MMO Game Thread: Marlins vs. Mets, 4:10 P.M.

Sunday, March 26, 2023 • 4:10 PM
Clover Park • Port St. Lucie, Florida
LHP Braxton Garrett (0-1, 8.25) vs. RHP Justin Verlander (2-1, 2.25)
WPIX

We finally made it! The last day of spring training.

The Mets and Marlins play each other in a late afternoon spring game before taking a few days off and starting the season against each other in Miami. If you include today’s game, the Mets and Marlins play each other eight times in their next 11 games. The two teams are going to get very familiar with each other over the next couple of weeks.

Big news broke during the Mets game last night that Brett Baty and Mark Vientos would be starting the season in the minors. That means the Mets are rolling with Eduardo Escobar as their starting third basemen at least in the short term for 2023. What general manager Billy Eppler wouldn’t commit to yet is if Darin Ruf has made the major league roster. That being said, the Mets still have a few days to make decisions before the games start for real on Thursday.

Mets Lineup

Last lineup of the spring. #LGM pic.twitter.com/2LNRaOC4x7

— New York Mets (@Mets) March 26, 2023

Marlins Lineup: pending

Game Notes

Yesterday, the Mets have signed starting pitcher Dylan Bundy to a minor league contract. Bundy has appeared in 190 career games (162 starts) and owns a 4.74 ERA. He spent the 2022 season with the Minnesota Twins, posting a 4.89 ERA (76 earned runs/140 innings) with 28 walks and 94 strikeouts.

In 15 games this spring, infielder Luis Guillorme has a .324 (12-37) average and an .864 OPS. Guillorme has hit safely in four of his last five games, including three consecutive multi-hit efforts.

Three Things To Watch For

1. See You Again Soon! Justin Verlander makes his final start of spring training today and is scheduled to face the Marlins next Saturday for the third game of the season. I am curious if he hides anything from the Marlins, works on specific pitches only, or splits his time between this game and a minor league game or a bullpen session. Unless it looks like he’s really going full steam today, I’m not going to read too much into his performance
2. Normal Lineup? The Mets have Darin Ruf in the game today as the DH, which is where he would be on days the Mets face off against a lefty starting pitcher. Besides that this lineup looks like the lineup the Mets will roll with at the start of the season. The only question marks in are Ruf and Escobar. According to Showalter, despite Ruf’s poor spring training performance, he’s been destroying baseballs in the backfields. Escobar has been cold this spring, but was one of the best hitters on the team the last month or so of the regular season.
3. Final Bullpen Spots Up For Grabs: Before the start of this game the Mets optioned Jeff Brigham to Syracuse and reassigned T.J. McFarland and Jimmy Yacabonis to minor league camp. This leaves Curtiss, Nogosek, Hernández and Santana battling for the last three spots.

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