New York Mets: Steven Matz pitches well, Dom Smith likely off to minors

New York Mets pitcher Steven Matz finally pitches well, while Dom Smith is looking at starting the year in the minors.

The New York Mets are in the final weeks of preparation before the season starts at the end of this month. With the quality outings from Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey and Jason Vargas thus far, it seemed that Steven Matz had pitched himself to the minors to start the season to start the season in AAA.

Friday against the Detroit Tigers, Matz put in his best outing thus far, pitching four shutout innings, walking only one, scattering three hits and fanning two. It was by far his top performance of the spring and put him back in the conversation for one of the five spots in the starting rotation. Considering the fact that Matz still had options to return to AAA this is a great potential sign for him.

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General manager Sandy Alderson acknowledged that this start was a bigger one than a normal one in Spring Training, not just for the team but for the confidence of Matz. They are also not considering him for the bullpen, which makes sense considering his injury history.

However, it would seem that Matz would rather start the season in Queens rather than in AAA. It was becoming impossible based on performance so finally posting a good one is a solid beginning. Time is running out before opening day so he had better keep it going.

One guy who is likely looking at starting the year on the farm is Dom Smith. Coming into the year it was supposed to be his position, even with Adrian Gonzalez on the team. However, that has not been the case.

First of all, Smith showed up late to the first Spring Training game of the season. That move didn’t exactly endear himself to the new Mets staff. They had no connection with this guy, now he had to perform as well if not better than everybody else to make the team. Fast forward to today where Smith has only gotten into one game. Clearly the Mets have seen something with Dom Smith that they don’t like. Mickey Callaway wouldn’t call it impossible for Smith to make the team but he came close:

"“I don’t know that you can ever say ‘impossible’, because anything can happen, but it’s tough. It’s tough,” he said”."

I guess Smith will be taking bus rides to ballparks pretty soon.

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These issues make it clear that Mickey Callaway has winning on his mind and that is it. He doesn’t care how old or young the player is. If he can help the team win he stays on the roster. If he can’t he won’t. It is plain and simple and will be exciting to watch this season.

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