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PORT ST. LUCIE — Of all the topics that were broached by general manager Billy Eppler and manager Buck Showalter during a half-hour press conference Sunday to open Mets spring training, Jacob deGrom’s health status seemed most pertinent.
The Mets ace, according to Eppler, isn’t facing restrictions in preparing for the season. DeGrom missed the second half of last season because of elbow inflammation that was later diagnosed as a low-grade tear of the ulnar collateral ligament.
“As far as I know it’s just kind of as normal,” Eppler said. “He just goes out and operates as normal. I haven’t been told anything otherwise.”
DeGrom, who long tossed after reporting to camp Sunday, has thrown off a mound this offseason, according to Eppler.
Showalter said each of his pitchers is working on a different schedule. The shortened spring training following the lockout will add a different dimension to this camp.
“[DeGrom] has been throwing, but maybe not the same as Max [Scherzer], maybe not the same as Tai [Walker] because everybody is a little different,” Showalter said. “Even though they have been around, this is a little different animal, but it’s where the finish line is. We hope it’s sometime in late October.”
The Mets might be finished adding to the lineup.
Kyle Schwarber, Kris Bryant and Michael Conforto are among the remaining bats on the free-agent market, but Eppler said he feels “fairly good” about the position players on the roster.
“I will never rule anything out, but I would be fairly surprised if we went after another bat or anything like that at this juncture,” Eppler said, noting the additions of Canha, Starling Marte and Eduardo Escobar and Robinson Cano’s return from a PED suspension.
“We expect guys to be a little bit closer to their career numbers and standards of performance, so I feel good about where [the lineup] sits right now, but you can’t say no to opportunity,” Eppler said.
Chris Bassitt is an “impact” pitcher.
Unmoved by the remaining free-agent pitchers on the market, the Mets traded pitching prospects J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller to Oakland for Bassitt on Saturday.
“I got to see him a pretty good amount in the AL West and the pitch-ability, the ability to suppress hard contact, pound the strike zone, no fear in him,” said Eppler, a former GM with the Angels. “There’s a lot of things and just the person as a whole as we kind of went through our process of what makes him tick a little bit and he seems like a guy who would fit here and relish the opportunity to pitch in this rotation with the guys that we currently have.”
Showalter said he received a strong scouting report on Bassitt as a person from Canha (the two were teammates in Oakland).
“There’s factors that come into play pitching in our environment, and [Canha] was pretty excited [Saturday] night,” Showalter said.
Cano has something to say.
Francisco Lindor suggested to The Post last year that Cano should apologize to his teammates upon returning from his season-long suspension. It’s not clear if Cano will issue an apology, but he will soon speak to the group, according to Showalter.
“You can tell how comfortable [Cano] is in the locker room and how happy he is to be back,” Showalter said.
Cano, 39, played in the Dominican Republic over the winter, and Showalter said the second baseman appeared “solid” at the plate.
“We’ll see what he can handle physically,” Showalter said. “Especially with some of the challenges he’s had physically.”
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