Francisco Alvarez of the New York Mets is the only player who appears more eager to start Opening Day. The man is attempting to hit the ball all the way to Cuba.
Alvarez’s whole professional career has been characterized by periods of struggle at one level, followed by adjustments at the same level the following year. He is a clear candidate to have a breakout season with the Mets in 2024. Even though he had a great rookie season in 2023, his output had extended slumps.
Alvarez appears to be well-prepared for the Mets’ inaugural Opening Day. He ought to heed some advice from Luis Severino in the meanwhile.
The Mets’ second round of roster reductions
Nobody was taken aback by the Mets’ most recent roster reductions. These are the six players who have been informed they won’t be on the Opening Day roster, which seems a little arbitrary given that they will still be able to play in games and they won’t be leaving.
Only Nate Lavender appeared to have a chance of succeeding. Down on the farm, Alex Ramirez is still a work in progress. Josh Walker and Grant Hartwig, who made their Triple-A debuts last year, are the most sensible additions as optional arms. Taylor Kohlwey and Chad Smith, two minor league additions from the offseason who will have an opportunity to move up the depth chart during the regular season, are also on the list.
A pitcher like Reed Garrett, who falls into the same category as Hartwig and Walker, is oddly absent from this list. Even though he has opportunities to play in minor league baseball, he continues. Given that Garrett is older than those two, one extreme or the other may apply. According to one perspective, he is not in need of being sent to minor league camp. The other is that he will be assigned to a task.
Yacksel Rios finished the game to continue his outstanding spring.
In Friday’s victory over the Miami Marlins, Yacksiel Rios recorded a two-strikeout ninth inning to earn the save. For the 30-year-old, that makes three scoreless innings in the preseason. Not nearly enough to overlook the control problems that have been evident in real games despite the lifetime 6.32 ERA in just under 100 MLB innings.
It seems unlikely that Rios will be included to the Opening Day roster because he was never a serious contender. But if his contract doesn’t have an opt out clause, the allure of this flame-throwing righty should be plenty to keep him stay for the duration of the season.
Rios was excellent in 25.1 Triple-A innings with the Atlanta Braves last season. He walked less than three hitters per nine innings and had a 2.49 ERA. In 2021, he had his best major league season while playing for the Boston Red Sox. During those 24.1 innings, he was able to record an ERA of 3.70. Regretfully, there were only 7.8 walks out of every 9 and only 5.2 walks included.