PORT ST. LUCIE — The unofficial theme of this Mets season might be “unfinished business,” but it’s not as if manager Buck Showalter can magically transport his team to October and just resume where last season ended.
After last year’s disappointment of losing to the Padres in the NL wild-card series, following a 101-win regular season, the Mets have to start from scratch. Talk of finishing the job will have to wait until much later.
“In order to have something to finish, you have got to figure out a way to start it,” Showalter said Tuesday at Clover Park in his initial press conference of spring training. “We are more interested in that part right now, hoping we have a chance to have something to finish.”
The Mets’ first official workout is Wednesday, leaving 43 days to prepare for the March 30 opener in Miami. For such a veteran team it may seem like a long stretch, but the added factor of the World Baseball Classic — in which at least nine players from the major league roster are scheduled to participate — will in some regards shorten the spring.
The returning nucleus includes Max Scherzer, Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor and Starling Marte. The biggest of the new additions is Justin Verlander, who is essentially replacing Jacob deGrom in the starting rotation after the ace right-hander departed for the Rangers through free agency.
Expectations will be high for a team carrying a record payroll of $364 million, as computed for combative balance tax purposes, but the Mets have to tangle with the Braves and Phillies in what should be a highly competitive NL East. And the bar was set high last season, when the Mets reached 100 wins for only the fourth time in franchise history.
But there was also the disappointment of losing the NL East to the Braves after leading the division for almost the entire season. The knockout punch was getting swept three games in Atlanta in the penultimate series of the regular season. The Mets finished with a wild-card berth instead of receiving a first-round bye.
“The number one goal coming out of spring training is to win the division,” Showalter said. “It was last year, and we tied for it last year, but some tiebreaker didn’t put us there. That is what we are competing against, four other teams. I’m trying to figure out a way to be better than them. It’s going to be hard. They have done some really quality things this offseason.”
Showalter wants his team to remember the disappointment of last year’s early postseason exit, but doesn’t expect to speak of it much with his players.
“It’s one of those things that is kind of silent, you don’t talk about it,” Showalter said. “They know, they lived it. Who in here likes talking about unpleasant things? Nobody likes it.”
Showalter doesn’t want to hear about the expectations on the Mets given the star power on the roster and payroll.
“The beauty of all the things that go on and things we talk about and the moves that everybody makes or doesn’t make, it all starts on an even-level playing field and nobody cares about any of that stuff, between the lines,” Showalter said. “It’s, ‘Am I better than you and are you better than me?’ And let’s see where we are at the end of the year and see if we get a chance to roll the dice in October. Everybody is looking for that opportunity, so expectations are always high in major league camps.”
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