'Excited' Terry Collins Projects Mets' Opening Day Lineup
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There's still plenty of time before Spring Training, but with each passing day it looks less likely that Mets general manager Sandy Alderson will make another impact move this offseason.
Alderson was aggressive at the start of the free-agency period, inking outfielder Michael Cuddyer to a two-year deal, but since then he's only added lefty reliever Scott Rice and outfielder John Mayberry, Jr.
Assuming Wilmer Flores is the shortstop on Opening Day -- and it's beginning to look like he will be -- the Mets' lineup appears to be set in stone.
Manager Terry Collins gave the New York Post his projected 2015 lineup, and barring any injuries or significant transactions, it should look something like this:
CF - Juan Lagares
LF - Curtis Granderson
3B - David Wright
1B - Lucas Duda
RF - Michael Cuddyer
2B - Daniel Murphy
C - Travis d'Arnaud
SS - Wilmer Flores
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"I really like our team,'' Collins told the newspaper. "I am so excited. There were always big missing pieces in the past. Now there's not. We're not going to put a number on it, but we're going to win. I don't think that there is any question that we should be playing in October next year."
The skipper, entering his fifth year as the Mets' manager, knows that Wright will have to bounce back in a big way if his club is going to contend for a playoff spot.
"Sure, everybody could use another bat, but the bat we need is No. 5," Collins told the New York Post. "Cuddyer is a great signing. But believe me, when David gets healthy, that's the difference. If he has a bounce-back year and does what he has done in the past, our lineup is completely different. That takes a lot of heat off the other guys."
Wright, the captain and face of the franchise, hit just .269 with eight home runs in 134 games this past season.
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