Early in Mets camp, here's what stands out

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Ten days into Mets camp, Port St. Lucie, Fla. has been … quiet. And that’s a good thing. Generally speaking, major news this time of year tends to be bad news, so the Mets are resting easy with the knowledge that their roster looks the same way it did when camp began.

With Grapefruit League games beginning Saturday, here are five observations from those first 10 days of camp:

1. The Mets are healthy (and trying their hardest to keep it that way)
Other than Darin Ruf, who felt enough right wrist soreness in the early days of spring to receive a cortisone shot, the Mets are as healthy as any team could hope to be at this point in February. The only other limited player is Starling Marte, who is recovering from groin surgery but has still managed to take full batting practice with his teammates.

It’s crucial for any club to stay healthy, but especially the Mets, who feature five starting pitchers age 30 or older (and one who’s already 40), plus a veteran lineup and bullpen. At those ages, the Mets are naturally more susceptible to injury. Their healthy beginning is the best omen they could receive.

2. Best shape of their lives?
The three most noticeable slimmed-down bodies belong to Pete Alonso, Tylor Megill and Daniel Vogelbach, all of whom dropped weight in the offseason. Alonso in particular is coming off a career high in games, and the Mets are thin -- no pun intended -- behind him at first base. If Alonso can maintain a slimmer physique without sacrificing power, the Mets are all for it.

3. The World Baseball Classic is a factor
Asked about his lineups for early exhibition games, manager Buck Showalter said he intends to put all his players leaving for the WBC -- a group that includes Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Eduardo Escobar -- atop the card, then slot in the rest in alphabetical order. It’s unclear if Showalter was kidding about the latter part, but the Mets are certainly concerned about getting their WBC players up to speed as quickly as possible in hopes of minimizing their injury risk.

4. Kodai Senga remains an enigma
Mets officials are preaching patience with Senga as he adjusts to life in the United States. His early bullpen sessions left a bit to be desired, and Senga said afterward that he had trouble adjusting to the steeper slope of American mounds. But he appears to be finding his groove. Senga’s fastball featured noticeably better command in a bullpen session Thursday, and he’s been up to 98 mph. The Mets aren’t worried.

5. Don’t sleep on the bullpen competition
The Mets don’t seem to have many jobs up for grabs, but team officials are quite interested in their three open bullpen gigs. Most of the pitchers competing are offseason acquisitions, including Jeff Brigham, Sam Coonrod, Zach Greene, Stephen Ridings, Zach Muckenhirn, William Woods and Jimmy Yacabonis. Also in play are John Curtiss, Bryce Montes de Oca and Stephen Nogosek. Keep an eye on all of them during Grapefruit League play.