The Mets open up spring training with a game against the Nationals on Saturday, which will begin the turning of the wheels in the mind of manager Terry Collins.

He’ll have his first look at his team in a game scenario and has a month to decide on the roster he will begin the regular season with.

A superstar like David Wright will certainly be on the opening day roster, pending any sort of injury.

Non-roster invites such as Marlon Byrd and Scott Atchison will do everything they can to secure a spot on the squad, which should make for some interesting competitions throughout the spring.

It will be up to Collins and his coaching staff to assess the talent they have and who will give them the best chance to win in 2013.

It all starts here and the decisions the staff make will be crucial as every win counts.

Every baseball fan has their opinions on who should make the team and why, so here is a platform for all of you Mets’ fans out there to tell us who the team should be on April.1

List your starting line-up, rotation, bullpen and bench in the comments section and be prepared to answer why you made these predictions if someone asks. A comment like “Well, he has a cool name,” will not suffice. Sorry Jordany Valdespin.

Bryan Mcwilliam’s Opening Day Roster:

Starters (in predicted batting order)

CF – Kirk Nieuwenhuis

2B – Daniel Murphy

3B – David Wright

1B – Ike Davis

LF – Lucas Duda

C – John Buck

RF – Marlon Byrd

SS – Ruben Tejada

Collins will give Nieuwenhuis a big chance at the team’s leadoff spot and he’ll be there come opening day if he turns in a decent spring. The Mets are not sold on Tejada leading off and Nieuwenhuis produced better numbers (.264, 5HR in 32 games) out of the lead off spot as opposed to .242 with 2HR in 59 games elsewhere in the line-up.

Byrd also cracks the starting line-up above. The veteran will turn things around and have a strong enough spring to beat out Baxter for the opening day job in right field.

Rotation

LHP – Johan Santana

RHP – Shaun Marcum

LHP – Jonathon Niese

RHP – Dillon Gee

RHP – Matt Harvey

There are really no surprises in the rotation. Unless Zack Wheeler looks filthy in spring or an injury occurs to one of these players, you can almost bet the house on the Mets using this starting five to begin the year.

Bullpen

RHP – Bobby Parnell

RHP – Brandon Lyon

RHP – LaTroy Hawkins

RHP – Scott Atchison

LHP – Aaron Laffey

LHP – Josh Edgin

RHP – Greg Burke

Frank Francisco would be in the list above, but it doesn’t look like his elbow will be ready to start the season. Non-roster invites such as Hawkins, Atchison and Laffey are seasoned veterans. This gives them a leg up for roster spots to start the season, which is why they made this list.

Bench

C – Landon Powell

OF – Collin Cowgill

IF/OF – Justin Turner

IF – Brandon Hicks

OF – Mike Baxter

The catching battle between Anthony Recker and Landon Powell should be a good one, plus Travis d’Arnaud should also be included in this scenario. Powell has more experience and power than Recker, which could win him the back-up catching gig until d’Arnaud is ready to take it.

Now it’s your turn to play the role of opening day soothsayer and let us know your 25-man opening day roster in the comments section.

Predict away!

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