Just Mets

Graduation day for Steven Matz could be imminent.

A club source has indicated to Mike Puma of the New York Post Matz could be promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas by the end of the month.

Matz is scheduled to start for Las Vegas on Tuesday, as is Jon Niese. Last week, Sandy Alderson said Matz will not be promoted and shifted to the bullpen – he will come and start for the Mets.

It is therefore possible Niese could close to his last start for the Mets before transitioning into a long relief role out of the bullpen, according to Puma.

The Mets are off on Monday, June 29 but then play a stretch of nine straight games against the Cubs, Dodgers and Giants. The Mets could conceivably use a sixth starter during that stretch. Of course, the Mets are off today, off next Monday and have July 9, and 13-16 off to rest these arms and reshuffle the rotation for the second half. The point is, there are no shortage of off-days coming in the next three weeks which they’ll be taking advantage of.

Additionally, the sixth starter has not fared well at all for the Mets in the three previous instances they’ve used one, and the starting rotation has lacked a lot of consistency since the beginning of May, which happens to be just after when the Mets experimented with the sixth starter the first time.

So, if the a Mets are to maintain sanity among the majority, a promotion of Matz should simply shift Niese to the bullpen or off the team altogether. 

There is no reason to go through what they just did with Dillon Gee again, which not only led to poor performance but also led to awkwardness in the clubhouse, a disgruntled employee, complete destruction of the player’s value, and other pitchers who became publicly frustrated with the process.