2023 Spring Roster

The Mets distributed their spring rosters this week. I’ve arranged this year’s clip-and-save version a little differently, calling out nonroster guys italics and coaches in blue. Non-40-man-roster guys are just occupying the jersey vs. belonging to one.

As it stands now that makes: 4, 5, 7, 8, 16, 18, 48, 58, 61, 64, 67, 68, 69, 75, 88, 89 and 99 free. With the way Steve’s been retiring numbers my ears perk up at 16 and 18.

 

Number Name Notes
0 Adam Ottavino, P
1 Jeff McNeil, INF-OF
2 Omar Narvaez, C was Dom Smith
3 Tomas Nido, C
4
5 Unassigned (David Wright)
6 Starling Marte, OF
7
8 Unassigned (Gary Carter)
9 Brandon Nimmo, OF
10 Eduardo Escobar, 3B
11 Buck Showalter, MGR
12 Francisco Lindor, SS
13 Luis Guillorme, INF
14 Retired Gil Hodges
15 Danny Mendick, INF
16
17 Retired Keith Hernandez
18
19 Mark Canha, OF
20 Pete Alonso, 1B
21 Max Scherzer, P
22 Brett Baty, 3B
23 David Peterson, P
24 Retired Willie Mays
25 Brooks Raley, P
26 Khalil Lee, OF 
27 Mark Vientos, 3B
28 Tommy Pham, OF was Darin Ruf
29 Tommy Hunter, P
30 David Robertson, P
31 Retired Mike Piazza
32 Daniel Vogelbach, DH
33 Darin Ruf, DH/OF was James McCann
34 Kodai Senga, P
35 Justin Verlander, P
36 Retired Jerry Koosman
37 Retired Casey Stengel
38 Tylor Megill, P
39 Edwin Diaz, P
40 Drew Smith, P was 62
41 Retired Tom Seaver
42 Retired Jackie Robinson
43 Jeff Brigham, P
44 T.J. McFarland, P
45 Sam Coonrod, P
46 John Curtiss, P
47 Joey Luchessi, P
48 was Jacob deGrom
49 Jeremy Barnes, hitting coach
50 Francisco Alvarez, C
51 Eric Chavez, bench coach
52 Eric Hinkse, asst. hitting coach
53 Glenn Sherlock, catching/strategy coach
54 Wayne Kirby, OF/1B coach
55 Jeremy Hefner, pitching coach
56 Joey Cora, INF/3B coach
57 Elieser Hernandez, P
58 Dom Chiti, bullpen coach
59 Carlos Carrasco, P
60 Ronny Mauricio, SS
61
62 Jose Quintana, P was Drew Smith
63 Bryce Montes de Oca, P
64
65 Zach Greene, P  Dennis Santana, P was Trevor May
66 Stephen Ridings, P
67 was Seth Lugo
68
69
70 Jose Butto, P
71 Zach Muckenhern, P
72 Denyi Reyes, P
73 Jimmy Yacabonis, P
74 William Woods, P
75
76 Aaron Meyers, BP pitcher
77 Dave Racaniello, bullpen catcher
78 Eric Langill, bullpen catcher
79 Danny Barnes, asst coach
80 Raphael Hernandez, BP pitcher
81 Jose Peraza, INF
82 Abraham Almonte, OF
83 Tim Locastro, OF
84 Michael Perez,  C
85 Stephen Nogosek, P
86 DJ Stewart, OF
87 Jonathan Arauz, INF
88
89
90 Nick Meyer, C
91 Josh Walker, P
92 Eric Orze, P
93 Grant Hartwig, P
94 Connor Grey, P
95 Kevin Parada, C
96 Alex Ramirez, OF
97 Lorenzo Cedrola, OF
98 Hayden Senger, C
99 was Taijuan Walker

Switcheroo

Then oftentimes unreliable winter Mets roster has been updated.

Headlining the data is a change for Drew Smith, who appears to be surrendering No. 62 to new arrival Jose Quintana and moving to No. 40 vacated recently by Chris Bassitt. Quintana we noted has been a 62 for most of his career.

Another controversy appears to have worked out by giving Tommy Pham 28, with Darin Ruf now listed in the 33 made available by James McCann‘s departure.

Then there’s a few guys who hadn’t been listed with numbers now having them. Lefty Brooks Raley is 25; that number belonged most recently to Tyler Naquin. Omar Narvaez is taking the 2 formerly with Dom Smith. (Dom appears to be going back to No. 22 with Washington, if their roster is to be trusted).

Then there’s info on a few guys who appear to be retaining whatever they wore last year and shouldn’t necessarily be trusted. Pitcher Jeff Brigham is 43, same as he was in Florida; the number is vacant so we’ll go with it. But I doubt Danny Mendick keeps to No. 20 he’s listed in, so you gotta take this info with a grain of salt until camp opens.

We are Pham-i-lee

Catching up on recent Mets news, the club signed outlaw/outfielder Tommy Pham to a one-year deal and lists him wearing No. 28, which is unfortunate for Darin Ruf who’s the incumbent reserve outfielder/DH who also wears 28. Pham’s been a bit of an inconsistent performer who’s been moved around a bit; I thought he might have been a candidate to acquire last summer when he played for the Reds, but he wound up going to Boston instead.

Pham’s worn 28 with St. Louis, San Diego and Cincinnati so in the rare event he and Ruf both make the club I’d guess Pham takes 28.

You can probably search the archives of this site and find me advocating to move Jeff McKnight McNeil, who seemed at times unhappy and miscast, but I’m pleased to have been proven wrong. He signed a four-year extension this week that’ll keep him in blue and orange through age 35 and heightens the chance he, along with Brandon Nimmo, will be long tenured one-team-only Mets.

Barring injuries, Nimmo will no doubt overtake Todd Hundley as the club’s most prolific No. 9 of all time–he’s still about 1 season’s worth of games and at-bats behind Hundley and already leads all 9s in on-base percentage and runs scored.

McNeil’s shot at uni number immortality would seem to be the best three-numbered Met of all time. Ron Darling probably holds that title today.

 

Over the Top

What if things go wrong now? Will they trade Eduardo Escobar or turn him into a designated hitter? What of the young players like Brett Baty and Mark Vientos?

I’m not here acting like I saw this fiasco coming but Carlos Correa just became to Met infielders what Carlos Beltran was to Met managers.

And so, despite Steve Cohen proclaiming we needed another bat “to put us over the top” it looks like Escobar and Baty are what we’ll get in 2023. I have no problem with that. A right-handed designated hitter (Andrew McCutcheon?) might still make sense but better off not being locked into a dozen years of a $300 million injury risk.

 

Feliz Narváez

Despite being handed a seemingly critical role for the 2023 Mets, Omar Narváez hasn’t gotten the try-on-the-jersey-for-the-cameras business yet.

Thanks in part to the merciful jettisoning of James McCann, the Venezuelan vet will presumably be our starting catcher most nights while serving as a sensei to a young Venezuelan catcher, Francisco Alvarez. Longtime reader Stu below brought up the question of what Narváez would wear; he was 10 the last three seasons in Milwaukee, but spent three years wearing 38 for the White Sox and one year in Seattle wearing 22.

As I tend do when these questions come in I check to see what guidance the Mets’ official roster would provide and the answer is often inconclusive. But in this case it’s also weird. The roster page lists Narváez as 10, as it does Eduardo Escobar who wore it last year and remains a Met for now. But when I click down on Escobar, look what comes up:

 

 

I’d like to think the Mets have folks working hard as me making this accurate but I’m sure some AI software glitch is to blame. I don’t think the Mets are giving away 5 ever again.

As to Narváez it looks like the available numbers are 2, 7, 15, 16, 18, 25, 29, 30, 33, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, before we get into the 50s. Alvarez may want one of those lower numbers himself. It’d be cool if Narváez gets 15, and Alvarez takes 16, while Escobar stays in 10.

Correan War

Woke up this morning to the shock that the Mets had given a 12-year contract to Carlos Correa, the free agent infielder who’d almost signed with the Giants for 13 years but for an unnamed injury concern. That solidifies 2022-23 as the most spectacular offseason the Mets have ever had and worries me a little because I’m a worrier at heart. What if things go wrong now? Will they trade Eduardo Escobar or turn him into a designated hitter? What of the young players like Brett Baty and Mark Vientos?

There was something satisfying to the 2015 Mets with so many homegrown players, now we’re down to Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso, I think. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to complain, it’s just a thought. Most of us I’d say were ready to go to war with what we had 24 hours ago is all I’m saying.

In addition to Correa, who looks likely to take No. 4 belonging most recently to Terrance Gore, the Mets dressed Kodai Senga in No. 34. I’m excited about him, like I’ve been with most of the imported newbies. He’s also going to be a key figure for this team.

Would You Dare?

Japan’s Kodai Senga is reportedly en route to Flushing as you know, and he’ll be wearing a different number than the 41 he rocked while a member of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. I think there’s a good shot he winds up wearing 18, a number traditionally associated with Ace pitchers in Japan, and happens to be available since Nick Plummer departed.

One other available number comes to mind: 48. Do you think the Mets ought to mothball Jacob deGrom‘s number, or give it away? deGrom is a special case of his class of pitchers. Steven Matz‘s 32, Matt Harvey‘s 33 and Noah Syndergaard‘s 34 all found their way onto other guys’ backs pretty rapidly. Me, I’d be okay if the Mets reissued 48 but would feel better were it for an organization comer and not some reliever who bounces between Syracuse and New York.

Is there an appropriate period of time before you’d issue it again? One full season seems appropriate. By then at least the Rangers will have won the World Series.

Thoughts?

Zimmo!

I couldn’t be happier the Mets were able to retain Brandon Nimmo, who was something of a small superstar last year and a rare centerfield commodity on the market. His 8-year deal would practically assure he stays a Met throughout his career even if he’s destined to wind up in left field.

The Mets also added veteran reliever David Robertson to a 1-year deal, shoring up a bullpen that appears to be losing Trevor May, Seth Lugo and maybe also Adam Ottavino though it doesn’t appear that any of those palookas have a deal with someone else yet. But Trevor Williams just signed with Washington. Drew Smith will be back.

The new bullpen will have a bunch of new faces. There’s John Curtiss who was signed last offseason, spent 2022 recovering from elbow surgery, and still hasn’t been assigned a number.

Also on the 40 are brief visitors from last season Bryce Montes de Oca (63), Yoan Lopez (44), and Stephen Nogosek (85). Plus new guys awaiting number assignments: Jeff Brigham, Zach Greene (pinched from the Yankees in Rule 5), Stephen Ridings (waiver claim from the Yankees); Brooks Raley (trade with Tampa Bay), Tayler Saucedo (waiver claim from Toronto), and William Woods (waiver claim from Atlanta).

Elieser Hernandez might fulfill the Trevor Williams role. He came over with Brigham from the Marlins in a skirt-Rule-5 trade that cost the Mets fancypants prospect Jake Magnum.

The Mets already list Robertson as No. 30–that’s been his figure for most of his career and supersedes what we were discussing below about Raley taking 30. As pointed out in the below comments, Raley is now listed in 43, most recently belonging to unforgettable infielder Yolmer Sanchez.

 

 

 

The Replacements

Here’s a quick exchange with friend of MBTN Dave on Twitter.

I confess to being somewhat ignorant of the 11-year career of Jose Quintana other than his involvement in a big trade between the White Sox (where he was an All-Star in 2016) and the Cubs, who coughed up the then big prospect Eloy Jimenez to get him. He’s a lefty from Columbia who’s worn 62 or 63 throughout his career which included subsequent stops with the Angels, Giants, Pirates and most recently, the 2022 Cardinals where he wore 62 and 63, not certain in which order. Here’s a fun fact: He was originally signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets. Now he’s essentially Taijuan Walker‘s replacement. I liked Walker, now he’s a Philly. Diabolical.

So let’s say Quintana keeps 62, and Drew Smith changes to something he prefers.

The Mets you may have seen made another deal, coughing up a lefty minor leaguer Keyshawn Eskew to the Rays for lefty reliever Brooks Raley. Raley who wore 30 last year with the Rays — but neglected to wear a pride patch and didn’t bother to get vaxxed — looks to be this year’s Joely Rodriguez. Joely wore 30 too.

I gotta say I’m not too excited about this guy.

 

Cy Old

It didn’t take long for the Mets to address the vacancy of Jacob deGrom as Steve Cohen threw a pile of money at Cy Young winner Justin Verlander who joins 38-year-old Max Scherzer at the top of the rotation. Verlander will be 40 next year so I’m tempering my expectations while still fretting over the prospect of retaining or replacing Brandon Nimmo, securing a reliable designated hitter, and making sure the club has a rotation that’s young enough and deep enough to count on. Carlos Carrasco, the current No. 3 starter, will be 36. Then you’ve got the relatively unproven arms of Tylor Megill and David Peterson. Another arm would be nice.

Verlander will be the first Mets 35 of any substance since Dillon Gee (2010-2015) even though eight guys have worn it since him, most recently the emergency catcher Michael Perez.