Mets pack depth entering 2025
Written by Dalton Allison
Talking about the depth of a roster is never the most attractive conversation to have. While splashy signings like Juan Soto often carry the offseason chatter, the fact of the matter is that when the season begins, he is only one piece of a complicated puzzle being built to push the New York Mets into an October championship push. This spring training has been ceremonious for many reasons including the Soto signing, but also the return of Pete Alonso following the uncertainty he would return to the team, and the energy of prospects like Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams creating a buzz. Yet as ceremonious as it has been, the Mets have also felt the sharp pain of injuries to key pieces this spring. Sean Manaea, Francisco Alvarez, and Jeff McNeil, who each will play a prominent role on the 2025 team, have been injured in Spring Training, causing a respective void where they were expected to produce.
Manaea, who is starting to ramp things up following his oblique injury, was expected to be a force at the top of the rotation following a 2024 campaign where he really turned it on in the second half. McNeil, also ailing from an oblique injury, was expected to keep the bottom of the lineup sturdy after his under the radar second half of 2024. Perhaps the most impactful injury was suffered by Alvarez, who experienced a fracture in his left hamate bone, sidelining him for at least 6-8 weeks. Alvarez, despite slumping at the dish last season, proved to be loved by the pitching staff and came to his own as a commander behind the plate last season. In past seasons, these injuries may have crippled the Mets before the season even started, and while it is easy to get upset over early injuries, it is important to remember the depth that this team has built.
The injury to Manaea certainly caused people to speculate about what the rotation would look like. Afterall, the Mets had already lost Frankie Montas to injury, and are going to rely on Kodai Senga to make a healthy return from his injuries. This left important rotation spots to the like of Clay Holmes, who is being converted from a reliever, and Griffin Canning, who is coming off a season where he allowed a 5.19 ERA across 31 starts. If you’ve watched either of them this spring, it seems as if the Mets may have a similar situation to last season when they reconstructed Manaea and Severino into quality starting pitchers. Neither of them have allowed an earned run so far this spring, and Holmes was just named the Opening Day starter despite not having started a game since 2018.
The pitching lab, which has been spearheaded by pitching coach Jeremy Heffner and Ben Hanson, has been able to help Stearns shape his ideal rotation. This rotation includes a mix of pitchers who may not be aces, but can be had on short to medium-term, or are beneficiaries of the lab that were already on the roster. Long-term, this investment will allow the Mets to invest in more arms, and open them to spend on larger position player contracts.
Speaking of those position players, the injuries to McNeil and especially Alvarez will have a big impact on the bottom of the lineup. The second base position has been hit hard, as McNeil’s potential replacement, Nick Madrigal, dislocated his shoulder and became sidelined for the season in his first spring training action. This leaves the door open for Luisangel Acuna, who saw some great action at the end of the season last year. Brett Baty is also trying his hand at second, although his mitt has not matched how hot his bat has been in his early reps in the position. This opens up an opportunity for Donovan Walton, who has not been able to consistently crack an MLB roster so far. He has shown flashes so far this spring, and if he can provide quality backup time to spell the Mets infield in McNeil’s absence, he’ll be worth the pickup for Stearns.
At this point in spring training, there is anticipation growing for the season that is right around the corner. It can be easy to get deflated when a player gets injured, but under Stearns, the Mets have been built to weather the injuries that have been thrown their way so far this spring. The signings like Soto are undoubtedly exciting needle-movers that go a long way for the success of the team, but it is also important that he has an army of players with him on the roster that can step up and play any day.
Roster depth is key to all teams and Stearns has assembled a nice group and still allowed room for the kids to rise up from the minors and join in at some point. It is easy to argue that there are a number of capable players to weather the injuries that afflict all teams. I see the Mets starting Baty over Acuna based on his bat, if in fact he can turn meaningless spring training hitting into doing it at the MLB level, once the bell rings. Waiting in the wings is Mauricio who could really make an impact on this lineup, that is if he can stay healthy, something he has shown he cannot. However, Stearns has left this team with a starting staff of rebuilding pitchers, wannabes and hopefuls instead of matching the work he did on the offense side of the coin. They were never going to sign a Snell but passing on Flaherty and Buehler, two battle tested pitchers who have already overcome injuries, versus picking up Mantas and Canning, was a huge mistake. Just look at the Dodgers rotation, even without Ohtani ready to go, and each starter looks to be easily a 6-7 inning pitcher to go along with a strong offense. Still optimistic that they will snag a title this year, but it will depend on Senga and Holmes being strong from the start. Let the games begin already!
The depth seems to be holding to this point but one more injury puts it into the red, IMHO. They’ve got spare tires on both the starting rotation and in the lineup. If this group can hold down the fort for a month, then it will all work out, but I don’t think they can sustain another setback. All that aside, I am concerned with the hitting. I realize that it’s only spring training, but the bats are not there. I was curious, so I looked it up. Amongst all teams, the Mets are dead last in OBP (.303), SLG (.344), and of course, OPS (.647.) And the gap between the 29th team is rather significant. Also second to last in runs and HRs. Their BABIP is low (.263), but through 22 games, the hitting is not giving much confidence. On the flip side, the pitching has been great. ERA (3.33) is tops in MLB, almost half a run better than #2 (Braves at 3.82.). WHIP and avg are second in MLB.
The bats need to wake up. There’s a strong possibility of three automatic outs at the bottom of the lineup most days (Torrens, Baty/Walton, Siri) so the other six need to be raking come opening day. I’d hate to see an April when the pitching is solid but we lose a bunch of games 3-2, and 2-0.