1 Mets roster flaw the team has improved, 2 continuing to linger in redundancy

There were tons of questions about the New York Mets roster coming into the 2024 season. Between the personnel and the structure of it, fans were right to have their doubts.

We have yet to see the full effect of what the team did in the offseason. J.D. Martinez has yet to debut. The missing piece on offense should be the rocket fuel they need to be a much more effective team at the plate. The keyword being “should.”

Already, the Mets have been able to fix one of the roster weaknesses staring us in the eye. Meanwhile, two others continue to stick out like a sore thumb.

1) The Mets have given themselves more flexibility in the bullpen

Overtaxing a bullpen is one way to run yourself into trouble. The Mets are in the midst of a lengthy stretch with no days off and that’s where they’re going to need to ask the starters for an extra three or six outs to get through it.

A normal team might rotate through some arms. The Mets, who opened the year without an optional reliever on the roster, didn’t originally have this tool at their disposal. The decision to DFA Michael Tonkin will fix this. They can now use a bullpen spot for players like Reed Garrett, Josh Walker, and Grant Hartwig to rotate through. It’s not ideal but availability of fresh arms is essential.

In the first week of the season, the Mets relied on pitchers like Tonkin, Garrett, and Yohan Ramirez to go multiple innings. The starters haven’t gone particularly deep nor should we expect this to change all that much.

Positive results might arrive from this roster spot of optional relievers, but at least it’ll save them from having to routinely call upon arms better used in a close game.