How Soon is Now?

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Kodai Senga seems like one of the guys now. Through no fault of his own he made his MLB debut in the no-good 2023 season where a lot of personnel came and went, and his 2024 consisted of barely more than 10 innings of work. So far this year in camp he has shown off his sense of humor. Guy’s got jokes. And funny mugs.

Edwin Díaz posted that yesterday morning to his Instagram. Also yesterday morning, Senga threw three innings of live BP. Francisco Alvarez hit one of his offerings a long way, but it died in front of the fence. Alvarez half-jokingly said the wind caught it. Senga quipped, “That is a mispitch, so he needs to drive that thing out of here.” According to the New York Post, he was “all smiles” when he was pitching. He’s already friends with his new rotation chums Clay Holmes, Griffin Canning, and Frankie Montas. The vibes continue to be off the charts in Port St. Lucie. 

Senga even said he wouldn't care if he was a part of a five or six-man rotation, which was interesting. The Mets will employ a six-man rotation once the regular season schedule picks up in the middle of April with mostly Senga in mind, since he got used to pitching once a week in Japan. During his All-Star 2023 year, he only started on “regular” four day rest three times, where he pitched to a 4.61 ERA (his overall season ERA was 2.97). 

So there’s little chance the ghost fork practitioner is going to be in a five-man rotation. The Mets were rewarded for taking things slow with him before, so they’re going to keep the snail’s pace going. Senga won’t appear in a Grapefruit League game until next week, even though he said he’s ready to go. 

That’s the thing: the marathon is just 28 days away. In exactly four weeks, the Mets will be in Houston at whatever they’re calling the Astros’ ballpark nowadays playing a baseball game that will count in the standings. I’m personally in a hurry, a hurry to watch games that matter, and to see Met players face competition to prepare for it. There are 69 (don’t) players in camp, and it feels like all but five are going to be ready. 

We already know Frankie Montas, Sean Manaea, and Nick Madrigal won’t be there on Day 1. A.J. Minter is still a maybe for March 27th. Dedniel Nuñez won’t pitch in games “anytime soon,” according to Carlos Mendoza. Starling Marte is on his eighth month being burdened with right knee soreness. Mendoza said he has "some good days, some not so good". Could the Mets have traded Marte even if they really wanted to?  

Brandon Nimmo is not at 100 percent with his plantar fasciitis issues. He claims he’s up to 94 percent, up three from 91 a few weeks ago. It’s still not 100. If he was a phone I’d really look into getting a new charger and/or phone. We haven’t seen David Peterson, Tylor Megill, or Griffin Canning pitch against batters that aren’t on the Mets yet. Paul Blackburn made his Grapefruit League debut yesterday. He threw…seven pitches. None of them registered in the 90s. His average four-seam velo when the games matter is 91.9, but still. 

Are the Mets being too cautious? Eh, probably not. Am I inclined to bite my nails when realizing how many players are currently being placed in bubblewrap? Yes. 

28 days until curtain, people. I don’t want another 22-33 start. 

There’s good news. There always is, it’s just sometimes you need to work harder to find it sometimes. Pete Alonso is 2 for 3 with two doubles and six walks so far this spring. Maybe he should bat leadoff. Francisco Lindor is 0 for 8 but he seems healthy! And perhaps he’s getting his early slumping out of the way in February and March instead of April and May? Juan Soto hasn’t demanded a trade yet. 

And there’s a mystery afoot. The Mets posted a 20-second video promoting something mysterious. It’s only clues: “Welcome home.” “March 7, 2025.” The Home Run Apple on top of a Union Square train station entrance/exit. This is fun. I love Severance. I still defend Lost. This is a welcome distraction. Let’s wrack our brains together and come up with theories to share throughout the upcoming days and nights and someone on Twitter figured it out. Dang. 

If you want to know what it is the Mets are promoting, click here. I have thoughts but will save those takes for March 7th. 

In the Mets’ 4-1 loss to the Marlins yesterday, Soto successfully challenged a strike call. I can’t believe the umpire bothered to fire up the ABS system. If you can’t trust Juan Soto on what’s a ball or a strike, who can you trust?

The Mets social media team didn’t have access to video from the game, so they made crude drawings of the highlights instead. 

Luisangel Acuña played third base for the first time as a professional. He got one chance to catch a pop-up and he nailed it. Marlins analyst Rod Allen sounded pretty confident that Acuña will be on the Mets’ Opening Day roster. Meanwhile, Anthony DiComo predicted that Donovan Walton will get the backup infielder spot over Acuña, Brett Baty, et al.

I had a dream that Acuña flied out to deep left center to end a 4-3 Met loss on Opening Day at Citi Field. The problem of course is Opening Day is in Houston, otherwise I would be hitting up all of the sportsbooks.

Forgetting that they just picked off a runner, the Mets initially didn’t realize they got the third out and that the 5th inning was over. 

Génesis Cabrera pitched a 1-2-3 inning, striking out two. Cabrera has a shot at making the Opening Day roster in the bullpen. Weird - you’d think Génesis would pitch at the very beginning of games. (Sorry not sorry.)

In an article about Griffin Canning, RotoWorld noted that the Mets encourage their pitchers to throw more sweepers and sinkers, and don’t love it when they rely a lot on sliders and four-seamers, so expect Canning to throw more sweepers like he did at the end of last season.

189,021 people watched SNY to witness the Grapefruit League opener. That made it the most-watched spring training game on SNY in history. Wow, I was a part of history! In a good way!

Francisco Alvarez signed a zebra painting. 

Fear not, hungry Mets: Jessica Stanek has made more bread. 

Some Mets revealed what their walk-up songs will be for 2025. Most of them are the same as last year’s.

Brandon Nimmo - I’m So Blessed by Cain

Francisco Alvarez - Bad Bunny or Eladio Carrión

Reed Garrett - Bottom of the Map by Young Jeezy

David Peterson - Motley Crue by Post Malone

Sean Reid-Foley - X Gon’ Give It to Ya by DMX

Francisco Lindor - My Girl by The Temptations

Tylor Megill - I Get It In by 50 Cent

Jose Buttó - Punto y Aparte by Tego Calderón

Ryne Stanek - Still D.R.E. by Dr. Dre (instrumental, thankfully)

Sean Manaea - Just the Two of Us by Grover Washington Jr & Bill Withers

Clay Holmes - White Horse by Chris Stapleton

Brett Baty - “Maybe thinking Houston rap”

Edwin Díaz - Narco by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet (duh)

Jeff McNeil wouldn’t reveal his pick, on account of not knowing when the video would come out, which has led to speculation it’s Candelita’s next single. Manaea’s pick I think is the most intriguing, even though he’s used it since 2022. Manaea is one of the few dudes who can get away with a slow jam like that as warm-up music. It reminds me of Josh Reddick walking up to the plate in Oakland to “Careless Whisper.” 

Manaea was asked last year why he picked “Just the Two of Us.” “First of all, the song is an absolute jam,” he said. He went on to talk about his thinking some more but he didn’t really have to.

Rehab buds Adbert Alzolay and Drew Smith played a carefully watched game of catch. Smith was supposed to keep his throws to 64-68 mph, but he hit 72 on the radar gun on his last throw. “They were like ‘ooohh!’ Oh my god, come on, it’s 72 mph,” Smith said. “It’s hard not to push, especially when I’m throwing 68. I’m like, this is so stupid.” 

I get it Drew. I really do.

On this day 56 years ago, the 1969 Mets held their first workout of the spring. 

Exactly 20 years later, Washington State first baseman John Olerud underwent brain surgery to remove an aneurysm. That’s why he wore a helmet while fielding throughout his career, which included some great years with the Metsies. When researching this incident a few years ago, I discovered quite the humorous typo. 

Today also happens to be my birthday. Me, John Olerud.