PORT ST. LUCIE — The Grapefruit League season will be shortened a tad for the Mets’ young starting pitchers.
In an effort to give the rotation extra rest after a heavy workload that spilled into November because of the team’s World Series appearance, the Mets don’t plan to use Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz in the first “four or five” exhibition games, according to general manager Sandy Alderson.
“Then they will gradually increase their workload as they would as if they started the first week,” Alderson said Wednesday at Tradition Field. “I don’t think there will be major changes, but minor tweaks that I think will hopefully keep the burden to a minimum early in spring training and we’ll see how that translates early in the season as well.”
The Mets will open the Grapefruit League season on March 3 against the Nationals. The season opener is April 3 in Kansas City.
“I would expect our guys would be at about 90 [pitches] by the first week of the regular season,” Alderson said.
There are three scheduled off-days for the Mets in the opening week, and manager Terry Collins has indicated the team might “piggyback” starters — using two in the same game — to keep pitchers fresh.
But Alderson said he has not discussed the matter with Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen.
On a day pitchers and catchers reported to spring training, Alderson addressed several other topics:
- David Wright, who missed most of last season recovering from spinal stenosis, will be under constant surveillance and have a ceiling of about 130 games. “I think we’re going to have to be mindful of his physical situation and anticipate rather than react to that condition,” Alderson said. “It’s hard to say right now, but we’re going to go way beyond just monitoring his health. I think we have to be proactive and hopefully that fits with his mindset as well.”
- Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki will likely get work at first base and perhaps in the outfield during spring training, but both will be catchers first and foremost. “We’re not all that anxious to move Travis from behind the plate, he can be a plus-plus player there,” Alderson said. “Moving him away from that position creates other issues for us. Kevin is very solid and we brought up him up last year maybe a little bit early from the standpoint of his development, but we’re happy we have two young quality guys behind the plate. But I do think we’ll see them playing some different positions throughout the course of spring training.”
- It’s too early to say if Rafael Montero will be used as insurance for the starting rotation or might land in the bullpen. Montero missed most of last season with shoulder discomfort. “We’ve got to get Rafael back pitching consistently, and that is the first step before we determine his role,” Alderson said.
- This could be a special team. “I really haven’t been this upbeat about a team in a long time, and I think that’s exciting – exciting for us, exciting for the players,” Alderson said. “I think the fans as well. We may not have a lot of competition for jobs, but we’re going to have competition for playing time, and I think that’s just as important.”