The Mets are great. But what if they were all puppies? They would be way, way more awesome. Duh!
Welcome to the 5th installment of our Puppy Avenue Mets roster! Puppy Avenue began back in 2010 with a simple idea: what would the Mets roster look like if instead of pictures of the actual players, we used pictures of adorable puppies? Why did we do this? I believe it was mostly because the Mets often tend to be soul-crushing in defeat and puppies are almost always happy and generally loveable. Well, this is the final result! Hopefully it'll make you feel good about the Mets on this Opening Day.
I've taken the best from our "Making of..." fanpost and created the Mets roster. If you contributed a picture below, you will be credited and I thank you for your diligence in this project! Enjoy and let's go Mets!
Welcome to Puppy Avenue!
We begin below with the starting infield. The Puppy Avenue infield almost took a huge hit as first baseman Ike Davis was shopped around quite a bit in the offseason. Luckily, Ike Davis dog is still here and we always start off with him (thanks to Isles732, as always!). Hopefully he hits many big dongs this year.
As the trade rumors flew by over the winter, Ike Davis Dog worried about his status. It's easy to be stressed out when you're not sure of your status, so in this state of flux, he turned into Drunk Ike Davis Dog. (Steve Sypa)
The Mets shopped their second baseman around in the offseason as well. Just like at first, though, they stuck with Daniel Murphy Dog and now he's keeping his eye on the ball (Ogre39666).
Murphy and his wife are expecting a little Murphy puppy in the near future. We're sure he'll be an excellent father! (djletz)
Over at shortstop, Ruben Tejada puppy has seen his stock drop off of a cliff after a down year and he quickly found himself in the doghouse. The Mets toyed with the idea of replacing him and because he was considered out of shape last year (likely the result of too many treats from the front office), the Mets sent him to a puppy training camp where he tried to get back into tip top shape. I'm not so sure it really worked, though. (astromets)
Regardless, it seems the Mets will go forward with Tejada at shortstop at least to begin the year. Daniel Murphy missed some time with injuries this spring but the two did get to practice their double plays a little bit. (Joel Hernandez)
The infield looks to be full of question marks but over at third base is where the alpha dog stands. The captain of the Mets, David Wright dog, got dressed up in his Captain America outfit. I think he may be taking this silly nickname a little too far. (astromets)
Eh, at the end of the day, we'll let it go. Everybody loves David Wright dog so we're okay if he dresses up like a superhero on the side. (LGNYM)
Finally, the Travis d'Arnaud dog is the dog catcher. Strange job for a dog, doesn't a human normally do that? (FlushtownFandom)
Anyway, Travis d'Ognaud will try his best to stay on the field this year. (MaasNeotekPrototype)
We move over to the outfield now and it's great to see that the Mets found a couple of new puppies to roam the expanses of Citi Field this year! These new puppies can run with the best of them and they'll be sure to join Juan Lagares dog in making fantastic catches in the outfield! (Joel Hernandez)
If all goes as planned, Chris Young dog and Curtis Granderson dog should flank Lagares dog in the corners and catch every ball hit in their direction. Maybe Granderson dog will catch some more yummy salmon from Sandy Alderson! (Walter Gropius)
Those three won't be the only guys out there. Eric Young hound will be sure to get in on the action quite often, as Terry Collins dog loves the way he runs. He just needs to find a way to get on base! (Steve Sypa)
The Mets bench will feature a number of familiar faces, at least to start the season. Anthony Recker dog will backup d'Arnaud dog as the catcher. Recker isn't the greatest hitter on the team but he can certainly fill out a collar! (Ogre39666)
Joining Recker on the bench is lefty mashing first baseman Josh Satin dog. (Steve Sypa)
Satin dog is clearly a smart canine, as he went to the University of California at Barkeley. He knows all of your predictable eyebrow jokes but he'll play along anyway because he's a nice pup. (MetsCity)
Satin dog also knows that he'll get the last bark when you meet up again in the afterlife (he'll probably sniff your butt and then maybe bark at you a little bit). (brooklynberger)
It looks like Lucas Duda dog will be used off the bench to give the Mets some leftpawed pop, which makes the big guy very sad. (astromets)
We all know about Duda's struggles in the outfield and we really don't want to see any more of this... (Steve Sypa)
Sometimes Lucas has issues with his confidence, so here's hoping that keeping him away from the outfield will make him look less like an UNCONFIDENT dog. (LGNYM)
Omar Quintanilla dog finds himself on the Mets roster once again and it appears his owners love quesadillas so much, they dressed him up as one! Q dog is not so amused. (Steve Sypa)
Andrew Brown claims the final spot on the roster and he's just happy he didn't have to travel back to Las Vegas yet!
On the pitching staff, the Mets added veteran righty Bartolo Colon dog in the offseason. (Joel Hernandez)
He may like to eat a lot but please don't mistake him for a pig. (MookieTheCat)
Zack Wheeler dog is ready to begin his first full season in the big leagues where the Mets hope he can take a huge leap forward. (djletz)
Jon Niese dog may be starting the year on the disabled list but he still has a nose for competition... (Steve Sypa)
...and Dillon Gee dog will try to pitch well in his place on Opening Day, as he hopes to aid the Mets in sweeping those mutts from Washington. (FlushtownFandom)
Jenrry Mejia dog rounds out the rotation... (Steve Sypa)
...and boy, are those flowing locks beautiful! He looks kind of like a young Pedro Martinez dog! (FlushtownFandom)
Out in the bullpen, Bobby Pawnell had some neck surgery late last season but he insists he's ready to go for the big day today. (FlushtownFandom)
Vic Black dog appeared to be a favorite to land a spot in the team's bullpen but his spring struggles forced the Mets to demote him to Las Vegas. Here's his reaction when he heard the news... (MetsFan4Decades)
Here are the rest of the puppies in the bullpen: Carlos Torres, John Lannan, Jose Valverde, Scott Rice, Jeurys Familia, and Gonzalez Germen.
Unfortunately, there are some canine friends who have suffered unfortunate accidents. That's right, we visit the animal hospital, where Matt Harvey is rehabbing from Doggy John surgery. (JJJ)
Let's hope he doesn't meet with trainer Ray Ramirez. (MookieTheCat)
Dan Patrick tried to do an interview with Harvey dog but he only wanted to bark about Qualcomm. (LGNYM)
Not to be outdone, here's Jeremy Hefner dog playing in the snow. (Mets City)
And now he's back inside and ready to play with his puppy playmates. (Ownbey4Mex)
A bunch of Mets puppies got married this offseason! Here are the newlyweds: David Wright dog, Josh Satin dog, Kirk Nieuwenhuis dog, Zach Lutz dog, and Anthony Recker dog.
Now we take a trip to the farm, where the young pups learn to sit, stay, heel, walk, and pitch. Here are some of our friends down there. Noah Syndergaard puppy, a great dane, will tune up his repertoire in Las Vegas before he makes his big league debut later this year. (Russ)
Thor dog might not need the training but he's going to get it anyway. (Ogre39666)
Jacob deGrom dog and his flowing locks will join him in the 51's rotation to start the year. (Steve Sypa)
Daisuke Matsuzaka dog was shocked that he didn't make the Mets and he doesn't want to be forgotten down in the minors. (Steve Sypa)
Dice-K Doge is many pitch. Very win. Much baseball! Wow. (MookieTheCat)
I'm sure he'll be ready to go when it's his turn. (mzvalaren)
Veteran reliever Kyle Farnsworth dog sports his trademark goggles. (djletz)
Hey, you guys. Did you know that Kirk Nieuwenhuis dog used to play football? (LGNYM)
Wilfredo Tovar puppy...
...and Jack Leathersich dog will both play in the high minors this year. (Steve Sypa)
Here's Brandon Nimmo puppy, playing in Wyoming's only dog park! (Steve Sypa)
ALERT: WE'VE FOUND NIMMO! ALERT! (BrooklynGinger)
Gavin Zucchini Cecchini puppy is going to romp around in Savannah this year. (Steve Sypa)
Here's some of the on-field staff now. Terry Collins dog just discovered reverse platoon splits and his small dog mind is blown. (mzvalaren)
Trainer Ray Ramirez puppy LOVES boots! (DoctorK4)
Up in the booth, Gary, Keith, and Ron dogs are ready to bark about Opening Day! (FlushtownFandom)
Keith dog is agitated, as usual. (LGNYM)
In the front office, Paul Dogpodesta is busy pouring over the statistics on his computer. (FlushtownFandom)
Here's Sandy Alderson dog getting interviewed. (JavaJoe)
Fred Wilpon dog is handing Sandy Alderson dog all of his offseason spending money. (FlushtownFandom)
Here's Sandy dog going to spend that money on new puppies! (Steve Sypa)
Jeff Wilpon dog, meanwhile, is working very hard and...oh, wait it's naptime! (FlushtownFandom)
Jay Horwitz dog is busy at work butt tweeting and fixing the next Mets PR blunder. (bjk3047)
This is Andy Martino dog writing an article about said Mets PR blunder. (mzvalaren)
Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales dogs wait outside for somebody to let them in. (Dustbuster?)
Finally, here are all of us waiting patiently for baseball to return. (FlushtownFandom)
