Despite stumbling through a disappointing, injury-plagued 2017 campaign, Adrian Gonzalez is reportedly poised to play a big role for the New York Mets this year.

If healthy, Gonzalez, who finalized a one-year deal with New York on Thursday after being released by the Atlanta Braves in December, will likely open the season as the Mets' everyday first baseman, a source told Mike Puma of the New York Post. As such, Dominic Smith, the highly touted 22-year-old who struggled last year in his first big-league stint, is expected to open the season with Triple-A Las Vegas.

That plan, however, is contingent on Gonzalez's health, which repeatedly failed the five-time All-Star in 2017. Gonzalez, who turns 36 in May, played just 71 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers last year, missing more than two months due to back problems and eventually getting supplanted at first base by rookie phenom Cody Bellinger. After landing on the disabled list in June, Gonzalez even suggested he might retire following the 2018 campaign if his back - which has bothered him on and off since 2012 - doesn't improve.

Amid the injuries and inconsistent playing time, Gonzalez was also the one of the game's least productive first basemen in 2017, managing -1.1 WAR (tied for second worst in the majors) with a career-low .642 OPS over 252 plate appearances.

For now, though, Gonzalez appears to sit atop the Mets' depth chart at first base, a position from which the club received 2.1 WAR last year (the bulk of that coming from Lucas Duda, who was traded to Tampa Bay in July). While his 2017 season wasn't exactly encouraging, Gonzalez hit .285/.349/.435 with 18 homers in 156 games the year prior, and was an All-Star as recently as 2015.