Shortstop Francisco Lindor made it identified Friday he feels roughly the identical in regards to the 2024 New York Mets as he did earlier than the membership’s settlement with designated hitter J.D. Martinez on a one-year, $12M deal.
Per Ben Krimmel of SNY, Lindor acknowledged forward of the Mets’ spring coaching recreation towards the New York Yankees that getting Martinez places the Amazin’s “in a significantly better spot as a result of we have now a very good hitter.” Lindor added that he believed the Mets had been “adequate to be the place we need to be” with or with out the 36-year-old within the lineup.
“I am nonetheless in the identical boat,” Lindor defined. “We gotta play the sport the precise means. We gotta again one another up. We gotta proceed to consider in one another. After which let everyone else consider in us in a while.”
Lindor,
outfielder Brandon Nimmo and All-Star nearer Edwin Diaz are amongst noteworthy Mets gamers who’ve beforehand prompt they cared little about how the present squad has been seen by outsiders following what Krimmel known as “a gentle offseason in comparison with the previous two” for the group. As of late Friday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Mets’ over/underneath win whole for this yr at 81.5 video games whereas PECOTA projections shared by Baseball Prospectus had the 2024 Mets at round 83.4 regular-season victories.
“…I do not really feel like I am an underdog,” Lindor stated. “We’re in a great place. And really, we’re in the identical spot as everyone else is. No one has received a recreation but, So, we’ll be good. We’ll be an excellent staff.”
Few guessed when Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns teased earlier this week that the membership would “take our photographs” in free company, he meant making a major splash earlier than Opening Day. Joel Sherman of the New York Put up reported late Friday morning that Martinez will “construct up with minor league at-bats” throughout a stint that seemingly will final round “10 days” or so earlier than he joins the big-league membership.
“It has been an excellent spring coaching to this point and I really feel just like the staff and the boys are shifting in the precise path,” Lindor stated.
He and his teammates will look to get pointed in that path when the Mets open the common season with a house sequence versus the Milwaukee Brewers this coming Thursday.
