⚾ How is the stacked NL East looking heading toward Opening Day? NBCSPhilly
with an elbow sprain, ending the fifth starter's battle quickly. Ranger Suarez and backup catcher Garrett Stubbs left the World Baseball Classic early. Third-string catcher Rafael Marchan is dealing with a hand injury. Pitchers Cristopher Sanchez and Nick Nelson are dealing with hamstring injuries.
Diaz was a big part of the Mets' offseason. They signed him to a five-year, $102 million contract just after the World Series, the richest contract for a reliever in MLB history. He's as good as it gets among current closers and is coming off a career year . Justin Verlander, who signed with the Mets and essentially replaced Jacob deGrom, has had a strong spring, allowing four runs and striking out 19 in 16 innings. The Mets are built around their 1-2 punch of Max Scherzer and Verlander. Scherzer is 38 and Verlander is 40, though Verlander is still a good bet to provide more durability than deGrom did the last two seasons when he missed 40 starts.
They should have a full season of Ronald Acuña Jr., who has played 120 games just once since debuting in 2018. The Braves' biggest offseason addition was catcher Sean Murphy from the A's. A year after they traded for Oakland's first baseman, Matt Olson, the Braves added another ascending player just reaching his prime. Atlanta moved quickly to extend Murphy for $73 million over six years. He was one of the top two-way catchers in baseball last season and slots into the middle of the Braves' order.
In late January, the Fish traded Pablo Lopez to the Twins for 2022 AL batting champ Luis Arraez. The left-handed hitting infielder has some of the best bat-to-ball skills in the league and never swings and misses, an even peskier version of Jeff McNeil. Arraez can play first, second and third base. He hit .316 last year and has hit .314 in 1,569 big-league plate appearances.
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