NY Mets Opening Day roster prediction with Jake Diekman in the bullpen

The New York Mets don’t appear to be on the verge of having a bunch of competitions this spring. For the most part, the 26 players they’ll have with them on Opening Day are a lock with truly only one open spot in the bullpen.

When the Jake Diekman signing becomes official, they’ll have to get rid of someone from the 40-man roster. It won’t necessarily be an on-the-verge-of-DFA candidate like Sean Reid-Foley whose presence with the team is more about protection in case of an injury than anything else. When the Mets signed Adam Ottavino, it was waiver claim and catcher Tyler Heineman they removed to make room for the returning bullpen piece.

The Mets still have some roster tidying up to do. Let’s predict what it will look like once everything is cleaned up.

1.Francisco Alvarez – C
2. Tomas Nido - C

The Mets will find a trade partner for Omar Narvaez at some point in the spring. An absolute salary dump of a deal similar to James McCann, the Mets end up finding a destination when another team sees their backstop duo just isn’t working or a major injury occurs. This team seems determined to make room for Tomas Nido.

3. Pete Alonso – 1B
4. Jeff McNeil – 2B
5. Francisco Lindor – SS
6. Brett Baty – 3B

The likely infield, there are no surprises here.

7. Brandon Nimmo – LF
8. Harrison Bader – CF
9. Starling Marte RF
10. Mark Vientos – 1B/3B/DH

Health is the only thing which will change this foursome.

11. Joey Wendle – IF
12. DJ Stewart 1B/OF/DH
13. Tyrone Taylor – OF

Predictable. Only the signing of an outfielder/DH could change this. The Mets can option DJ Stewart to the minors. Don’t hold your breath.

14. Kodai Senga – SP
15. Jose Quintana – SP
16. Luis Severino – SP
17. Sean Manaea – SP
18. Adrian Houser – SP

If you predict anything else, you’re not paying attention.

19. Edwin Diaz – CL
20. Adam Ottavino – SU8
21. Brooks Raley – SU7

Relief pitchers don’t necessarily have specific roles other than the closer. Adam Ottavino in the eighth and Brooks Raley in the seventh won’t be a guarantee as Carlos Mendoza will probably measure more based on matchups. But hey, you’ve suffered through enough years of watching baseball to already know this.

22. Drew Smith – RP
23. Jorge Lopez – RP
24. Jake Diekman – RP
25. Yohan Ramirez – RP
26. Michael Tonkin – RP

The only boldness here is predicting Yohan Ramirez to make the team. Because the Mets did trade for him, it would seem he has the slight edge over a guy like Phil Bickford, a guy whom the team could face-off against in arbitration over less than $100K. Ramirez isn’t a spectacular pitcher, but a 3.67 ERA in 34.1 innings for the Pittsburgh Pirates to go along with a groundball rate of 60% should at least have him as a consideration. It’s his spot that’s truly up for debate. It still won’t protect him for long as he’ll need to perform. The alternative to him is Bickford. The arbitration battle plus the fact that the Mets specifically traded for Ramirez but do not have minor league options on him suggest a trade could be in the works.