PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- After a winter hiatus, Morning Briefing is back!

Pitchers and catchers do not officially need to report until Wednesday, but plenty of New York Mets players already have descended upon the team’s spring-training complex.

Among the Mets already working out in Port St. Lucie are catchers Travis d'Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki, infielders David Wright, Lucas Duda, Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada, starting pitchers Jacob deGrom, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler, and relievers Josh Edgin, Jerry Blevins and Antonio Bastardo.

Outfielder Curtis Granderson is due to join the group on Monday morning.

The forecast: 74 degrees, with potential afternoon thunderstorms.

Meanwhile, back at Citi Field, Mets fans have been invited to the ballpark for a midday sendoff of the team’s equipment truck on Monday. Ed Kranepool is due to attend, and fans may get a tour of the team’s clubhouse.

The first official workout for pitchers and catchers is Friday.

MONDAY’S NEWS REPORTS:

Tejada tells Kevin Kernan in the Post that Chase Utley sent him a gift basket with undisclosed items. However, the two have not spoken. Utley received a two-game suspension for the late slide in the National League Division Series, which fractured the fibula in Tejada’s right leg. Utley is expected to have his appeal hearing during spring training. Tejada, who wore a boot the remainder of the playoffs, resumed running in December. As for Utley’s slide, Tejada tells Kernan: “I would never do that to another infielder. That is the position I play, and I would never want to hurt another player that plays that position like that. It would have been different if some other position player -- a corner infielder or an outfielder -- had done that to me. But he is a middle infielder. He should know better.”

Steve Serby in the Post has a Q&A with Sandy Alderson.

Tom Verducci at SI.com estimates that Jenry Mejia lost about $47 million in potential future earnings as the result of three positive PED tests and getting banned from baseball. Verducci reasons about Mejia: “As a free agent at age 28 after the 2018 season, he could have been in line for a contract similar to the $31 million, three-year deal signed this winter by Joakim Soria, a pitcher with a similar profile.” Mejia must sit out at least the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Columnist John Harper in the Daily News does not expect the Mets to come to an extension agreement with deGrom during spring training because he is under their control for five full seasons. "There’s no urgency on our part," Harper quotes an unspecified source. “A lot can happen with a pitcher in five years.”

Columnist Bob Klapisch in the Record offers unsolicited advice to Jeff Wilpon. “Stop hiding behind Sandy Alderson and show everyone you’re human,” Klapsich writes.

Blevins tells Kernan in the Post about his summer tumble off the curb that resulted in a second fracture of his left forearm: “I feel like it was a blessing in disguise. I went through with the surgery and I have a metal plate in it. Hopefully it’s all healed up. It feels great right now.”

D’Arnaud tells Marc Carig in Newsday that he wants to work to improve his throwing. “I had little rough patches throughout the season -- a little streaky with the throwing,” d’Arnaud said. “But once I learned to stay consistent with the routine, just relaxed and made a good throw, good things came. I’ve just got to stay right there.”

Carig in Newsday catches up with Edgin, whom the Mets are planning to activate from the disabled list about May 1. Edgin missed last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery late in spring training. The Mets will have Blevins as a lefty specialist from the start of the season. Bastardo also is a left-hander, but he is expected to work full innings as a set-up man to closer Jeurys Familia.

Carlos Beltran praises Terry Collins to Anthony McCarron in the Daily News. “When I first got him as a manager, it was the best manager I ever had in my career as a ballplayer,” Beltran tells McCarron.

It will not be easy to repeat after the Mets won the NL pennant in 2015, Carig writes in Newsday.