New York Mets News: The Mets have announced the pitching schedule for the first week of Spring Training games, and some familiar names are missing.
It is the last day of February, which means one thing for major league baseball teams and their fans; Spring Training is officially underway. For the New York Mets, it is time for them to begin the path to protecting their National League Pennant, as they represented the NL against American League’s Kansas City Royals in the World Series. The Mets came up short in 2015, but are hoping that they made enough moves to push them closer to being winners in 2016.
The Mets look to have a lot of their roster set for the regular season, as there aren’t many openings currently on the 25-man roster. The everyday lineup is pretty much set, as well as the bench. The starting rotation is set in stone with Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz and Bartolo Colon. But, if there is one area of the team that is up for grabs it is the last spots in the bullpen.
The Mets added only added one player from outside the organization to the bullpen this offseason in Antonio Bastardo, signing him away from the Pittsburgh Pirates. The only other move made for the bullpen was re-signing Jerry Blevins. That means that there could be some competition for the final bullpen spots this spring.
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That competition will start this week, as the Mets get games underway. The pitchers will be the players to keep an eye on, and the Mets announced the pitching schedule for their first three games.
In the intrasquad game, the Blue Team will have Sean Gilmartin, Logan Verrett, Zach Thornton, Chase Bradford and Akeel Morris. They will be going against the Orange Team, who will have Robert Gsellman, Duane Below, Seth Lugo and Josh Smoker.
For the Grapefruit League opener against the Washington Nationals, the Mets will be sending out former top prospect Rafael Montero. Montero is battling for a spot in the rotation and auditioning to be the first player called to action in the bullpen should an injury arise. Behind him, the Mets are scheduled to use Gabriel Ynoa and Jeff Walters.
In the second game of the week against the Miami Marlins Verrett will be taking the mound. He saw success last season in spot starts for the Mets, and could find himself in the role once again in 2016. Following him will be Buddy Carlyle and Thornton.
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Absent from the above schedule is the aforementioned projected starting rotation. The Mets young starters will be held out of Grapefruit action for the first week or so to try and reduce their workload during the spring. With the added innings from the postseason, the Mets are taking every precaution to make sure that fatigue does not set in or injuries occur.