Spring training baseball is supposed to ease you in. Soft tosses, light jogs, guys laughing in the outfield grass while February does its thing. But the Mets‘ Grapefruit League opener Saturday against the Miami Marlins? That one actually matters — or at least it feels that way for a fanbase that’s been staring at a roster makeover all winter, dying to see if the pieces actually fit.
Juan Soto in left field. Bo Bichette at third base. Marcus Semien at second. All three of them penciled into the lineup for a 1:10 PM start in what is, technically, just a tune-up game. Tell that to anyone who’s been refreshing the transaction wire since October.
This Is What $765 Million Worth of Intent Looks Like
Carlos Mendoza said it plainly at the end of Friday’s workout: Soto, Bichette, and Semien are all getting the start. And his quote to SNY after practice wasn’t the kind of manager-speak that goes in one ear and out the other. “It was a long offseason, we finally get to see the guys out there competing,” Mendoza said. “They’ve been around each other in the dugout, but now we start having those interactions where guys are hitting behind the other, what they see on a pitcher, and just speaking the same language there.”
That’s real. Chemistry in baseball isn’t a press release — it gets built in the box, on the basepaths, in the small moments between at-bats where veterans start talking the same shorthand. Saturday is the first page of that.
Bichette at Third Base Is the Most Interesting Experiment on the Field
Bo Bichette played every single MLB inning of his career at shortstop with the Blue Jays. Every. Single. One. Moving him to third base for a Mets team built around Francisco Lindor — who’s currently recovering from hamate bone surgery — isn’t just a roster adjustment, it’s a renegotiation of identity for a player who defined himself at one position for years.
Third base isn’t the moon. Plenty of guys have moved there successfully. But asking a shortstop to rewire his reads, his angles, his entire defensive instinct? That takes reps. Saturday will likely start the clock on those reps, assuming he is actually in the hot corner.
Soto, meanwhile, shifts to left field after spending most of his career in right. New team, new position, same terrifying bat. The man posted a .419 on-base percentage last season — the lineup protection he provides is less about where he stands in the field and more about what happens when he steps into the box.
The Lineup Chemistry Watch Starts Now
Semien is the quiet piece in this puzzle. Three-time All-Star, Gold Glove winner at second, the kind of professional hitter who doesn’t light up a highlight reel so much as he quietly suffocates opposing pitching with relentless at-bats. Slotting him next to Lindor — whenever Lindor returns — gives the Mets a double-play combination that’s going to make National League pitchers genuinely miserable.
Brandon Waddell draws the start for New York against Robby Snelling and the Marlins. The box score won’t matter. Nobody’s saving this game film in October.
What matters is the first time Bichette ranges to his backhand on a slow roller down the line and guns it across the diamond. What matters is whether Semien and Soto start talking the same language in the dugout, the way Mendoza is clearly banking on. Last season ended sourly in Flushing. This is the first morning after a very long, expensive, deliberate winter — and the Mets are done waiting.
More about:New York Mets
