3 NY Mets spring training battles we can already smell brewing

2) Genesis Cabrera vs. Danny Young

The Mets bullpen could use another lefty. Even if they did bring in someone, we could see a battle brew between minor league free agent signing Genesis Cabrera and roster leftover Danny Young. Neither has minor league options in 2025. For Cabrera to win, the Mets would have to DFA or trade Young. For Young to be victorious, Cabrera would need to begin the year in the minor leagues. The only downside here is there could be something in his contract with an opt out date which is common for players of his experience level.

Young ended up having a very average year with the Mets, but there was a period when he made us all forget about the devastation Jake Diekman brought to our lives. Despite already being 30, he has only 52.1 innings of MLB experience. Of them, 37.2 came last year. He’s not a bad piece to have around. The biggest knock is he’s no longer someone they can easily shuttle to Syracuse.

Cabrera has far more experience and has regularly had better ERA seasons than Young’s last year. In fact, a 3.59 ERA posted by the 28-year-old lefty last year was close to a full run better than his fellow Mets southpaw. On the downside, he struck out batters at a significantly lower rate and had a horrific 1.46 WHIP. Cabrera has spent much of his career striking out too few batters for all of the walks he allows.

Conclusion: Cabrera will need to blow Young away in spring training to get an Opening Day roster spot. One possibility is they both make it and we see who falters first.