One of the big stories coming out of Port St. Lucie this year is the battle among a slew of pitchers to become the Mets’ new eighth-inning guy in the presumed absence of the injured Kelvim Escobar, who everyone thought would be the Mets’ eighth-inning guy.

I missed something here, something big. I missed when it became common, accepted fact that all teams need a dedicated “eighth-inning guy” to only pitch the eighth inning. Did someone make some decree? Was I blissfully burying my head in the sand?

I know about the closer. I know all teams, for some reason, need one guy who pitches the ninth inning when his team is leading by three or fewer runs, and that he should not be used in the eighth inning, and never, ever when the game is tied or his team is losing. That makes sense; every team needs someone to accumulate as many saves as possible, or something.

But only in the last couple of years have I learned of this other necessary component of good bullpens: the bridge. The Mets have been searching in vain for the bridge since Duaner Sanchez searched in vain for Dominican food that fateful night in 2006. Aaron Heilman was not the bridge. Roberto Hernandez was not the bridge. J.J. Putz was not the bridge.

Look: I recognize that pitchers — like anyone — prefer to know what job they’ll be asked to perform when they show up at work. And far be it for me, with my spreadsheets and calculators, to point to the days not too long ago when late-inning relievers would regularly throw upwards of 90 innings a season. Game’s changed now.

But it strikes me, as it has for a while now, that there’s got to be a better way. If I were managing a ballclub, I’d want my best reliever in the game in the highest-leverage situation. If that happened to come in the sixth inning, after the starting pitcher grew tired and walked a couple of guys in a tie game, would I be smart to bring in one of the worst pitchers on my staff because I’m reserving a better one for the eighth inning, when he’ll come in with no one on base?

Anyhow, putting that rant aside, as long Jenrry Mejia’s excluded from the big-league bullpen come Opening Day, the Mets will have taken a better approach to building a relief corps this year then they did last year, the offseason of Omar’s much lauded two closers.

Certainly there will be uncertainty. Ryota Igarashi has yet to pitch in real games stateside. Kiko Calero gets hurt a lot. Bobby Parnell is still pretty young, and walks a lot of guys. Who knows when Escobar will be ready? What’s up with Clint Everts, and Hisanori Takahashi and Fernando Nieve, assuming they don’t land in the rotation?

But in collecting a slew of relatively low-risk, high-upside guys — many of whom have potential for a lot of strikeouts, to boot — the Mets will likely be able to find a good mix of effective relievers.

And it’s not as simple as saying, “oh, throw enough [expletive] against the wall, some of it’s bound to stick.” They tried that in 2008, recall, and nothing stuck. It’s a matter of finding the right [expletive], and — and maybe this is blind, Mets-fan optimism — I think it’s a much stickier brand this year.

That’s gross, and I apologize. The point is, no matter how much speculation you read about how and where Pitcher X fits into the Mets’ crowded bullpen, know that the team is better off because of that crowd.

Some guys will crack the Opening Day roster, some won’t. I’ll probably obsess over it like I do ever year, but it won’t matter, since the front office will inevitably tinker until it settles on the right mix. What actually matters is that, if just a couple of the big-upside arms stay healthy and pitch to their potential, the Mets should have a better bullpen than they’ve had in several years.

And this, without having acquired two closers.