Steve Martin as Navin R. Johnson exclaiming, “The new phone book’s here!” in The Jerk has nothing on us in terms of ginning up excitement over the mundane, which is to say, the new roster’s here!
Specifically, the active roster of 28 players the Mets will carry into battle (or the first baseball game of the year; enough with the militaristic metaphors). This much-anticipated directory lists eight Mets who’ve never been Mets before, yet as soon as they take the field, the mound, a plate appearance, they will be Mets for real. Soon you’ll know them by their Met deeds. Welcome aboard to…
Eduardo Escobar
Mark Canha
Starling Marte (whom Ralph Kiner likely would have called Steve Martin at least once)
Chris Bassitt
Adam Ottavino
Travis Jankowski
Joely Rodriguez (the lefty reliever acquired over the weekend for Miguel Castro, whose only sin in these expansive bullpen days was not being a lefty)
Oh, and that Max Scherzer fellow!
If you’re scoring at home (or even if you’re alone), we enter 2022 with 1,153 Mets on the all-time roster, a document Navin Johnson would faint over. Doing the math will be your pleasure as to what that total will be once each of the aforementioned gets in a game.
Welcome aboard anew to Chasen Shreve, the 2020 Met slated to become the 54th Recidivist Met in franchise history (Recidivist Mets are Mets who left the club, played for another big league club, then came to his senses and back to us in that order.)
Welcome back is also due for Robinson Cano, who took off 2021 at the suggestion of the commissioner.
Two Mets among the 28 active remain from Mets playoff clubs of the past: Brandon Nimmo and Seth Lugo, neither of whom have yet played in a Mets playoff game, but they were here in 2016 and they had something to do with us winning our most recent Wild Card. Jacob DeGrom, who debuted in 2014, is the elder franchise longevity statesman and the only Met at the moment to know what it’s like to participate in a Mets postseason (four starts, all on the road in 2015), but our ace of aces, as you might have guessed, starts the season on the IL.
From the 2017 Mets and joining us for 2022, are Dom Smith and Tomás Nido.
From 2018 and still here: Luis Guillorme, Drew Smith and Jeff McNeil.
The 2019 debut crew, besides Cano: Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and J.D. Davis.
Except for Shreve, nobody who became a Met in 2020 is a Met in 2022.
And your new-for-2021 Mets who managed to stick it out for the new year: Francisco Lindor, James McCann, Trevor May, Taijuan Walker, Sean Reid-Foley, Opening Night starter Tylor Megill (I wonder if the Official Sports Betting Partner of the New York Mets gave odds on that), Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Williams.
Time flies, huh? Will the Mets soar along with it and put the majority of these guys in the playoffs as Mets six months from now? The telling begins tonight in Washington.
Remove the tarp ASAP and play ball already yet!
National League Town can help you fill the additional hours bad weather in Washington is making you wait for first pitch. Listen to Jeff Hysen and me mull over the season ahead here or at the podcast platform of your liking.
It’s summer! Ah yes, The Jerk. Hopefully each player knows what his “special purpose” is for.
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“Welcome back is also due for Robinson Cano, who took off 2021 at the suggestion of the commissioner.” That made me laugh. And you’re also following in some pretty serious sportswriter footsteps:
Lardner: “‘Shut up,’ he explained.”
Prince: “‘Get lost,’ he suggested.”
Looking forward to more Princian wit during the course of the season.