The Official 2026 New York Mets Thread

[Deepster]

Projected opening day lineup:

SS: Francisco Lindor
LF: Juan Soto
3B: Bo Bichette
1B: Jorge Polanco
CF: Luis Robert Jr.
2B: Marcus Semien
Dan Hurley: Brett Baty/Mark Vientos
C: Francisco Alvarez
RF: Carson Benge

1. Freddy Peralta, RHP
2. Nolan McLean, RHP
3. Clay Holmes, RHP
4. Sean Manaea, LHP
5. David Peterson, LHP
6. Kodai Senga, RHP

Bullpen: Closer: Devin Williams (RHP), Setup: Luke Weaver (RHP), High-Leverage: Brooks Raley (LHP), Luis Garcia (RHP), Middle/Depth: Huascar Brazoban (RHP), Tobias Myers (RHP), Adbert Alzolay (RHP)

Note: AJ Minter should be in the pen once he's healthy and Jonah Tong and Christian Scott are potential rotation adds at some point.

1) The lineup is much stronger in working the lineup and striking out less. Alonso won't be as missed if Robert Jr and Polanco are better this year than last year.
2) Mauricio, Ty Taylor and Torrens represent decent bench depth. Mauricio and Vientos need to be productive major leaguers after discussing trades all winter and staying put here.
3) Watching Benge all spring makes me feel much, much better about trading Nimmo.
4) Watching the WBC, seeing the passion and energy from Soto, he better carry that over to our clubhouse and lineup. I'm banking on him really taking a leadership step this year, much like Lindor did after a quiet leadership role in his first season.

 

[lavuuk153]

Howie Rose retiring after this season. Perhaps the Mets can start a trend of sending our announcers out with a WS.

https://www.mlb.com/amp/news/howie-rose-to-retire-after-2026-season.html

 

[navery12]

The talk around this team seems to be very low going into this season, but I like that. They should be a very good team and win the division. The pitching doesn't have a lot of big names but the depth in starting pitching is outstanding. It's amazing how different just having that ace at the top of the rotation makes everyone else look better in their role

 

[Deepster]

The buzz on Manaea is not good right now. His arm is just not the same and his fastball is barely cracking 90 and I saw one prediction he could be released by end of May if things stay on this track.

I was super excited about his prospects when he was pitching well for us and thought he was like an Andy Pettitte type. I guess the mileage on his arm just caught up to him.

 

[Deepster]

Just looking at this. The 4 outfielders. Early season, maybe a tight back or hammy. Who's the emergency OF? Jared Young? He has like 2 games in the OF over the last couple seasons, doesn't he? Baty?

They kept Young and sent down Vidal Brujan who plays 6 positions, including the OF. Not sure I would have kept a tomato can like Young over him.

 

[navery12]

Just looking at this. The 4 outfielders. Early season, maybe a tight back or hammy. Who's the emergency OF? Jared Young? He has like 2 games in the OF over the last couple seasons, doesn't he? Baty?

They kept Young and sent down Vidal Brujan who plays 6 positions, including the OF. Not sure I would have kept a tomato can like Young over him.

View attachment 118639

Baty has apparently been working a bunch in the OF, but Jared Young has experience there. He has 325 games at 1B and 195 in the OF in his career

 

[storrsroars]

So I'm watching The Leadoff Spot on MLB this morning and up pops a commercial for CarShield featuring "MLB Legend" Howard Johnson. Gotta give his agent props because I'd all but forgot about the guy and I was a huge Mets fan during his tenure. I doubt the average baseball fan remembers anything about the guy.

Needless to say, Cashen should've never dumped Ray Knight!

 

[Deepster]

So I'm watching The Leadoff Spot on MLB this morning and up pops a commercial for CarShield featuring "MLB Legend" Howard Johnson. Gotta give his agent props because I'd all but forgot about the guy and I was a huge Mets fan during his tenure. I doubt the average baseball fan remembers anything about the guy.

Needless to say, Cashen should've never dumped Ray Knight!

HoJo was 30/30 in three different seasons. He was a stud.

 

[storrsroars]

HoJo was 30/30 in three different seasons. He was a stud.

Didn't win a WS MVP and didn't win his brawls. Stat compiler like McReynolds - boring.

I loved those 84-86 teams. I watch the 30 for 30 "Once Upon a Time in Queens" at least twice a year. But Cashen did the equivalent of only looking at the stats and not the chemistry/intangibles. Knight and Mitchell weren't as important as Keith and Carter, but Mets lost a ton of heart when they were unceremoniously shipped out.

 

[storrsroars]

Btw, the tactic of fouling off Skenes repeatedly has been an issue with why Skenes hasn't consistently gone deep in games. Mets did an excellent job with that today. But if our CF was wearing sunglasses, it would've been more manageable, lol.