New York Mets full squad workouts begin on Monday, with pitchers and catchers having reported on Feb. 15. Over the past few days, there has been a lot of talk about a rebound season from Jason Bay, whether Carlos Beltran is a centerfielder anymore and Francisco Rodriguez' 55-games finished clause in his contract that automatically initiates a 2012 option.
All this talk and still no games -- not even "meaningless" spring training games -- have been played. The Mets begin their exhibition games next Friday with an intrasquad game and they announced their pitchers for the first days of action. Normally not to exciting, but with spots in the rotation and bullpen up for grabs, the battles are worth monitoring. Jenrry Mejia takes the hill for the first spring training game.
We won't take a look at this every day of spring training, but with everything officially getting underway, here's how the pitchers will line up:
Feb. 25: Intrasquad Game
Team A: Tim Byrdak, Mike O'Connor, D.J. Carrasco, Josh Stinson
Team B: Ryota Igarashi, Blaine Boyer, Manuel Alvarez, Taylor Tankersley
Feb. 26: Atlanta Braves
- Jenrry Mejia, Manny Acosta, Pedro Beato, Taylor Buccholz, John Lujan, Armando Rodriguez
Feb. 27: University of Michigan
- Chris Capuano, Dillon Gee, Taylor Tankersley, Bobby Parnell, Blaine Boyer, Tim Byrdak
Feb. 28: Washington Nationals
- Mike Pelfrey, Josh Stinson, D.J. Carrasco, Manuel Alvarez, Jason Isringhausen