00:00Joel Sherman with three things.
00:02If you could tell from this background, I'm in Met Camp,
00:05going to finish it out with the Mets.
00:06I'm going to be with them to begin the season
00:09against the Marlins next Thursday.
00:12There is a little news here on Friday.
00:15We had it on Thursday 1st that Bo Bichette
00:18is going to start at shortstop today.
00:21It's a one-er.
00:22Him and Carlos Mendoza talked about this a few days ago,
00:27and Bichette was all on board.
00:30It was their plan.
00:31If Francisco Lindor had not made it back
00:33from his handmaid surgery on his left hand
00:36and say what I can say a week early in the season
00:40for him to get fully back,
00:41I think the plan was that Bichette would go to shortstop
00:44where he's played over 700 major league games.
00:46He obviously signed here three years at $126 million
00:49to play third base,
00:51but if they needed a short-term shortstop,
00:54it was going to be Bichette.
00:56So let's go through three things.
00:57Number one, Bo Bichette's willingness to do this
01:00seemed all in.
01:01Talked to him yesterday.
01:02He used the word,
01:03I'm excited for the idea that he could help the team
01:06in doing this.
01:07It felt to him very much like riding a bicycle
01:10that he could get on and do it.
01:12And so he is going to do it.
01:15Look, he was not the greatest shortstop of all time in Toronto.
01:20It's one of the reasons both the Phillies and the Mets,
01:23who were the last two teams standing for him in free agency,
01:26were talking to him about playing a position
01:28other than shortstop third base.
01:31If he joined their teams to be able to get his bat in the lineup,
01:35which is his best tool,
01:37his high contact, high average bat,
01:41but his willingness to play shortstop does some stuff for the Mets.
01:45Why don't we talk about what it does?
01:47Number two.
01:49There's all kinds of Rostam machinations
01:52that need to be done to get to 26,
01:55and you don't often go to the beginning of the season
01:58with the 26 best players.
01:59There's so much that's involved.
02:02There's open 40-man roster spots.
02:04Who has options?
02:05Who doesn't?
02:06Clearly, like if Mark Vientos had an option right now,
02:09he doesn't really have a specific job on this team.
02:12He's had a bad spring training.
02:14He'd be sent down,
02:15but he doesn't have an option.
02:17Mike Tauchman has an opt-out on March 25th.
02:21He's had a nice spring training.
02:22He does provide a bat off the bench.
02:25He provides a little insurance
02:28in case Carson Bench doesn't work out.
02:30He maybe in Tyrone Taylor
02:32could platoon in right field a little bit.
02:35So the Mets don't want him to opt out,
02:38so they've got to be able to create a roster spot.
02:40The way to create that 26-man roster spot,
02:44not to mention the 40-man roster spot,
02:46is for Bichette to be the backup shortstop.
02:48Why?
02:49Because if he's not, somebody else has to be,
02:51and that would have probably been Vidal Brahoon.
02:55Ronnie Mauricio got sent down to play full-time at AAA
02:59rather than sit on the bench here.
03:03So instead of that situation,
03:07if Bichette could be the backup shortstop,
03:09and what is the backup shortstop on the Mets?
03:13Again, Lindor showed that both combination of quick healing,
03:16he was back in about five weeks
03:18from the ham eight surgery and playing,
03:20and kind of like how much his psyche is built on being on the field
03:25and wanting to play.
03:27He has played the third most games in the major leagues
03:31over the last four years.
03:34And the two guys in front of him
03:36are Matt Olsen and Pete Alonso,
03:38who are first basemen.
03:39This is a middle-of-the-infield player,
03:42a player who steals bases
03:43and obviously uses his legs a lot.
03:46So how much he gets on the field
03:47is one of the most impressive things about Francisco Lindor.
03:50So the plan is probably that
03:52they're not going to use a backup shortstop a lot,
03:54but you've got to have one, right?
03:56Because Lindor is coming back from the injury,
04:01from the surgery.
04:02He is 32 now.
04:04And the Mets have a very busy schedule,
04:07as opposed to the Yankees, for example,
04:08who have four off days in the first 13 days of the season.
04:11The Mets play on 10 of the first 11 days of the season
04:14and 19 of the first 21.
04:16So if Carlos Mendoza wants to find a place
04:20to get Lindor off his feet
04:23or not to press that left hand too much
04:27with too many nine-inning games in a row,
04:30Bichette will probably be able to show
04:32that he could go there and play some shortstop
04:35if the need comes up.
04:37So that's kind of like the most obvious thing is
04:42their roster situation makes a lot more sense
04:46if Bichette is the backup shortstop
04:49as opposed to anybody else.
04:51So I think that's why he's out on the field today.
04:55And so why don't we get to number three?
04:58I do think it means that Carson Bench has made this team.
05:02The Mets have not announced that officially,
05:04but you just start playing the numbers game now.
05:08And unless the Mets are committed
05:10to a Tachman-Taylor combination in right field,
05:14then Bench is going to make it.
05:16And I almost feel Bench has to make it.
05:19Look, it wasn't like David Stearns stood up at a podium
05:23and said he's going to make the team.
05:27But part of his press conference
05:30right after the 2025 collapse was over,
05:34and he started talking about
05:35how the team gets better moving forward,
05:38was that he would leave an open spot for young players.
05:43And he's talked specifically that Bench would go to spring training
05:46with a chance to win a job.
05:48And he has won a job here.
05:51It's not just that the numbers are good,
05:54and the numbers are very good,
05:55but numbers could be deceiving in spring.
05:57The thing is, if you watch Bench play baseball,
06:01he looks like he belongs with a major league group.
06:05He moves that way on the field.
06:08He moves that way among his teammates.
06:11Will that sustain?
06:12If it doesn't, then you will see why they kept Tachman around.
06:17But Bench is going to be a guy
06:19who I think is going to be in the opening day of your lineup
06:21against Paul Skeens.
06:25And that's just, you know, he's earned that right.
06:29And I think it would look and send the wrong message
06:33to the rest of the prospect base
06:37if Bench honored exactly what David Stearns asked him to honor,
06:42and then he didn't make this team.
06:44So I think he's going to make it.
06:47I think Tachman's going to be a backup to him
06:51and maybe work into the DH slot a little.
06:55I think that DH slot initially is going to be some Beatty, Vientos, Tachman.
07:01And, you know, Vientos is going to have to show that he can hit
07:05because it's as opposed to, say, Beatty,
07:07who could move all over the field,
07:08or Tachman, who can at least go into the outfield and play.
07:12I guess Vientos could play a little first base for Polanco
07:16on the days they don't want him there,
07:17but that also could be Beatty.
07:20So Vientos is going to hit.
07:22One other thing to keep in mind on the Bench thing,
07:27if he finishes first or second for NL Rookie of the Year,
07:30and remember, Nolan McClain is still rookie eligible,
07:33Connor Griffin in Pittsburgh, Weatherholt in St. Louis.
07:37It's going to be a good year for rookies in the National League, I think.
07:41But if he finishes first or second, he gets a full year of service time.
07:45If he finishes first and the Mets keep him on the roster the whole year,
07:48the way that the system works after the last collective bargaining agreement
07:52in an attempt to be an anti-move to keep people from manipulating service,
08:00the Mets would get a draft pick if he wins Rookie of the Year
08:04after the first round in 2027.
08:07So there's every reason in the world for him to be on this roster,
08:11and I think you could connect the dots from Bo Bichette playing shortstop on Friday
08:18to Carson Bench making this Mets team.
08:25You
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