Mets bullpen shaping up for Opening Day

Some question marks still remain for the Mets, particularly with open spots up for grabs in the bullpen, as they work on finalizing the Opening Day roster.

Edwin Diaz, Trevor May, Aaron Loup, Miguel Castro, Dellin Betances and Jeurys Familia are all expected to break camp in less than a week — with Seth Lugo (underwent surgery for loose bone spur in right elbow) sidelined for the foreseeable future. It appears likely the Mets will take eight relievers up north, and manager Luis Rojas indicated as much Wednesday without revealing too much about the team’s top-secret 26-man roster.

“I’m going to say a couple of spots in the bullpen,” Rojas said. “It’s a complicated question right now, still, even though we’re five games away from finishing the spring training schedule.”

A handful of players are competing for the two open spots in the bullpen: Robert Gsellman, Jacob Barnes, Stephen Tarpley, Mike Montgomery, Drew Smith, Arodys Vizcaino, Sam McWilliams and Jerry Blevins. As of Wednesday evening, there were 40 players on the Mets roster with 14 who will be cut by April 1.

Of the names mentioned above, Barnes appears likeliest for a bullpen spot following his dominant performance on Tuesday. The veteran relieved Marcus Stroman in the sixth inning of the Mets’ 5-3 win over the Marlins with men on first and second and no outs. Barnes efficiently retired the side with two strikeouts and a pop out to escape his inherited-runners jam. The outing impressed Rojas, and it may have been enough to earn him one of the last two remaining vacancies.

The last spot could come down to stronger candidates in Gsellman, Montgomery, Tarpley, and Vizcaino. The latter recently dealt with “lateral elbow soreness,” per Rojas, and he hasn’t appeared in a Grapefruit League game since his lone appearance against the Cardinals on March 14. Vizcaino, the former Braves closer, had impressed the Mets with his fastball velocity before the arm issue.

Gsellman has a 4.50 ERA (three earned runs, six innings) in four relief appearances for the Mets this spring. He has not lived up to expectations over the past four seasons in the big leagues, and Rojas said Tuesday he’s battling for a spot in the relief corps. But the Mets like that Gsellman can throw multiple innings and can even be a starter (albeit with shoddy rotation results) if they need him to shift into that role.

“G is competing and, of course, he can be a great asset for us in the bullpen if he makes the team,” Rojas said.

Michael Reaves / Getty Images Tommy Hunter of the New York Mets delivers a pitch against the Miami Marlins during the seventh inning of a Grapefruit League spring training game at Roger Dean Stadium on March 17 in Jupiter, Fla. Hunter was released from his minor-league contract with the Mets on Thursday.