Mets Morning News: Yoenis Cespedes will be ready for Opening Day

Meet the Mets

About Opening Day, Yoenis Cespedes said on Saturday, “I know for certain now that I will be ready. I’m very excited for the season to start in two weeks.”

“I don’t think it’s any secret we have one of the best lineups in baseball,” Cespedes went on to say. “We have everything. We have speed, we have hitters who can hit for power, hitters who can hit for contact. If everything goes right, we’ll have a very good team.”

Keith Hernandez agrees with Cespedes. “I think this lineup is right there with the ’86 bunch,” he said to the New York Post.

Cespedes also said that his body has felt progressively better every day since March and he’s running “close to as normal as possible.” He still feels tightness in his ankle when he wakes up in the morning, but it dissipates after walking around for a couple of minutes.

The Mets will take a day off from camp on July 13 to stay fresh for Opening Day.

The Wall Street Journal ran a feature article on Marcus Stroman’s workouts during quarantine and how he feels completely prepared for the season.

Around the National League East

Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post wrote about how the absence of fans changes everything about the baseball experience and how Washington DC won’t be leading the herd when it comes to letting fans back in the ballpark.

Cole Hamels was scratched from his side session due to triceps tendinitis, according to Braves manager Brian Snitker. He will be evaluated again next week.

After a long battle with COVID-19, Scott Kingery has been cleared to come to Phillies camp after testing negative twice in a 24-hour period. He still experiences occasional shortness of breath over a month after initially falling ill.

Around Major League Baseball

With Buster Posey and Michael Kopech choosing to opt out of the 2020 season, that brings the total number of players opting out up to twelve. And we should expect many more, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

The Astros canceled their workout as a precautionary measure yesterday after learning that a staff member was exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual outside of the organization. “We are working closely with MLB and our team physicians to follow the established testing and cleaning protocols so that we can safely bring our players and staff back to the field as soon as possible,” the Astros said in a statement.

Mike Petriello of MLB.com looks back in baseball history for answers as to how long Mike Trout will remain baseball’s best player.

Yankees reliever Aroldis Chapman tested positive for coronavirus and is experiencing “mild symptoms,” according to Aaron Boone. As a result, he won’t be with the team for the “foreseeable future.”

In other bad news for the Yankees, Aaron Judge was scratched from yesterday’s intrasquad scrimmage due to a stiff neck.

Royals catcher Cam Gallagher has also tested positive for COVID-19.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Brian Salvatore discussed how the 2020 taxi squad rule benefits Rene Rivera in his season preview of the Mets’ third-string catcher.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1988, the Mets had four representatives at the All-Star Game: Dwight Gooden (who started for the National League), Gary Carter, Darryl Strawberry, and David Cone.