Mets Morning News: It’s time to play

Meet the Mets

The Mets suit up for their first of two exhibition games against the Yankees tonight. Starting pitchers for the two games will be Rick Porcello tonight and Corey Oswalt tomorrow.

Yoenis Cespedes is set to receive playing time in both games, including playing in the outfield.

Jacob deGrom will not take part in either game, but he threw a bullpen session yesterday and will pitch in a separate simulated game on Sunday.

There are a few things to watch out for in these two exhibition games.

Anthony DiComo provided a projected opening day roster for the Mets one week out from opening day.

J.D. Davis is hoping that baseball’s return will provide some small sense of normalcy to the world.

Luis Rojas may be the least experienced manager in the big leagues heading into the 2020 season, but he’s also the only one who knows what it’s like to manage extra innings under the new rules that will be in play this season.

Shockingly, Rojas will not commit to Jed Lowrie being ready to go on opening day.

Sheryl Ring from Beyond the Box Score looked at each of the major bidders for the Mets, including the legal and moral warts attached to each option.

New York state senator Jessica Ramos made the case against Steve Cohen in an op-ed in the New York Daily News.

Alex Rodriguez’s comments about the potential for the league to introduce a salary cap drew criticism from former major league pitcher Brandon McCarthy.

Around the National League East

Despite looking into the possibility of playing in different locations, the Nationals received clearance to play their home games this season in Nationals Park.

After previously testing positive for COVID, Freddie Freeman and Touki Toussaint have both passed the necessary protocols to rejoin the team and were back in action yesterday.

This good news was immediately followed by the revelation that Yasiel Puig has tested positive for COVID and thus will not be joining the Braves yet.

Bryce Harper believes that the Phillies need to call up Spencer Howard sooner rather than later.

It remains to be seen who will win the final spot in the Marlins’ starting rotation.

Around Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball revealed the latest numbers from its COVID testing across the league.

One player who has tested positive for the virus: Pirates outfielder Gregory Polanco.

Former Major League outfielder Preston Wilson offered some valuable insights on why the game is having so much trouble appealing to Black Americans.

In a piece for GQ, Nick Francona argued that changing the team’s name was just one of numerous steps that the Indians need to take.

Angels reliever Justin Anderson suffered a torn UCL and will undergo Tommy John surgery next week, thus ending his 2020 season before it began.

After a seven-year hiatus, Daniel Bard is back in the big leagues after making the opening day roster for the Rockies.

Domingo German gave a cryptic retirement message on Instagram yesterday.

The Astros are adopting a bizarre new defense in the sign-stealing lawsuit against them.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Maggie Wiggin discussed the need for Amed Rosario to continue producing at the same rate he was in the second half of 2019, lest he find himself being supplanted at shortstop.

Maggie also wrote about Wacha’s impressive performance in Thursday’s intrasquad game.

This Date in Mets History

Carlos Beltran became the first Met to hit grand slams in consecutive games on this date in 2006.