New York Mets full squad news and notes

Saturday was a rainy day in Florida and the Mets had a quick workout under cover, not much going on.  Kevin Long the new hitting coach and old Yankees hitting coach did speak on Saturday.  Here is some of what he had to say. 

He will use Robinson Cano as a model for Juan Lagares.  He said he believes he has a lot of potential at the plate and he is excited for him.  That is a pretty good guy to compare too but I don't see that at all.  Lagares has a long way to go but if he makes him a good hitter then they have something since he is so good in the field.  He feels that ideally Curtis Granderson would hit sixth in the lineup but if he gets his OBP up then he should bat higher to get more at bats but that is up to the manager. 

Long and Granderson are going back to the blueprint they used when they were both on the Yankees and Granderson hit 40+ homeruns two years in a row.  I would as it worked and they are comfortable together.  He has had a difficult time getting a read on David Wright because his at bats from last year were all during a shoulder injury and that is what he went through with Carlos Beltran last year.  He wants Daniel Murphy to do a little more damage to the ball, increase his power. 

He said his goal for the team isn't neccessarily to get them to take more pitches but to hit good pitches.  He said last year they got on base but their batting average was low but they scored runs because they got on base.  He said they need to be more efficient from a mechanical perspective.  He has each guy working on something specific to that player.  He told Travis d'Arnaud to stick with what he was doing at the end of last season. 

Every run is going to matter especially with their pitching staff so driving guys in from third will be a big deal.  He said as long as they are around league average which is 50 percent they will score enough runs to win. 

The Mets are strongly considering Bartolo Colon for Opening Day according to several sources.  The game will be in Washington against the Nationals.  It will be either him or another pitcher but it is too early to decide.  I would say probably Jacob DeGrom because of winning rookie of the year but we will have to wait and see.  The way the rotation starts really doesn't matter as it will be out of order anyway eventually but I think a veteran guy like Colon is a good way to get it rolling.  Matt Harvey threw batting practice on Friday and looked good, he will throw another batting practice next week.  Wright, Murphy, Michael Cuddyer and Granderson will not play in the first few exhibition games in an effort to ease them into game action.  The Mets have no plans to talk with Murphy about an extension this season a team source told Adam Rubin.