the Mets Opening Day roster

Mets Starting Lineup

Francisco Lindor, SS
Juan Soto, LF
Bo Bichette, 3B
Jorge Polanco, DH
Luis Robert Jr., CF
Brett Baty, 1B
Marcus Semien, 2B
Francisco Alvarez, C
Carson Benge, RF

The top three are all but confirmed and Jorge Polanco is everyone’s favorite to bat cleanup even if he’s not your favorite. Creativity opens up in the final four spots. With the way Carlos Mendoza has raved about Luis Robert Jr., I suspect he gets in there batting fifth with Brett Baty’s left-handed stick inserted sixth.

Marcus Semien is the most difficult player to understand simply because he can bat as high as leadoff in some scenarios or as low as ninth. Baty’s in a good spot to succeed with his left-handed bat between a pair of veteran righties.

Left in the dust is Mark Vientos. Carson Benge makes the team as the starting right fielder and we slowly start to see Vientos lose more and more playing time. It doesn’t mean he won’t be a waste. He’s an automatic choice off the bench to pinch hit for Baty and Benge versus lefties to begin the year.

Mets Bench

Luis Torrens, C
Mark Vientos, 1B/3B/DH
Mike Tauchman, OF
Tyrone Taylor, OF

No guessing here other than the spot that goes to Mike Tauchman. How can they possibly carry Vidal Brujan over Tauchman? As hard as it will be to get Tauchman into games, it’ll be equally as difficult with Brujan. Baty is your backup defender at virtually every corner spot. Tyrone Taylor becomes your best pinch running option. To keep Robert as healthy as possible, we regularly see Tauchman in right field with Benge or Taylor in center field depending on performance.

Mets Starting Rotation

Freddy Peralta
Nolan McLean
Clay Holmes
David Peterson
Kodai Senga

There’s nothing unique here except they’re just five deep. This is only temporary. The early-season off-days will allow the Mets to bypass the need for a six-man rotation to begin the year. Sean Manaea’s first appearance comes in relief of Clay Holmes or Kodai Senga. It’ll be planned out and the Mets will gather more information as to what his actual role will be thereafter.

Mets Bullpen

Devin Williams
Luke Weaver
Brooks Raley
Luis Garcia
Craig Kimbrel
Bryan Hudson
Tobias Myers
Sean Manaea (temporarily used in a relief role)

The spoiler has already been declared with Manaea. What about everyone else?

The only two spots up for grabs are the ones that end up going to Craig Kimbrel and Bryan Hudson. Kimbrel beats out Huascar Brazoban simply due to the latter’s minor league option. The Mets can be practical about it and only give Kimbrel and Hudson a limited window. Unless Brazoban stays in the minors for 20 days throughout the year, he’ll retain that option.

Brazoban’s minor league stint will be short-lived as the move of Manaea to the rotation will give them the desire to have a guy who can go multiple innings. By then, someone will either be hurt or they will have had enough of Kimbrel and/or Hudson.