Mets owner Steve Cohen made waves at spring training on Monday when he declared that the team will never name a captain while he's the owner.

"As long as I'm owning the team, there will never be a team captain," Cohen said. "That was my decision. My view is, the locker room is unique and let the locker room sort it out, year-in, year-out. There will never be a captain. I've felt that way all along."

There was a belief last season thatFrancisco Lindor would eventually be named team captain -- a possibility that was discussed by both Lindor and manager Carlos Mendoza in 2025.

Speaking on Thursday, Lindor weighed in on Cohen's decision. 

"I respect it," Lindor told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. "This is definitely a Steve, front office type decision. I respect it. At the end of the day … being named captain or not, I’m still going to act the same. This is not something that’s going to make me somebody different. So I respect it. I’m glad he put everything to bed, so that way we can stop talking about this. And move on."

Lindor added:

"It’s not where they want to go. I respect it, I understand it and I’m on board.

"It’s just one of those where it’s like, I’m going to focus on baseball. I feel like we’ve got leaders [without] captains and all that stuff. The clubhouse is the clubhouse. Let’s just play baseball, and let’s focus on winning."

Before their recent offseason overhaul, the Mets' clubhouse had a handful of position players who had been there for a significant period of time.

That included Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso.

Nimmo, who debuted in 2016 and was a mainstay in Queens for 10 seasons, was traded to the Rangers this offseason for Marcus Semien.

Alonso, who debuted in 2019 and became the team's all-time home run leader last season, left as a free agent to sign a five-year deal with the Orioles.

The risk is real when it comes to other players being miffed by one guy being named captain -- whoever that captain is. It's also a figurehead kind of title, so it's hard to argue with Cohen's reasoning behind not naming anyone while allowing the clubhouse to function as a unit.

In addition to Lindor, the big names in New York's clubhouse in 2026 will include the returning Juan Soto as well as newcomers Semien, Bo Bichette, and Jorge Polanco.

Since the team's inception in 1962, the Mets have had just four captains.

Keith Hernandez was named captain in 1987, becoming the first one in team history.

In 1988, Gary Carter was named a co-captain and shared the title with Hernandez.

Both Hernandez and Carter left the Mets after 1989, and the next captain was John Franco, who served in the role from 2001 to 2004.

David Wright, the most recent captain, held the role from 2013 to 2018.

There are currently just two team captains in baseball -- Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Salvador Perez of the Royals.

Howie Rose won’t be hitting the road this season unless the Mets make the playoffs.

The longtime radio voice of the Mets will call 84 games this season, he told Newsday — all 81 home games and the three-game series against the Yankees in The Bronx.

The 72-year-old, who worked 100 games in 2025, would call every playoff game, though, should the Mets qualify. Beyond that, nothing is guaranteed.

“I’m going to work this whole season,” Rose told the outlet. “And whether or not I work next season is not a matter of whimsy or anything like that. I’ll know. When I decide to say it — and it could be at any time — it could be in a couple of years. Who knows?”

Rose, who previously was the Mets’ TV play-by-player, has been part of their radio booth since 2004. He currently calls games with Keith Raad, while pre-and-postgame host Patrick McCarthy fills in when needed.

Rose’s schedule had been reduced in recent years in part due to bladder cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2021. His bladder and prostate were removed and a “neobladder” was created from the intestines.

Calling games is still enjoyable for Rose, but everything that goes into it before and after has become a “grind.”

“If you could parachute me into the booth at 7 o’clock every night and parachute me back home when the game is over without dealing with traffic and preparation and everything else, then I’d go on indefinitely,” Rose told Newsday. “But there’s a lot of factors as you get older — your health, certainly the greatest of it. The other things that, I suppose, contribute to an ultimate decision is do I want to continue leaving my wife home at night all the time? Do I want to continue working at night? Do I want to continue finding the energy to prep properly for a game? Those are the things I evaluate.”

Rose will be on the call Saturday for the Mets’ spring opener against the Marlins in Port St. Lucie.

The start of spring training is usually the time of year where we start to hear copious reports about [insert any baseball player you want here] being in The Best Shape of His Life heading into camp. Ronald Acuña Jr. may fall into this category after he was spotted hitting batting practice bombs at the start of spring training and exclaiming loudly that “I’M HEALTHY!” afterwards. There’s no other message to take from this post other than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is currently in The Best Shape of His Life.

While the topic of this particular article may not be in the best shape of his life, the Braves would certainly benefit from having him healthy once again and you might even say that it’s crucial that he stays healthy going forward. That man is Austin Riley, who has spent the past two seasons scuffling a bit and seeing his campaign get cut short due to injury. Just when Riley was starting to really get rolling in 2024, he got hit on the wrist with a heater and that was it for his season. A sports hernia essentially derailed anything that Riley had going on in 2025.

Of course, one player is not going to derail any given season. We got a clear example of that up close and personal in 2021 when this team won the World Series without Ronald Acuña Jr. playing any games in the second half or Postseason. With that being said, it’s a stone cold fact that this team absolutely needs to have Austin Riley doing well at the hot corner and the bottom line is that if this team is going to accomplish what it wants to, they need Riley to be healthy and productive.

Fortunately, it feels like Riley is feeling good coming into this season. Braves beat writer Mark Bowman wrote an article on Riley recently and while every single baseball team and player has reason to feel optimistic at this time of year, it sure seems like Atlanta’s star third baseman has very good reason to feel optimistic.

The sports hernia surgery performed this past summer didn’t limit Riley this offseason. So, there’s reason the two-time All-Star is confident he can get back to where he was when he finished top seven in National League MVP balloting three straight seasons (2021-23).

“The sports hernia, I’m not even thinking about it,” Riley said. “The hand, I’m not even thinking about it. So, having a whole offseason getting to do what I’ve done in the past is huge.”

Again, it’s probably not a coincidence that this team (and the lineup in particular) is better when Austin Riley is productive. Riley put up five consecutive 5 fWAR seasons from 2021 through 2023 — the Braves won the World Series in 2021, they won 101 games in 2022 and then won 104 games in 2023. During Riley’s injury plagued 2024 and 2025 campaigns, the team limped into the Wild Card round in 2024 and missed the Postseason entirely in 2025. Again, one man doesn’t make or break a team’s fortunes in the ultimate team sport that is baseball but it’s clear that Riley is going to play a very big part in any level of success that the Braves hope to have going forward.

The good news is that there seems to be some evidence that a healthy Austin Riley should live up to the lofty expectations that are expected of him. MLB.com also recently posted a list of every team’s projected leader in WAR for the upcoming season and while Ronald Acuña Jr. is the obvious favorite to lead the Braves in WAR going forward, there figures to be a furious fight for second place in that category and he leader of that pack might be Austin Riley. FanGraphs Depth Charts is projecting that Acuña will finish with 5.4 WAR as a batter but then Austin Riley is right behind him at a projected 3.6 WAR.

In fact, Riley’s being projected to hit .261/.324/.470 with .340 wOBA. While that’s slightly below his career numbers of .270/.334/.492 with .352 wOBA, it’s also better than the .258/.316/.445 slash line (with .328 wOBA) that he produced over the course of the past two seasons. In fact, his 2024 numbers (.256/.322/.461, .338 wOBA, 116 wRC+) weren’t terrible and were actually trending upwards until he got hit on the wrist.

Even in 2025, he was doing pretty well right up until his abdomen started acting up on him as he had hit .274/.324/.441 with a .330 wOBA and 111 wRC+ over 408 plate appearances. While all of these numbers are still lower than what he was putting up during his peak performance, it’s productive enough to help make sure that this is a tough lineup to deal with with a healthy Austin Riley in it.

Alex Anthopoulos is also on record saying that he believes that the offense as a whole bouncing back may be a more important influence on any of Atlanta’s future success going forward, so obviously that would include a healthy Austin Riley in any formula that leads to the Braves doing well as a lineup going forward. There may be some questions about health and consistency but a lot of this lineup has the track record behind them to believe that a bounce back could absolutely be possible.

Austin Riley is absolutely a prime candidate to bounce back and if he does then the Braves should be in very good shape going forward. Riley might not be the straw that stirs the drink but the Braves absolutely need a healthy and productive Riley to come through for them if they want to perform well as a team going forward. We’ll see what happens but for now, it’s fun to imagine Riley going out there and raking like usual while shattering all types of proverbial glass.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The New York Mets will play their first Grapefruit League game of 2026 on Saturday afternoon at Clover Park.

Brandon Waddell will be on the mound for the spring opener and some notable names will be noticeably absent.

But there have been some clues about what could potentially come down the line for the Mets before the upcoming season. There are some intriguing names, noteworthy injuries and position battles to watch.

Here are three way-too-early predictions for the 2026 season about two weeks into spring training:

Veteran reliever Yency Almonte is back with the Dodgers on a minor league contract, rejoining a team he pitched for in both 2022 and 2023.

Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic reported the signing, and earlier Thursday morning Almonte himself posted a picture on Instagram of him holding a Dodgers cap in front of his locker at Camelback Ranch.

Almonte has battled injuries over the past four seasons, including right shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum in July 2024 while with the Cubs. He didn’t pitch in the majors in 2025, spending the entire season on the 60-day injured list. He did last year pitch 15 games in the minors on rehab between High-A South Bend and Double-A Knoxville, posting a 1.86 ERA in 19 1/3 innings, with 17 strikeouts and 10 walks.

In his first foray with the Dodgers, Almonte also signed a minor league deal in 2022. He reached the majors in May and posted a 1.02 ERA and 2.89 xERA in 33 games, with 33 strikeouts and 10 walks in 35 1/3 innings and missed seven weeks with right elbow tightness. He struggled in 2023, with a 5.06 ERA and 4.38 xERA in 49 games in a year that was cut short by a right knee sprain.

Traded to the Cubs in the Michael Busch deal, Almonte in 2024 had a 3.45 ERA and 3.29 xERA in 17 games with 20 strikeouts and eight walks in 15 2/3 innings before succumbing to his shoulder injury.

Almonte, who turns 32 in June, has a 4.44 career ERA in 213 games, all relief appearances for the Rockies, Dodgers, and Cubs over seven major league seasons, with 215 strikeouts and 95 walks in 223 innings.

Jared Sundstrom’s surface numbers from the 2025 season do not scream “Top Twenty Prospect” by any stretch of the imagination. A large-bodied outfielder that strikes out nearly 30% of the time and bats right handed isn’t exactly a hot commodity, so what gives? What makes Sundstrom different?

For starters, the tools Sundstrom brings to the table are still very much present. He’s got massive power with fast hands and belts the ball when he makes contact, a necessary trait for a player that’s likely a corner outfielder in the long run. The power comes with swing-and-miss, but he’s been a steady producer throughout his career, making enough contact to get quality results. Plus, with a bounding stride, massive arm, and quick twitch, Sundstrom is a major asset both in the field and on the basepaths; he can play all three outfield positions and went 35/39 in stolen base attempts last season.

Though his season slashline and counting totals look poor at first glance, some major context is necessary to truly understand why his numbers dipped so starkly. Sundstrom epitomizes the player that is destroyed by the confines of Dickey-Stephens Park, home stadium of the Mariners’ Double-A affiliate, and his home/road splits prove it. When playing on the road, Sundstrom slashed .237/.314/.432 with peripherals in line with his career totals. These numbers would reflect a player who made the jump to Double-A and held his own. His home numbers, however, tell a different story. Slashing .198/.276/.307, Sundstrom saw his right-handed power zapped by the windy, cavernous confines of DSP and subsequently had his “back of the baseball card” numbers for the 2025 season destroyed. Encouragingly, Sundstrom’s peripherals were nearly exactly the same on the road as they were at home, strongly pointing to the notion that the ballpark is playing a major role in his struggles.

Sundstrom is far from a flawless prospect, but his talent far eclipses the numbers he produced last season. It’s a boom-or-bust kind of profile that can be tough to evaluate in the low minors, but his performance in Double-A was rather encouraging and reflected a player who’s got the skills to compete in the upper minors. With speed, defensive skills, and gaudy power, Sundstrom has the look of a future big leaguer. Whether it’s a fourth outfielder, bench bat, or starting right fielder isn’t clear at this point in time, but there’s enough here to reason he’s going to end up making it work. Look for him to start the 2026 season in Tacoma and reap the benefits of the bountiful offensive environment that is the PCL.